Stresa is the most classically beautiful of the major Lake Maggiore resort towns, and Lake Maggiore (the second-largest lake in Italy, shared between Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Swiss canton of Ticino) is the most distinguished of the Italian lakes in terms of the quality of its Belle Époque resort infrastructure. The Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées (built 1861, the hotel where Ernest Hemingway set the hospital scenes of A Farewell to Arms based on his 1918 recuperation in the same building after his Caporetto wounding) still operates as a luxury hotel. The lakeside promenade with its plane trees and the specific quality of the light on the Piedmont pre-Alps across the water is unchanged from the Edwardian resort photographs. And the ferry service to the three Borromean Islands (Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori, Isola Madre, the island group that the Borromeo family has owned and developed since the 17th century) operates from the Stresa pier as it has for 200 years.
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Stresa and the Borromean Islands
Isola Bella: The Baroque Palace Garden
Isola Bella (ferry from Stresa: 10 minutes, €7.50 round trip) is the most famous of the Borromean Islands, the baroque palace (Palazzo Borromeo, begun 1632) and its extraordinary terraced garden occupy the entire island except for the village of the island's 50 permanent residents. The garden: ten terraces of baroque garden architecture, featuring the Borromeo family's signature white peacocks (still present), the grottos of shell-and-pebble mosaic, the water theater, and the specific combination of formal Italian garden geometry with the Lake Maggiore backdrop that makes Isola Bella garden one of the most photographed in Europe. The palace interior contains the 17th-18th century Borromeo collection (tapestries, paintings, Napoleonic furniture. Napoleon spent the night of August 22-23, 1797 at the palace during his Italian campaign).
Stresa: tours & tickets
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Isola dei Pescatori (Fishermen's Island, 10 minutes by ferry from Isola Bella) is the only Borromean island that hasn't been transformed into a garden or palace, it remains a small fishing village of approximately 50 residents, with narrow lanes, houses built directly at the water's edge, and the specific quality of a working island community that hasn't been entirely converted to tourism. The restaurants on the island (several small trattorie serving lake fish, the lavarello, the persico, the agone, in the specific Lake Maggiore preparation of poached with herbs and oil) are the most genuinely Italian eating experience available in the Stresa day excursion circuit.
Q&A: Stresa Lake Maggiore
How do I get to Stresa from Milan?
By train from Milano Centrale: direct Intercity or regional train, approximately 1 hour 10 minutes, trains every 1-2 hours. By car: 80km northwest of Milan via the A8 (Milano-Varese) then A26 (Voltri-Gravellona Toce), approximately 1 hour. Stresa is the most accessible Lake Maggiore resort by public transport from Milan, making it the most practical single-day lake excursion from the city. Ferry to the islands: departures from the Stresa Imbarcadero (the pier at the bottom of the central promenade) every 20-30 minutes in high season (April-October). Combined ferry-and-islands ticket approximately €22.
