Last weekend, we took our car out for one last spin around Northern Italy. We decided to visit Stresa and the Borromean Islands and cross them off our “to see in Italy” list right before we left. Since the sun was shining and weather gorgeous, it was a beautiful drive with an even more beautiful destination at the end! We started from the town of Stresa which sits on the south-westerly coast of Lago Maggiore. After walking around the lake for a bit, we hopped in line for the ferry and headed out for the islands. There are three main Borromean Islands but the Isola dei Pescatori (Fishermen’s Island) is the only one to be inhabited year round – by a whopping 50 residents. It’s tough to throw a stone in Italy without hitting a piazza, building, or island named after or owned by the Borromean family but these islands are now a public entity.
It’s a really small island. We walked the length in about 20 minutes and that was at a slooooow pace that allowed for window shopping and photo-taking. Wikipedia tells me that it’s 350 meters long by 100 meters wide. That’s pretty small. However, the tiny island is rich in charm. It’s more of a tourist destination these days than an actual fishing village but judging by all the fishing paraphernalia we saw, it seems like that industry is still quite alive.
After walking around the island (literally), we perched on some rocks near the lake to take in the view of the Isola Bella and coastline. Eventually winding our way back to the ferry terminal, we found that we’d just missed our boat. As this extra time allowed us to grab a beer at the nearest café, it was certainly a lucky miss.
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