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In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit an Italian island whose botanical paradise is equal to its baroque palace.
Within a land mass of less than a square mile, Palazzo Borromeo is situated at one end of Isola Bella. Gardens, terraces, statuary, stairs, and towers dominate the rest of the island, leaving just a little room for a few restaurants and shops (not pictured). In the distance are snow-covered Swiss Alps, which visitors can view from the expansive terrace at the top of the multi-terraced garden structure called Teatro Massimo. saiko3p/Shutterstock
Isola Bella, which means “beautiful island” in English, is considered one of Lake Maggiore’s Borromean Islands in Northern Italy. Less than a square mile, the small island was just a rocky, land mass until the 1600s when an Italian noble family constructed a palace and gardens on it.
While the island’s grand baroque palace is impressive, especially its interior, the elaborate terraced gardens, which occupy the majority of Isola Bella, are what truly inspire awe in visitors.
A 30-plus-year writer-journalist, Deena C. Bouknight works from her Western North Carolina mountain cottage and has contributed articles on food culture, travel, people, and more to local, regional, national, and international publications. She has written three novels, including the only historical fiction about the East Coast’s worst earthquake. Her website is DeenaBouknightWriting.com
