Lake Maggiore and Islands by private boat
Borromean Islands: Isola Bella, Isola Madre, Isola dei Pescatori

Lake Maggiore and Islands is a private tour give you the opportunity to discover an other big lake of the region, the ”Verbano”. Via private round trip transportation you will reach Stresa, where you will meet your private licensed guide. After a short visit of the beautiful Piedmont town of Stresa, you will get onboard a private boat and you will start the tour of beautiful and elegant Borromean Islands.

Isola Madre

Isola Madre is the largest of the islands on Lake Maggiore and its history is bound to the Borromeo family since 1502. Borromeo family worked to create a place of delights and a private residence. The island started to look like a English-style garden with rare plants and exotic flowers even from every continent in the world. Borromeo family entrusted the direction of the works on the palazzo to Pellegrino Tibaldi, a very notorious architect. At the end of 1700 the island appeared just like today, a place of peace and rest thanks to a mild weather and a luxurious nature. Later were built several greenhouses along with the family chapel.
The name Madre, still in use, comes from the historical supremacy of the island in Verbano and also, it is said, from the benevolent mood of the mother of Earl Renato Borromeo, Margherita Trivulzio.

Isola Bella

Isola Bella is maybe the most admired destination on Lake Maggiore and its fame derives from its stunning Baroque palace and elaborate Italian gardens. Until 1630, Isola Bella was but a cliff inhabited by fishmongers, with a couple of churches and vegetable gardens sprinkled here and there. The Borromeo family took an interest in the Isola Bella and started the ambitious project for the palazzo we can see today. The four-storey palace is a typical example of Lombard Baroque architecture. It took four hundred years and the work of a hundred men to transform Isola Bella from a barren rock in the middle of the lake to a place of delight.

Isola dei Pescatori

Isola dei Pescatori is a picturesque fishermen island on Lake Maggiore. Its characteristic old village has been a fishing community for centuries and the main activity of people living there is still nowadays fishing. It is also the only island on the Lake which is inhabited all year round by 50 people, some of whom preserve their traditional way of life. The village is very charming with its narrow streets and simple buildings. It is a perfect place where to taste the delicious lake fish, which is prepared daily in many Trattorie of the island.