ISOLA BELLA 
LAKE MAGGIORE 
PLATES 3, 4, 5> 6, 7 
all the situations where one might choose to lay out a garden, none could be 
more romantic than an island site, and no position provides better material 
or greater scope for ingenuity of treatment. I sola Bella is situated on Lake 
Maggiore, opposite the town of Stresa, and is the second in size of a group 
known as the Borromean Islands, in the most beautiful part of the lake, 
surrounded upon all sides by verdure-clad mountains and placid lake, glittering 
like a mirror. To the student of garden-planning Isola Bella is one of the 
most fascinating of studies, standing quite in a class by itself and unlike anything else in Italy- 
one might indeed say, in the world. A veritable enchanted island that for centuries has excited 
the wonder and admiration of generations of travellers as one of the principal sights to be 
admired whilst making the ‘ grand tour.’ 
Before the days when Count Carlo Borromeo III. built his ‘Casino’ the island consisted 
merely of a group of picturesque rocks rising from the lake. The larger of the group of islands, 
the Isola Madre, was the first to be built upon, and the garden was laid out in terraces in a 
formal manner. Now, unfortunately, an idea of its former grandeur can only be obtained from 
old surveys, for the landscape gardener has almost entirely obliterated the formal laying-out by 
the plantation of specimen trees. 
In the year 1632 the work of laying out the Isola Isabella, as it was formerly called, was 
commenced by Count Carlo and continued by his son, Count Vitaliano IV., under the direction of 
Carlo Fontana and several Milanese architects. Carlo Simonetta and other sculptors were employed 
upon the many statues which adorn the terraces and mount. The whole work was completed 
by 1671. 
The principal approach to the palace is upon the north-east side, where a stairway leads 
from the waterside and circular port to a courtyard, surrounded by the palace on two sides. The 
third side is a sham arcaded wall, made to harmonise with the general architectural lines, and 
serving to screen the irregularity of the offices and village behind. In one of the low vaulted 
rooms in the basement of the palace is still preserved a large model showing the complete design 
of the island, with the approach as originally intended, jutting into the lake upon the north side 
of the island. This scheme, although actually commenced, was later abandoned, and the north 
( 4i ) 
G 
