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This is the blog of Steve Burkett of Italy, Our Italy

Visiting the Beautiful Island

It’s called Isola Bella, or Beautiful Island. It sits in Lago Maggiore, just off the shore from the town of Stresa. Is the name a misnomer? No, it isn’t.

The island had only a small fishing village until 1632, when Carlo III, of the house of Borromeo, contracted to have a palazzo built in honor of his wife, Isabella. The Borromeos were of Milano fame and had cardinals and such within the family. Poor Carolo III didn’t get to see the completion of the palazzo, because an episode of the plague shut down construction for a good while.

“...what was it like to live on the lake, with views like this one from every window of the palazzo?”

When all was said and done, a beautiful palazzo sat at the northern end of the island. On the southern 10 acres, an Italian-style garden was completed in 1671.

But, enough of boring history…right? I know. Let’s take a tour of both the palazzo and the gardens. But first, we need to get there.

Getting There

Once again, as when we visited Isola dei Pescatori for lunch at Ristorante Verbano, we boarded a boat to take us the quarter-mile or so to the island.

Sister- and brother-in-law Leslie and Craig make instant friends on the short journey from the boat docks at Stresa.

As we approach Isola Bella, we are treated to a view of the back-side of the verdant gardens. The upper story of the round building houses the gift shop, which we visited, of course.

The Palazzo

As we near the dock, we get a full view of the beautiful palazzo that the Borromeos built on this small island.

An iconic Lago Maggiore boat is moored at the palazzo.

Here are a few views of the interior of the palazzo, including two chandeliers from the Venetian island of Murano. Remember, you can click on any image to get a larger view.

Here, wife Ellen contemplates what was it like to live on the lake, with views like this one from every window of the palazzo?

The main room…I don’t know what else to call it…is beautifully finished with…with…this and that.

From this great room, we get a view of Ristorante Verbano, the site of yesterday’s lunch.

As we headed through the other rooms of the palazzo, we passed through the library, loaded with many very rare books. One wonders whether any of these books would be of interest to us in our current times…assuming we could read the language in which they were published.

We found art works adorning the walls, like these two mosaic bird pieces, each about 10” in diameter…

…and this table, which is also a mosaic, as you can tell from the detailed closeup photo.

I have no idea what this is about and I really don’t want to talk about it!

Really, don’t ask.

In the lower levels there is a crypt-like room with some historical artifacts within. It looked to me like a mad baker went absolutely berserk with his pastry bag.

There was this stoned beauty though, sleeping it off as we passed by.

OK, I’m not much of one for tapestries…I’ve seen them in many palaces and museums. But these? I found them fascinating. The detail was exquisite.

So, here is the whimsical scene on one of the tapestries. Can’t say much for the subject matter, but the detail?

And, here is more detail of the thread work. These tapestries were not created on a modern machine loom — the work was all done by hand many, many years ago.

Check out this lion-like-thingie with the chagrined look. The hours and hours that were invested in these artworks is amazing.

The Gardens

Ellen has this thing for hydrangeas, and there were many to admire here.

Here are a few garden variety views.

Below are our new friends from the Ghisalba class of 1958. Ghisalba is about 30 miles east of Milano.

As I look at the photo and apply a bit of logic, I have concluded that this is not a celebration of a high school class. If these folks were graduating from high school in 1958, they would be close to 80 when this photo was taken, and they look no where close to 80. Must have been elementary school…right? At any rate, they were a friendly group, and they gladly sat for this class portrait. A 5x7 and 12 wallet-sized, please.

This group inspired us to have our own group portrait made.

From the top of the gardens, Craig is able to point out our hotel in the lakeside town of Stresa.

Well, that’s about it for our visit to Isola Bella, and yes, it is a beautiful, and well manicured, island.

What we need to do now is find our way back to the boat dock…we are hungry, and we know that there is great food awaiting in Stresa.

That’s it for our visit to Isola Bella and Palazzo Boromeo. It was a pleasant way to spend the morning.

I’m thinking of getting my maritime captain’s license, so that when you’re boating your way to Isola Bella, I’ll turn from the captain’s chair and say…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Eat Here: Ristorante Verbano

Index of Articles

Ahhh…Lago Maggiore. And, how about sitting on a pleasant veranda enjoying a scrumptious lunch on the Isola dei Pescatori (Fisherman’s Island). So pleasant. That’s exactly what we experienced on our visit to Stresa on the shore of Lago Maggiore.

In my last article, I shared our experiences in the town of Stresa, which sits on the western shores of Lago Maggiore. Clicking on the map thumbnail to the right will familiarize you with the location of Lago Maggiore in comparison to the other lakes making up the Italian Lake District.

Today, we will relax a bit as we dine at Ristorante Verbano. That’s the restaurant in the photo, below. It is part of the Albergo Vergano. ‘Albergo’ is another way to say ‘hotel’ in Italian.

The dining terrace sits just behind the wall with “Albergo Ristorante” painted on it

We had hoped to stay here at this exquisite hotel on the island, but alas, we waited a bit too long to book a room. See my suggestion at the end of this article for a view of this charming albergo.

Getting There

As Ristorante Verbano sits on an island, we must arrive by boat.

Here comes our ride to Isola dei Pescatori.

This boat dock is situated just in front of our hotel, as explained in last week’s article.

Watch your head Ellen as you descend to the passenger area.

That’s a boat much like ours racing beside us.

See the two white car ferries in the background? We will be riding on one of those in a couple of days as we make our way east through the Lake District to Lago di Garda.

We are getting closer to lunch time as we approach our island dock.

Of course, there is more than just dining on the island.

Eating There

As the menu suggests, we are at Ristorante Verbano, the ‘restaurant on the island’.

But, first things first. It is time for our customary wine toast!

Hmmm…so many choices for just one meal. As we are on an island in a lake, seafood seems appropriate. On the left are the fish dishes, and on the right, the meat dishes. Today’s menu is presented in four languages.

I’ve made my lunch selection. And that is none-other than I, your scribe, enjoying my wine.

As I turn to look at the lake, this is what I see. A beautiful day on a beautiful lake of clear water.

Our food has arrived! And here it is.

Ellen’s selection is whitefish with lemon and capers. The fish is just-caught-that-morning fresh and comes right from the Lago Maggiore.

Notice how the fish has been shaped into a cylinder to form a base for the zucchini…a nice presentation.

Here are our other selections, including risotto and a tasty cheese course.

As we leave Ristorante Verbano, we can see our destination for tomorrow…but that’s another story.

Here are just a few photos from our walk back to our boat that will take us back to Stresa.

Our assurance of a safe boat ride back to Stresa!

A Suggestion for Right Now

I have a suggestion that I think you will appreciate. Take a quick look at the short introductory video on the home page of Albergo Ristorante Verbano’s web site. It presents you with a most pleasant way to start your day…and it will most assuredly give you cause to head to Isola di Pesciatore.

Just click right here and enjoy: Albergo Ristorante Verbano

That was an excellent meal. The location, the nice sunny day, the ambiance, the service, the food, the drink…all worked together to provide us with a memorable experience. An experience that I hope you can enjoy someday for yourself.

Ciao for now,

Steve

Lakeside Stresa

Index of Articles

Today starts a 3-part visit to Lago Maggiore, situated on the Italian and Swiss border. In addition to today’s short visit to the town of Stresa, I will soon cover a fabulous lunch spot on Isola dei Pescatori. And finally, a visit to the villa and gardens of Isola Bella.

Stresa sits on the western shore of Lago Maggiore, which itself sits in both Italy and Switzerland. And within the Italian portion, we find the lake split down the middle by the regions of Piemonte and Lombardy.

The lake is surrounded by mountains and its shore is dotted with small towns and villas.

The map below shows the location of Lago Maggiore, in comparison to the other lakes in what is known as “The Italian Lake District”. I’ve covered Lago di Como in the past, and I’ll cover the other lakes in future articles.

The names of the major lakes are shown below their namesake

Our Lodging

Our hotel sits on the street that runs along the lake shore, and we are conveniently situated directly across from the boat docks. Our hotel is mysteriously called by two names on the signage: the Hotel Speranza au Lac (Hotel Hope at the Lake), and the Hotel Milan au Lac. When I received my room confirmation email, the hotel was shown as Hotel Milan Speranza au Lac. To this day, I’m not sure about the name of the hotel(s). In the photo below, the Speranza is the mustard-color hotel on the left, and the Milan is the rose-color hotel on the right.

There are also a few of the old-world luxury hotels along the shore. Here are three of those: Grand Hotel Regina Palace; Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromees; and Grand Hotel Bristol. Each of these hotels has a swimming pool, and if you are staying at the Hotel Milan Speranza au Lac, you are welcome to use the pool of the Regina Palace.

In this photo below, you can see the stairwell.

The good news is that there is an elevator!

The bad news is that we had to schlep our bags up the last flight of stairs to get to our floor.

The other goods news is that this was necessary because we were on the penthouse floor.

There was no more bad news.

And the view of the lake from our room…magnifico.

Our patio was quite large. And, it was a great place to sit and relax with a glass of wine…which we did, by the way.

This 180-view from our patio shows the expansive view.

And, there sits Isola Bella, the subject of a future article.

We enjoyed our room…which was decorated with this exquisite Murano glass chandelier.

Another view across the lake from our hotel. That slash ascending the mountain at the lakeside town of Laveno-Mombello is a cable car…but not one we’ve seen before.

As you can see in this photo, you are basically just standing in a bucket…some open and some closed. Strange.

A Bit of Shopping at Ferri Cristina

We are always pleased to find some special memento of a trip to wherever-we-find-ourselves. Sometimes, we are on a mission for a certain type of item, like a lace tablecloth from Venice. Sometimes, we just stumble upon an item that we didn’t know that we were looking for, and we didn’t know that we were destined to have. At Ferri Cristina, we found a true treasure.

That is Cristina Ferri on the right with her daughter. They are a lovely pair and together with Cristina’s mother, they run their family shop full of beautiful Italian-made items…no foreign rip-offs, here. Be prepared for ceramics, Venetian glass, and jewelry. And, when you enter, be prepared for a warm welcome.

As you shop and have questions, English is no problem for these two. As I wrote in Please, Thank You, and Where’s the Bathroom, there is absolutely no reason to fear a visit to Italy because you do not speak Italian. Many Italians learn English as they are in elementary and middle school. And that is exactly how Cristina learned to speak her beautiful English.

FUN FACT: You may recognize Cristina if you were a fan of the 1982 BBC TV series titled “BBC Italian Buongiorno Italia” (Good Morning Italy). This was a British TV show created to teach one English. I know, it is highly unlikely that you would have ever seen this series, but nevertheless, as shown in this thumbnail image, Cristina was featured as a student studying English in school, where she says that she “loves to study it”. To see a very young Cristina in her interview, click < here > and advance to 14:30 on the timeline.

So, what memento did we find to remind of us our time at Stresa on Lago Maggiore?

Here is our find — a hand painted platter by Carlesso that now adorns our dining-room wall.

Here is Cristina’s daughter Francesca showing us a photo of a much younger self, as she and her mother visited Carlesso’s studio.

Because of our visit to Ferri Cristina, the Johnsons now have a beautiful set of Italian dinnerware. Here is a bowl that is just a part of their large set.

Both our platter and the Johnson’s entire set of dinnerware arrived safely in the U.S., due to Cristina’s expert packing.

A Typical Lunch in Stresa

It’s time for lunch in Stresa. We chose one of the outdoor osteria, this one right next door to Ferri Cristina.

Our choice is called Osteria degli Amici (or Osteria of Friends).

You may have a bit of confusion as to the difference between a ristorante (restaurant), a trattoria, and an osteria. A trattoria is less formal than a ristorante, and an osteria is less formal than a trattoria. Both tend to be unpretentious, and both are known for excellent traditional local food. I’m thinking it is like a restaurant, a cafe, and a pub in the U.S.

Here, we are under the watchful eye of our waiter.

Typical of nearly every restaurant at which we’ve dined in Italy, the food was beautifully presented and tasted as good as it looked…like these ravioli and the insalata caprese.

The insalata caprese, or caprese salad, originated on the Isola di Capri (Isle of Capri - pronounced CAP-ree, not ca-PREE) near Napoli (Naples). It consists of pomodoro (tomato), mozzarella di bufala (mozzarella made with water buffalo milk - the best of the mozzarelle), and basilico (basil)…dribbled with a bit of olio (olive oil). This is a staple of Italy and one should eat it at every occasion!

A Typical Dinner in Stresa

On the day before our visit to Ferri Cristina and Osteria degli Amici, we had a nice, simple dinner on Piazza Cadorna, in the heart of Stresa — just a few blocks from our hotel.

Here we ate at Ristorante Centrale (pronounced chain-TRÄ-lay), advertised as a Pizzeria, but which also had other tasty dishes.

That’s their placemat to the left.

As usual, we started with a toast to Italy and friends.

I have to admit that I was so busy enjoying my food, I didn’t take but this one photo as we ate. Doesn’t that bruschetta look absolutely devine?! And by the way, it is pronounced bruce-KAY-tah, rather than brew-SHET-tah. Just thought you’d want to know.

So, that’s it for your introduction to Stresa on the shore of Lago Maggiore. It is a nice, lakeside town. As it has a population of over 5,000, it doesn’t have the quaint and old-world charm of many small lake-side towns of Italy. But then again, it has a wider array of places to eat and shop. And, all of the Stresiani are very friendly and willing to help you with your stay. If you make your way to Ferri Cristina, we may see you there, as we plan to return next time we find ourselves in Stresa.

Ciao for now,

Steve