Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Lago Maggiore |
Archipelago | Borromean Islands |
Area | 0.20 km2 (0.077 sq mi) |
Length | 0.32 km (0.199 mi) |
Width | 0.18 km (0.112 mi) |
Administration | |
Italy | |
Region | Piedmont |
Province | Verbano-Cusio-Ossola |
Isola Bella (lit. 'beautiful island') is one of the Borromean islands of Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy. The island is situated in the Borromean Gulf 400 metres from the lakeside town of Stresa. Isola Bella is 320 metres long by 400 metres wide and is divided between the Palace, its Italianate garden, and a small fishing village.
Until 1632 the island—known only as l’isola inferiore or isola di sotto [1] —was a rocky crag occupied by a tiny fishing village: but that year Carlo III of the influential House of Borromeo began the construction of a palazzo dedicated to his wife, Isabella D'Adda, from whom the island takes its name. He entrusted the works to the Milanese Angelo Crivelli, who was also to be responsible for planning the gardens. The works were interrupted around midcentury when the Duchy of Milan was struck by a devastating outbreak of the plague.
Construction resumed when the island passed to Carlo’s sons, Cardinal Giberto III (1615–1672) and Vitaliano VI (1620–1690); the latter in particular, with the financial backing of his elder brother, entrusted the completion of the works to the Milanese architect Carlo Fontana and turned the villa into a place of sumptuous parties and theatrical events for the nobility of Europe.
The completion of the gardens, however, was left to his nephew Carlo IV (1657–1734). They were inaugurated in 1671.
The island achieved its highest level of social success during the period of Giberto V Borromeo (1751–1837) when guests included Edward Gibbon, Napoleon and his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, and Caroline of Brunswick, the Princess of Wales. It is said that Caroline, having fallen in love with the place, did her best to convince the Borromeo family to sell her Isola Madre or the Castelli di Cannero islands; her request being turned down, she established herself on the banks of Lake Como at Cernobbio in the Villa d’Este.
A conference of high representatives of Italy, France, and the United Kingdom was held in the palace at Isola Bella in April 1935, resulting in the agreement known as the Stresa Front.
Isola Bella is a popular tourist attraction, with a regular ferry service from Stresa, Laveno, Pallanza, and Intra. It plays host to the annual Stresa music festival.
Lake Como, also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy.
Stresa is a comune (municipality) of about 4,600 residents on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the Italian region of Piedmont. about 90 kilometres (56 mi) northwest of Milan. It is situated on road and rail routes to the Simplon Pass.
Lake Maggiore or Verbano is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the Italian regions of Piedmont and Lombardy and the Swiss canton of Ticino. Located halfway between Lake Orta and Lake Lugano, Lake Maggiore extends for about 64 kilometres between Locarno and Arona.
The Borromean Islands are a group of three small islands and two islets in the Italian part of Lago Maggiore, located in the western arm of the lake, between Verbania to the north and Stresa to the south. Together totalling just 50 acres in area, they are a major local tourist attraction for their picturesque setting.
Cupressus cashmeriana, the Bhutan cypress or Kashmir cypress, is a species of evergreen conifer native to the eastern Himalaya in Bhutan and adjacent areas of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. [ Now in vulnerable category, IUCN list retrieved in 2006 ]. It is also introduced in China and Nepal. It grows at moderately high altitudes of 1,250–2,800 metres (4,100–9,190 ft).
The aristocratic House of Borromeo were merchants in San Miniato around 1300 and became bankers in Milan after 1370. Vitaliano de' Vitaliani, who acquired the name of Borromeo from his uncle Giovanni, became the count of Arona in 1445. His descendants played important roles in the politics of the Duchy of Milan and as cardinals in the Catholic Reformation. In 1916, the head of the family was granted the title Prince of Angera by the King of Italy.
Isolabella or Isola Bella may refer to:
Isola dei Pescatori is an island in Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. As the most northerly of the three principal Borromean Islands it is also known as Isola Superiore and, with a population of 25 in 2018, it is the only one to be inhabited all year round. Unlike Isola Bella and Isola Madre, the island has never belonged to the Borromeo family.
Isola Madre, at 220 m wide and 330 m long, is the largest island of the Isole Borromee archipelago which falls within the Italian part of the Alpine Lake Maggiore, in the Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, Piedmont. The island is occupied by a number of buildings and architectural structures and is especially well known for its gardens. In the past it was known as Isola di San Vittore and later as Isola Maggiore.
The Isolino di San Giovanni is a small island belonging to the Borromean group of Lake Maggiore, one of the main subalpine lakes of northern Italy. It is situated some way to the north of the others in the group, 30 metres west of the shoreline of Pallanza, a frazione of Verbania. It is part of the frazione Pallanza.
The Giardini Botanici dell'Isola Madre are historic botanical gardens located on the grounds of Isola Madre in the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore, accessible by ferry from Stresa, Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piedmont, Italy. They are open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged.
The Villa d'Este, originally Villa del Garovo, is a Renaissance patrician residence in Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, close to the city of Como. Both the villa and the 25-acre (100,000 m2) park which surrounds it have undergone significant changes since their sixteenth-century origins as a summer residence for Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio, who had been born in the village. Visiting the garden in 1903 for Century Magazine, Edith Wharton found this to be ‘the only old garden on Como which keeps more than a fragment of its original architecture’, and noted that ‘though Queen Caroline anglicised part of the grounds, the main lines of the Renaissance garden still exist’. It was Queen Caroline who gave it the name it has retained; it has never belonged to the d'Este family.
Beatrice dei Principi Borromeo Arese Taverna is an Italian journalist and fashion model. Born into an aristocratic family, she graduated from Bocconi University and Columbia University. She became a journalist for il Fatto Quotidiano, Newsweek and Daily Beast. She also worked as a broadcast journalist for Anno Zero on Rai 2 and hosted a weekly show on the Radio 105 Network. She married Pierre Casiraghi, a son of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, in 2015 and had two children. As a model, she became the 2021 ambassador of Dior.
Isola del Garda, Isola di Garda, or Isola Borghese is the biggest island on Lake Garda. It is part of the comune of San Felice del Benaco, in the Province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. The island has a long and varied history, having been used as a Roman burial ground, pirate lair, a site for a Franciscan monastery, border fortification and as a residential villa. The island has been visited by numerous famous people over the centuries, reportedly including Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua and Dante Alighieri. Today, it is covered by a park and is dominated by the Venetian neo-Gothic Villa Borghese Cavazza. Although privately owned by the Cavazza family, Isola del Garda has been open to visitors since 2002.
Carlo Iotti or Carlo Jotti was an Italian painter, mainly of landscapes.
The Rocca Borromeo di Angera, or Rocca d'Angera, also called Borromeo Castle, is a rocca on a hilltop above the town of Angera in the Province of Varese on the southern shores of Lago Maggiore. It has medieval origins and initially belonged to the Milanese archbishop. It passed then to the Visconti of Milan and later to the Borromeos, who are still the owners.
Matilde Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg is an Italian equestrian and horse breeder. She is a member of the House of Borromeo, an Italian noble family with historic ties to the Catholic Church and the Duchy of Milan. Through her marriage to Prince Antonius zu Fürstenberg she is a member of the German House of Fürstenberg. Matilde Borromeo has competed in international equestrian competitions representing Italy.
The Scoglio della Malghera is a small island belonging to the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore, one of the main subalpine lakes of northern Italy. It is located halfway between Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori, in the comune of Stresa.
Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées is a historic luxury hotel located on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Italy.