Institute of Ecosystem Study

The Isolino di San Giovanni is a small island belonging to the Borromean group of Lake Maggiore, one of the main subalpine lakes of northern Italy. It is situated some way to the north of the others in the group, 30 metres west of the shoreline of Pallanza, a frazione of Verbania. It is part of the frazione Pallanza. The earliest extant record of the island is from the year 999, when it was identified as Isola di Sant’Angelo, referring to a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael found within its castle. In the middle of the twelfth century the island was in the possession of counts belonging to the Barbavara di Gravellona family. The Borromeos made various attempts to obtain the Isolino di San Giovanni in the late sixteenth century with the aim of establishing a Barnabite college. They finally acquired it in 1632 and embellished it with a palazzo and gardens. Today the Borromean palazzo reflects for the most part its nineteenth-century aspect. A well-known resident during parts of the 1930s and 1940s was the conductor Arturo Toscanini.

The Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto (16 hectares) are botanical gardens located on the western shore of Lake Maggiore in Pallanza, Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Italy. They are open daily; an admission fee is charged. The gardens were established 1931-1940 by Scotsman Neil Boyd McEacharn who bought an existing villa and its neighbouring estates, cut down more than 2000 trees, and undertook substantial changes to the landscape, including the addition of major water features employing 8 km of pipes. He set the name "Villa Taranto" (Taranto House) in honour of his ancestor Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald, named Duke of Taranto by Napoleon. They opened to the public in 1952, and after McEacharn's death in 1964 have been run by a non-profit organization. The Villa Taranto itself is not open to the public; it is used by the government.Captain Neil Boyd Watson McEacharn was born in 1884 in Hanover Square, London, England. His father was the Australian Sir Malcolm Donald McEacharn of Scottish descent and his mother Mary Ann Watson, a daughter of Australian mining millionaire John Boyd Watson. He was commissioned into the Kings Own Scottish Borderers of the British Army in 1911 and served throughout the First World War, being appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).Today the gardens contain nearly 20,000 plant varieties, representing more than 3,000 species, set among 7 km of paths. Among its collections are azalea, cornus, greenhouses of Victoria amazonica, and 300 types of dahlias. It also contains a small herbarium and the founder's mausoleum.

Isola Madre, at 220 m wide and 330 m long, is the largest island of the Isole Borromee archipelago which falls within the Italian part of the Alpine Lake Maggiore, in the Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, Piedmont. The island is occupied by a number of buildings and architectural structures and is especially well known for its gardens. In the past it was known as Isola di San Vittore and later as Isola Maggiore.

The Giardini Botanici dell'Isola Madre (8 hectares) are historic botanical gardens located on the grounds of Isola Madre in the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore, accessible by ferry from Stresa, Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piedmont, Italy. They are open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged. The gardens extend in seven terraces across the small island of Isola Madre, originally inhabited by Count Lancillotto Borromeo in the early sixteenth century. They were designed for Count Vitaliano Borromeo all’Inglese (in the English style) in the late eighteenth century on the site of a citrus orchard, and have remained essentially unchanged since. Among their many visitors have been Napoleon Bonaparte, Gustave Flaubert, and Théophile Gautier. Principal gardens are as follows: Loggia del Cashmir - cypress trees Piano delle Camelie - One of the earliest camellia collections in Italy. Piazzale dei Pappagalli - parrots, peacocks, pheasants, etc. Piazzale della Cappella - family chapel, constructed 1858 Piazzale della Darsena - rhododendron forest Prato dei Ginerium - Pampas Grass Prato del Pozzo - cornus, magnolia, maple, etc. Viale Africa - the island's sunny side. Viale delle Palme - a notable palm collection, with specimens up to 125 years old

Verbania (Italian: [verˈbaːnja] (listen), Lombard: [ʋerˈbaɲa], Piedmontese: [ʋerˈbɑnja]) is the most populous comune (municipality) and the capital city of the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. It is situated on the shore of Lake Maggiore, about 91 km (57 mi) north-west of Milan and about 40 km (25 mi) from Locarno in Switzerland. It had a population of 30,827 at 1 January 2017.

Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (Italian: Provincia del Verbano Cusio Ossola [verˈbaːno ˈkuːzjo ˈɔssola]) is the northernmost province in the Italian region of Piedmont. It was created in 1992 through the fusion of three geographical areas which had previously been part of the Province of Novara. The area flanking the western shore of Verbano (or Lago Maggiore) forms the eastern part of the province; Cusio (or Lago d’Orta) and its environs form the southern part; while the north and west of the province consist of the Ossola, a region of Alpine mountains and valleys. The ISO code for the province is VB. The province has a total population of some 160,000, distributed over an area of 2,255 square kilometres (871 sq mi), with the biggest population centres being its capital Verbania on the shores of Lago Maggiore, Domodossola the main town of the Ossola, and Omegna at the northern end of Lago d’Orta.

The Borromean Islands (It. Isole Borromee) are a group of three small islands and two islets in the Italian part of Lago Maggiore, located in the western arm of the lake, between Verbania to the north and Stresa to the south. Together totalling just 50 acres (20 hectares) in area, they are a major local tourist attraction for their picturesque setting. Their name derives from the Borromeo family, which started acquiring them in the early 16th century (Isola Madre) and still owns the majority of them (Isola Madre, Bella, San Giovanni) today. Isola Bella, named for Isabella, countess Borromeo, was originally a largely barren rock; after first improvements and buildings, opened by count Carlo III between 1629 and 1652, his son Vitaliano the 6th built an attractive summer palace, bringing in vast quantities of soil in order to build up a system of ten terraces for the garden. The unfinished building displays paintings by Lombard artists and Flemish tapestries. Isola Madre, the largest of the three, is also noted for its gardens, which have been maintained since about 1823 in an English style. Its palace, though uninhabited, is splendidly furnished with 16th- to 19th-century Italian masterpieces and paintings. Isola dei Pescatori or Isola Superiore is now the only inhabited island in the archipelago. It has a fishing village, which in 1971 had a population of 208. Isolino di San Giovanni is located just off Pallanza (today part of Verbania) to the north. The tiny uninhabited rock of Malghera, with an area of only 200 square metres, lies between Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori and offers bushy vegetation and a small beach. [1]

Vignone is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast of Turin and about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast of Verbania. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,150 and an area of 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi).Vignone borders the following municipalities: Arizzano, Bee, Cambiasca, Caprezzo, Intragna, Premeno, Verbania.

The San Bernardino is a torrent which flows through the Italian Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and into Lake Maggiore at Verbania on the Piedmontese (western) shore of the lake. The origins of its name lie with the Franciscan convent of San Bernardino which was established in 1483 near the mouth of the river, between Intra and Pallanza. The buildings are no longer extant.

The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French prime minister Pierre-Étienne Flandin (with Pierre Laval), British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, and Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini on 14 April 1935. Practically, the Stresa Front was an alliance between France, Italy, and Great Britain, aimed against Nazi Germany.: 62  Formally called the Final Declaration of the Stresa Conference, its aim was to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties and to declare that the independence of Austria "would continue to inspire their common policy". The signatories also agreed to resist any future attempt by the Germans to change the Treaty of Versailles. Pat Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, wrote that "the Stresa Front was the most important attempt to stop Hitler before the start of WW2". However, the Stresa Front began to collapse after the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in June 1935 in which Germany was given permission to increase the size of its navy. It broke down completely within two to three months of the initial agreement, just after the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.

Isola Bella (lit. 'beautiful island') is one of the Borromean Islands of Lago Maggiore in North Italy. The island is situated in the Borromean Gulf 400 metres from the lakeside town of Stresa. Isola Bella is 320 metres long by 400 metres wide and is divided between the Palace, its Italianate garden, and a small fishing village.

Isola dei Pescatori (meaning Fishermen's Island) is an island in Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. As the most northerly of the three principal Borromean Islands it is also known as Isola Superiore and, with a population of 25 in 2018, it is the only one to be inhabited all year round. Unlike Isola Bella and Isola Madre, the island has never belonged to the Borromeo family.