Lago Maggiore and Lago d'Orta – West Bank
For generations of travelers coming to Italy by land, LAGO MAGGIORE was a foretaste of this country, because the road and railway line from Switzerland lead along its shores. For newcomers tired of travel and tired of seeing the huge peaks of the Alps, transparent waters of the lake, gently green hills and Mediterranean vegetation seem to promise a lot. In reality, however, most of the Maggiore area is monotonous, the higher mountains are quite far from its Italian shores, and the southern part of the lake, especially on the eastern shore, is just uninteresting.
Still, orange flowers, Vines, verbena coast and clean air attract tourists here, who stay in the most popular resorts, Pallanza, Stresa and Baveno (at the peak of the season reservations are necessary there). The lake was always popular with the British: Queen Victoria lived in Baveno in Villa Clara, which Edward Hutten's guide, published at the beginning of our century, described as "the second Wimbledon or residence of a retired merchant in Putney".”, and located on the islet of Isola Bella (currently the biggest tourist attraction of Maggiore) Villa Borromeo writer Robert Southey considered to be , one of the most expensive examples of bad taste in all of Italy”.
West Bank
The southern part of the western coast of the lake is quite monotonous, but in high season it is easier to find a room here. Uninteresting in itself ARONA is located on the main railway line, and its cheap locande make it a convenient base. The only attraction of the town is the 30-meter copper statue of Charles Borromeo, who was born in the ruins of the castle of Arona, which is now in ruins. The statue is empty inside and volunteers who do not suffer from claustrophobia can even climb to his head.
You can camp at the Lido campsite (•0322/3383), located on the very shore, a short distance from the train station. Cheapest locande (double rooms 20 OOOL) to Antico Galio (• 0322/3137) and Ponte (•0322/45317). Tourist information is located on Corso Bagni 8.
Stresa and islands
Folders for tourists begin to describe Maggiore from STRESA, whose popularity has been going on since the completion of the Simplon tunnel in 1906 Year. The elegant promenade is always full of British and Germans, for which stores are full of worthless souvenirs, and cafes offer very expensive drinks. Hotels from the beginning of the century, Eighteenth-century villas, lush gardens, views of isole Borromee and the prestigious international classical music festival taking place here at the turn of August and September make, that Stresa still has the atmosphere of a city of culture.
After a walk along the promenade to the Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees, Hemingway's Farewell to the Weapon action location, you can go to Piazza Marconi or Piazzale Lido and get there on a ship to Isole Borromee (7000L round trip; entrance to each palace 5000L).
The most famous of these islands, Isola Bella (half-LIl-X, codz. 9.00-12.00 and 12.30-17.30), even though three hundred years ago it was a wild rock, is today the most magnificent and richest of the gardens on the lake. In the seventeenth century, Prince Carlo III Borromeo wanted to create an island paradise for his wife Isabela and commissioned an architect, Angelo Crivellemu, transforming it into a luxurious baroque oasis. Tons of land were brought from the shore, villa built, fountains and statues, ten terraces of orange and lemon trees carved into the rock, Camellias, Magnolia, boxwood, laurel trees and cypresses, even white peacocks were brought.
The central point of the island, however, are four-level grottoes, decorated with scallops, mirrors and marble, and topped with a Disney unicorn figure, mini obelisks, stone posers and delightful cherubs. There is even more kitsch in the villa itself, as well as fashionable and expensive furniture and decorative elements, and in the basement, there are further artificial grottoes and a collection of 18th-century puppets.
Hemingway's Favorite Island, Fishermen's Island, was once an island of fishermen, but because today is nothing more, than a tourist trap full of artificially made moods, it's best to only stay there that long, how long does it take for the ferry to Isola Mądre (the same hours., co Isola Bella; road admission). The bigger one, but a less visited island, has a small, pretty, a beautiful little palace full of portraits of the Borromeo family, quite a natural garden. On the fourth island, little San Giovanni, there is a villa, once owned by Toscanini, and today it is closed to visitors.
Wanting a break from the islands, you can take the cable car to Monte Mottarone, which, even though it is not the most attractive of the peaks, it certainly does not deserve to be given to it by an English art critic, Ruskina, the contemptuous name of "the stupidest of the mountains . Ruskin was careful too, that the view from here is monotonous, but either his mood, or the weather must have been bad, because the panorama from the top stretches from Monte Rosa on the border of Switzerland and Val d'Aosta to Adamello near Lago di Garda. The forested western slopes of the mountain are popular today among amateurs of family picnics, who sit on the side of the road on weekends. From the top there is an easy and pleasant trail to the little one, but the lovely Lago d'Ort (See. below).
In Stresa, it is best to stay overnight in the relatively unknown Locanda del Baffo, Via Anna Maria Bolongar 57 (*0323/30507), where double rooms cost 28 OOOL. Or you can go up from the station, to Mon Toc on Via Duchessa di Genova (*30282), where you pay for a double room 25 OOOL. Most pensions serve good food, a Taverna del Papagallo, Via Principessa Margherita 46, offers affordable pizzas.
Further north
Further north, along the road surrounded by villas, quiet summer resort BAVENO, lies between the beach and the jagged mountains. In 1879 of the year in Villa Clara (currently Castello Branca) Queen Victoria stopped, which contributed to the popularization of Baveno among the then elite. As you can guess, the town is still very well known to British tourists, who are happy to come here on vacation. From here you can get to the small lake of Mergozzo, cut off from the rest of Maggiore by drifted slime or take a picturesque road to Monte Camoscio.
The best hotels are: located near the coastal highway at the entrance to Baveno La Ripa (reservation necessary; * 0323/24589), and quiet, modern Ortensie (VI-IX; *0323/24502). In both, a double room costs 28 OOOL.
Further up the lake lies PALLANZA, which together with the industrial districts of SUNA and INTRA, forms the city of VERBANIA (the name resembles the Roman name of this lake covered with verbena, Verb). Winters in Verbania are the mildest on the entire coast, which made it possible for a retired Scottish military man, Captain Neil McEachern, the creation here in the 1930s of the most prestigious botanical garden in the entire region in Villa Taran is (IV-X codz. 8.30-18.30; 1000L). Gathered here 20 000 plant species, including giant Amazonian lilies, lotus flower, Japanese maple and the sacred tree of the Azedera melia Indian, and they are placed around fountains and ponds with geometric accuracy.