Italy Walk: Day 2

Beautiful Palace, Great Food, Good Walk

So yesterday we left our lovely accommodations on Isola Superiore (also known as Isola Pescatori) with our room overlooking Lake Maggiore. We opted out of the very steep walk up Mattarone to Gignese, taking the cable car instead and the four-mile walk from Alpina to our Agritourisma outside Gignese. But first we explored Isola Bella, and it was stunning.

This is the view from our terrace at the Hotel Belvedere. Nice place, some rude staff members — and they failed to get our luggage on the boat so it could be moved to our next location. Grrrr. But the hotel was nicely appointed, and the food was delicious.

We walked around Isola Pescatori while waiting on our ferry, and looked inside this lovely church which was to be the site of a wedding later in the day.

 The outside of the church.

It had been very quiet on the island during our visit, as it is off-season, but things really picked up for the weekend, as restaurants set out tables and vendors set out their wares.

This is on Isola Bella, a smaller island just adjacent to the larger Pescatori that features one of the homes of the wealthy Borromeo family and took more than four centuries to complete. It is now open to tourists and features one of the top gardens in all of Europe.

The Welcome Room has a model of the palace that was made, not by a famous artist or architect, but by one of the servants of the family.

How much fun would it be to feast around this table?? No elbows on this table!

The Throne Room, which welcomed many members of international royalty.

This scary guy was in the throne room and had a buddy on the other side.

 An entire suite of rooms known as the General Berthier Gallery held magnificent paintings ranging from Dutch masters to Baroque artists. This room alone has 130 paintings.

The Grant Staircase was made entirely of beautiful marble.

This is the music room, but behind the piano forte is a table and chairs where the heads of the three great powers of Europe in 1938 met, including the president of France, the prime minister of England and Mussolini — to forge the allies’ agreement (shown below) denouncing Hitler. This, of course, failed and World War II began.

This is Napolean’s room, where he and Josephine stayed when they visited. He was not welcomed back again, as he apparently left quite the mess and was quite the nuisance, including ordering the killing of a pheasant just because he wanted it. Josephine did visit later with her son, who turned out to be a thief.

View from one of the windows.

Puppets made of papier mache and beautifully painted stages provided entertainment. Many of them did special tricks that delighted the children.

And on the ground floor were the six grottos, cool in summer and floored and walled inch-to-inch with shells and stones and stucco. This floor is made entirely of river rock, and it was said that people spent years carrying the stones from the river to the palace.

But then there are the gardens and this is a view from the top wall.

The room where guests were welcomed by the family.

This spiral stair leads up from the grotto to the main floor.

This is a room from the grotto. So magnificent!

The incredible baroque garden, with its ten terraces in the shape of a truncated pyramid. Magnificent!

The merchants were out on Isola Bella, including this one featuring all things lavender.

Our ride up the funivula was lovely and saved us hours of very steep walking!

 The streets of Gignese.

We just loved this row of stone-carved seats on our walk!

We passed numerous mansions along the way.

 Gignese hotel (not ours!)

Per usual, we were placed on a second floor and up had to come our luggage!

The view from Agriturisma La Miniera — a B&B working farm.

 The ceiling in the dining room.

 Venison ravioli was delicious!!

And the pork scallopini with roasted potatoes did not disappoint.

But then came the desserts, and they were delicious!

As good as the food was, a real highlight was staying here on this family farm. Isabella, our hostess, and her family are so warm and kind. The affection they show each other, their friends who dined here last night and all who enter their door, is so heartwarming.

Now off for another day. Ciao!