| Image: PCL |
The locals had plenty to chew on during last
September’s Stresa music festival. Never mind the three-hour
Cossi Fan Tutti opera conducted by one of the world’s most
sought-after conductors, or the 22-year-old solo violinist flown in
from New York; the society wedding of the year, between Lavinia
Borromeo and John Elkann, Gianni Agnelli’s grandson and heir
to the Fiat dynasty, was about to take place.
The name Borromeo carries significant clout on the Italian Riviera.
A noble Milanese dynasty who made the lake their holiday home in
the 18th and 19th centuries, most visitors get a glimpse of their
lavish lifestyle on Isola Bella, one of three small islands
floating in Lake Maggiore.
Here, the ancestral Borromeos built gardens and a palace stuffed
with Venetian chandeliers, marble, priceless artworks, tapestries,
paintings, antique furniture and stuccoes. The garden, featuring 10
terraces sloping down to the lake, made a spectacular setting for
the wedding party.
The wedding meant closing roads and the mountain funicular as well
as a whole island, along with its shops and restaurants, to
tourists. A swarm of Prada-clad officials and security had
descended like black locusts in preparation for the arrival of 700
socialites and guests including Henry Kissinger, the Rothschilds,
the Italian prime minister and the president of Fiat – also
the man behind the Ferrari racing team.
The bride wore Valentino, and my taxi driver was due to collect the
designer from the airport the following day. Our guide, well up on
local gossip, said rumour had it Gianni Agnelli’s mother
Margherita had hinted she may not attend the wedding because of a
rift over the Agnelli inheritance. Later, in the deli La Cambusa,
at a tasting of the region’s local cheeses, wines, salamis
and finest olive oils, the excitable proprietress told us it was a
disgrace that restaurateurs, forced to close their businesses,
would not be compensated for loss of earnings.
And so it went on.
Stresa is a genteel town unused to the focus of the Italian media.
With its grand lake-front hotels, manicured lawns, botanical
gardens and slow pace, it is faintly reminiscent of Eastbourne
– with a glorious mountain backdrop, infinitely superior
cuisine and an island-studded blue lake in place of the grey
English Channel. Queen Victoria, who appears in a drawing at Villa
Clara ‘taking the air’ in Baveno in 1879, is one of its
most famous guests.
For all their grandeur, the Italian lake resorts are in no way
flashy. With its baroque castles and Renaissance villas the
destination reeks of old money, but compared with the brash French
Riviera where new money flaunts itself in yachts and glamour,
wealth here is restrained. Of the five lakes – Como, Iseo,
Lugano, Maggiore and Garda – Como and Garda are perhaps the
best known among UK visitors. But explore a bit further and
you’ll find other bucolic lakeside towns that have kept their
beauty all to themselves. Stresa and the tiny Orta on Lake Orta are
the unsung heroes of the lakes – many visitors in fact arrive
here by default on day trips from the better-known lake resorts.
Keen to attract a younger market, the tourism authorities are keen
to highlight the potential for mountain biking, trekking and lake
sports – swimming, beach activities, sailing, canoeing,
surfing and waterskiing. But it’s impossible to ignore the
magnificent gardens, island villas, cobbled village streets and
Belle Epoque palaces that give the Italian Lakes their identity.
The trio of Borromeo islands, Madre, Bella and Pescatori (the
fisherman’s Isle), are not to be missed. One of the
highlights of our visit was an evening concert at Isola Madre, as
part of the annual Stresa Musical Festival.
After arriving by ferry boat we followed the candle-lit stone steps
and wafts of citronella up through sumptuous gardens and past the
island’s tiny church to a peach-coloured palazzo where a
violin soloist was about to perform. A more magical setting,
surrounded by hibiscus and camellia blossoms – all
illuminated by candlelight and a full moon, is hard to imagine.
The next day we toured the lavish Borromeo Palace and extravagant
terraced gardens of Isola Bella complete with its grottoes,
fountains and statues and for lunch ate fresh perch on the terrace
of a lakeside restaurant.
Returning home our guide reported that roads duly closed but a
small crowd was allowed to watch the 700 wedding guests board a
private steamer to Isola Bella. Back on Fiat territory, in Turin, a
second reception was held at Mole Antonelliano, whose 85-metre
cuppola will be used in the logo for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
