Isola Bella, the Baroque garden?ship off Stresa
Published on 09/19/2026 at 13:42 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂĽller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Isola Bella is a small island off Stresa on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, almost entirely occupied by Palazzo Borromeo and its Baroque terraced gardens shaped like a stone ship rising from the water.Isola Bella off Stresa The transformation of this rocky outcrop into a palace and garden began in the seventeenth century under the Borromeo family and continued across later generations.
An island turned into a Baroque palace
Until the early seventeenth century Isola Bella was described as a lesser island, a rocky cliff with a fishing village and two small churches on its limited ground.a rocky cliff with a fishing village Members of the Borromeo family already owned nearby Isola Madre and turned their attention to this second island, acquiring land during the sixteenth century before launching a grand building project in the seventeenth century.Borromeo interest in the island
The decisive phase began around 1632, when Count Carlo III Borromeo commissioned a palace on the rock dedicated to his wife Isabella d’Adda, giving the island the name Isola Isabella which later became Isola Bella.Carlo III Borromeo and Isabella d’Adda Carlo III engaged the Milanese architect Angelo Crivelli to design the residence and plan the gardens, and work on the complex progressed under his sons and later descendants during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with figures such as Vitaliano VI Borromeo and Carlo IV Borromeo associated with bringing the project towards completion.Vitaliano VI and Carlo IV Borromeo
Palazzo Borromeo: rooms above the lake
Palazzo Borromeo occupies most of Isola Bella and dates mainly from the seventeenth century, though its decoration and layout reflect work carried into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.palace dating and later refinement The building rises in tiers from the lakeside, housing a sequence of furnished apartments, galleries and reception rooms that form a princely dwelling on an unusually constrained footprint.
Visitors encounter interiors with stucco and painted ceilings, period furniture and portraits that reflect the Borromeo family’s status in northern Italy across several centuries.a castle with many rooms At lower levels, halls and corridors open towards the surrounding water, making the presence of the lake part of the architectural setting, while upper floors connect more directly to the garden terraces at the southern tip of the island.
Terraced Baroque gardens shaped like a ship
The gardens of Isola Bella were conceived together with the palace as an Italian Baroque composition in which architecture and planting form a single work.Italian Baroque garden concept A system of terraces steps down towards the southern end of the island and rises above the lake in stacked levels of stone balustrades, statuary and planted beds that occupy almost all remaining ground.Italianate terraces on Isola Bella
Accounts of the design describe ten terraces climbing from near water level to an upper platform lined with statues, obelisks and a unicorn representing the Borromeo emblem.ten terraces and the unicorn emblem Rather than levelling the rock, the builders raised the garden by importing soil and constructing these stepped platforms, giving the island a profile likened to a ship, with the palace forming the prow and the layered terraces aligned towards the stern at the far end of the rock.island resembling a ship
Visiting Isola Bella: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- Isola Bella lies a short distance offshore from Stresa on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, reached by passenger boats that serve the Borromean Islands from the town’s lakeside piers.
- The island itself is compact and largely covered by palace and gardens, with approaches involving steps, interior staircases and sloping garden paths rather than level walks.
- Stresa sits in the Piedmont region of northern Italy on the western shore of Lake Maggiore, and Isola Bella forms part of the same group of Borromean Islands as Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori.
- The official language is Italian and the currency is the euro.
Searching for Isola Bella on social platforms
These links open searches for Isola Bella on each platform.Frequently asked questions about Isola Bella
Where is Isola Bella and what is around it?
Isola Bella is a small island off Stresa on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, forming part of the Borromean Islands group together with Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori.
What can visitors expect on a visit to Isola Bella?
Visitors encounter Palazzo Borromeo with furnished historic rooms, as well as multi-level Italian Baroque gardens laid out on terraces that rise from the lake towards the island’s southern tip.
What makes Isola Bella distinctive among lake islands?
Its distinctive character lies in the way an entire rocky island has been reshaped into a single composition of seventeenth-century palace and terraced Baroque garden, giving it the profile of a stone ship.
