The influential House of Borromeo purchased four rocky islets on glorious Lake Maggiore in the 16th century and transformed them into showpieces.
Today’s billionaires collect fast cars and yachts to impress, but in the Italian Renaissance, a beautiful garden was the ultimate symbol of power and wealth. Displays of exotic botanical species paid tribute to the intrepid plant hunters who smuggled them to Europe from the depths of Asia and the Pacific, while fanciful statuary, grottoes and terraces were created for the amusement and entertainment of guests.
Designed to resemble a galleon from the water, 10 terraces rise above the lake, the perfect axis created by sculpted boxwood hedges, mirrored plantings of camellias and citrus and burbling fountains. Meanwhile, white peacocks strut freely on manicured lawns, their surreal squawks at odds with their fanned dance of seduction.
Isola Madre, on the other hand, is a more restrained statement, its eight-hectare garden reflecting the romantic English style of meandering parkland. Gustave Flaubert described Madre as “the most voluptuous place I have ever seen in the world”, and it is indeed a delight to wander, with more than 2000 rare floral species: fragrant wisteria and magnolias, parterres of rhododendron and azaleas, avenues of giant redwood, reflective ponds with waterlilies, irises and lotus.
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