Isola Bella took It’s hard to imagine that, prior to its construction, the island was little more than a chunk of rock inhabited by a handful of hardy fishing families. To this day, only 16 people live year-round on the island, but in summer the place looks like a scene from the Normandy landings of 1944, with countless vessels ferrying battalions of visitors to and fro. Construction of the villa and gardens was thought out in such a way that the island would have the vague appearance of a vessel, with the villa at the prow and the gardens at the rear.
Well-known guests have included Napoleon and Josephine in 1797 (you can see the bed they slept in), and Prince Charles and Princess Di in 1985. Presiding over 10 tiers of terraced gardens, the baroque palace remains private property. In summer, the family who owns it moves in and occupies the 2nd and 3rd floors (off limits to visitors), totalling a mere 50-odd rooms. Visitors can see the ground and 1st floors, the latter also known as the ‘noble’ floor. As was typical in such mansions, the noble floor was largely one of representation, including guestrooms, ballrooms, studies and reception halls. Beneath a 23m-high ceiling in the Salone Grande (part of the ballroom) is a 200-year-old wooden model of the palace and island.
A separate €4 ticket gains access to the recently reopened Galleria dei Quadri (Picture Gallery), a hall in which the walls are covered from top to bottom with 130 paintings of the Borromeo collection. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to the arrangement and the more closely you scan the walls, the more likely you are to see pieces by several Old Masters, including Rubens, Titian, Paolo Veronese, Andrea Mantegna or José Ribera (Spagnoletto). Elsewhere in the building are scattered further works of art, as well as Flemish tapestries and sculptures by Antonio Canova.
Below, a 3000-year-old fossilised boat is displayed behind glass in the cool palace grotti . The grottoes are studded with pink marble, lava stone, and pebbles from the lakebed. White peacocks, whose fanned feathers resemble bridal gowns, strut about the gardens, considered one of the finest examples of a baroque Italian garden design. A combined ticket covering admission to the Borromeo and Madre palaces (on Isola Madre) costs €16.50/7.50 per adult/child.
