Stresa on the banks of Lake Maggiore, Isola Madre & Villa Taranto

Another free day so we decided to take the ferry first to Isola Madre and then to the far side of the lake Villa Taranto. We had checked out the ferry terminal earlier on and noted that there are large queues for tickets prior to ferries leaving so we bought our tickets yesterday afternoon when the place was empty, 8 tickets in all, 2 to the island, 2 from the island to the far side, 2 from the far side home and we think the other 2 must have been some kind of tax. The whole lot only cost £23

The first leg of our journey was to Isola Madre where the whole island  is covered by the gardens of the palace that stands at the highest point. If front of the palace is a large Kashmir cypress tree that was planted in 1862, in 2006 it was uprooted by a tornado and great efforts were made to save it with special lifting equipment flown in by helicopter. Today its again standing proud with the help of some guy ropes.

The gardens are quite extensive with several informal lily ponds and a few Peacocks lying around for good measure.

They had a lovely stand of Bamboo plants as well as a Wisteria tunnel running down a long flight of stairs that lead directly to the level of the Palace from the boat house.   I am sitting in the shade at the top of the stairs enjoying a cold beer.

The Palace is not lived in but has been owned by the Borromeo family that owns Isola Bella and many other Islands and palaces for over the past 500 years and in my opinion was a nicer place to visit than the palace at Isola Bella. Again there was quite a collection of puppets and even a set up puppet theatre.

The house contains many other treasures as well and demonstrates well the architecture where there was a corridor giving instant access to all rooms for the servants.

      

From here we caught one of the scheduled ferries to the far side of the lake to visit the grounds of Villa Taranto. I say the grounds because you are not allowed near the Villa, but you can photograph it through the fence.

The island was bought by a Scotsman, Captain Neil Mc Eacharn back in 1931 with the view of creating an English Garden to remind him of home. I can’t say it reminded me of Scotland with its wide paths and some of the plants, but it did all climb steadily up the rock.

It also contained several formal water features.

Looking out across the lake from above the formal pools the horizon probably did remind him of his beloved Scotland with the snowy peaks, there is even an interpretation board to help you identify them.

After completing our walk around the gardens we headed back to the ferry terminal to catch one of the passing ferries going back to Stresa, not a direct route calling in at several places on the way and passing Isola Madre just as another boat was leaving.

If you would like more information about these two wonderful gardens then please visit their web sites at
The story of Villa Taranto and its majestic gardens
Isola Madre - Borromean Lands on Lake Maggiore - Official Website (isoleborromee.it)