Lake Maggiore & Stresa

Our previous night had been back in Cinque Terre - and we were still struggling with leaving by the time we got to Stresa - but this city on Lake Maggiore had some excitement to offer us as well. Stresa is a little town along the western banks of Lake Maggiore, which is the lake in Northern Italy right to the west of Lake Como. The lake actually extends just a bit into Switzerland - but we stayed on the Italian side our nights here.

The lake is beautiful - and massive. Within the lake are the Borromeo Islands, of which the largest is Isola Bella, which the Borromeo family owns. The island is the family’s summer escape and they still visit the island to this day. We also learned that Italy’s Paris Hilton is a part of the family and visits the island occasionally as well. Super.

Anyways, we took ferrys during our full day in Stresa out to the islands. Our favorite island was Isola Bella - which in Italian means “Beautiful Island” - we decided this was an appropriate name. The island had a small hotel, the Borromeo Summer Palace, and many little restaurants and cafes on it. Touring the palace was similiar to touring the Newport Mansions back in Rhode Island - but this island had quite a bit more history. Napoleon Bonaparte had slept there one night and after his stay he was asked not to return because he smelled so bad. Unrelated to this, we learned he was a very short man - and so we starting thinking of him as the short, stinky Frenchman. In other celebrity news from the island, Charles and Diana spent the night there once as well.

We also learned that Mussolini and a French and British ambassador had signed a treaty in Stresa back before WWII broke out that basically said the three nations would be allies against German aggression. Of course we know from history that this didn’t quite go as planned in the agreement - but it was nonetheless neat to see Mussolini’s signature and such an important part of history.

The island also has some fantastic gardens in the back of the palace which we got to walk through and explore. There were pure white peacocks roaming around, statues, beautiful flowers, and of course the lake backdrop to it all.

We stayed right along the lake in a nice little hotel where our room came complete with a balcony over looking the lake - it was awesome. There wasn’t a ton else to do in Stressa so we used this as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed rest. We also got to enjoy a great dinner a the hotel next door on our second night where Kristen enjoyed some gnocci and Matt had the best seafood and pasta so far. Later that night Matt took some neat nights shots over the lake - which we’ll post for you to see.

The next morning we were off to Lucerne - thus ending our time in Italy and starting our Swiss adventures!