The 16th- to 18th-century Palazzo Madre is a wonderfully decadent structure crammed full of all manner of antique furnishings and adornments. Highlights include Countess Borromeo’s doll collection, a neoclassical puppet theatre designed by a scenographer from Milan’s La Scala, and a ‘horror’ theatre with a cast of devilish marionettes. Outside, its gardens blaze with colourful azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and hibiscus.
A combined ticket also covers admission to Palazzo Borromeo on Isola Bella.
