Piedmont is Italy’s second largest region and is a big wine-producing area with approximately 45,000 hectares under vine. The name, Piedmont, translates to foot of the mountains, and the mountains form a backdrop to almost everywhere you go – with the Alps in the north and west and the Apennines in the south. We put our toe in the waters of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region when we spent 4 days in the lovely little town of Baveno and the Borromean islands in early July.
Lake Maggiore – Baveno
This little town is just north of Stresa and offers a quieter Lake Maggiore experience than nearby Stresa and it’s so close to the popular Borromean Islands you could swim or SUP over! The town has about 5,000 residents and many were on their summer holidays when we visited, and we enjoyed the more chilled vibe. We walked every square inch of the town and discovered it has some serious history – very long history in fact, starting with prehistoric human existence.
There are archaeological finds that indicate the town goes back many millennia and the Romans left a necropolis, household items and coins from when the town was on a trading route and had a commercial port. The area is also famous for its rose granite quarries, and you can see where they carved out the stone behind Baveno during the Renaissance period. The apartment we stayed in was the old Osteria (bar) in the 1800’s and was a ten minute walk out of Baveno in the old stonemasons district called Oltrefiume. The pretty little church of Saint Peter Martyr from 17th century was behind the house and there was a local lycee up the hill that held its Festa d’estate – the Summer Fair while we were there and their music wafted down to us on the evening breeze.
In the Complesso Monumentale -the heart of the town – we visited the Romanesque Church (Chiesa dei SS Gervasoe Protaso) from 1133,and admired the saintly paintings in the side chapels. We also enjoyed walking the frescoed arcades of the octagonal Baptistry, from the 5th century. There’s a lovely promenade that runs along the lake towards the Marina and a couple of Kms further and you are in Stresa but there’s no footpath, so we didn’t walk that way. Instead, we stopped at the gelateria on the edge of Baveno under the pergolas one evening for drinks and gelati and also had a lovely meal one night at one of the many restaurants that pile their tables along the sea wall so you can eat as you watch the sun go down – just lovely! But our favourite area was the gardens and waterfront of Villa Fedora with its public park, kiosk serving basic aperitivos and little beach. It was our go to for an Aperol Spritz before dinner – and on the Saturday night we visited after dinner to listen to a rock ‘n roll band.
We also enjoyed heading out to the Borromean islands and caught the ferry out to the three islands owned by the Bormollea family. It was a tiny little ferry – more like a speedboat that seated about 30 and their way of ‘docking’ on the islands was to ram the boat up on the muddy shore and throw out a plank! Each island was only a 10 minute ferry ride so it was a quick ‘milk run’ that rotated every hour.
We stopped at Isola Madre first and walked around the old English style expansive Botanical gardens replete with both white and colourful lyrebirds, lots of trees with British botanical names, big green lawns. We toured the Palazzo which was a bit faded in its glory and whilst it captured the era we found the endless rooms full of marionette puppets creepy and the theatre sets and paraphernalia a bit sombre. There was a ‘hell theatre’ with a (real) fire breathing dragon and lots of dark paintings and ornate chandeliers. There were two little cafés and a small restaurant (all had a 2 euro per person cover charge – which makes having a coffee/tea an expensive exercise).
The next ride was over to Isola Bella where the luxury went up a notch with an incredibly ornate palace and gloriously colourful tiered gardens. It was a lot more touristy with people strolling around in old fashioned clothes and parasols and the Palazzo was filled with huge ornate rooms with high ceilings and gilt furniture. There was a whole section of rooms decorated like an underwater grotto lined with grey and white pebbles for the summer months.
The final island was 5 mins from Bella and is called interchangeably Isla Superior or Isla Pesctore and this one is all about the restaurants and shops – so we obliged with a lovely pasta by the water than picked up lots of little treasures from scarfs to Limoncello in the shops along the tiny alleyways around town.
