Villa Branca

Baveno is a town and comune in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, part of Piedmont, northern Italy. It is on the west shore of Lago Maggiore, 21 kilometres (13 mi) northwest of Arona by rail. To the north-west are the famous red granite quarries, which have supplied the columns for the Cathedral of Milan, the church of San Paolo fuori le Mura at Rome, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele at Milan and other important buildings.One of the main attractions is a historic reach of villas and castles, built in the 19th century. Baveno was occupied in the pre-Roman Iron Age by the Lepontii, a tribe of the Ligures.

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.

The Scoglio della Malghera is a small island belonging to the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore, one of the main subalpine lakes of northern Italy. It is located halfway between Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori, in the comune of Stresa.

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.

The Giardino Botanico Alpinia (4 hectares) is a botanical garden specializing in alpine plants, located at 800 m altitude above Stresa on Lake Maggiore, Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piedmont, Italy. It can be reached via the Lido di Carciano - Alpino - Mottarone cable car, and is open daily in the warmer months. The garden was established in 1934 with the name Duxia. Today it contains about 1,000 species, focusing mainly on the Alps and foothills, with additional specimens from the Caucasus, China, and Japan. Its collections include: Artemisia (A. atrata, A. borealis, A. campestris, A. chamaemelifolia, A. genipi, A. Umbelliformis, A. vallesiaca) Campanula (C. bononiensis, C. excisa, C. glomerata, C. spicata, C. thyrsoides) Centaurea (C. bracteata, C. cyanus, C. Montana, C. phrygia, C. scabiosa, C. triumfetti), Dianthus (D. alpinus, D. carthusianorum, D. seguieri, D. sylvestris) Geranium (G. argenteum, G. macrorrhizum, G. phaeum, G. pratense, G. sanguineum, G. sylvaticum) Silene (S. alpestris, S. dioica, S. rupestris, S. saxifraga, S. vallesia).Additional species are displayed on nearby walks. The garden's nature walk displays Acer pseudoplatanus Arundo donax Betula pubescens Cytisus scoparius Fagus sylvatica Frangula alnus Fraxinus excelsior Juniperus communis Laburnum anagyroides Lythrum salicaria Sorbus aria S. aucuparia Iris pseudacorus I. sibirica Myosotis scorpioides Salix sp. Scirpus sylvaticus Silphium perfoliatum Typha latifoliaThe trail from Stresa to the Mottarone passes by: Androsace vandellii Campanula glomerata Gentiana asclepiadea G. kochiana G. purpurea Hypochoeris uniflora Narcissus poeticus Primula hirsuta Rhododendron ferrugineum Trollius europaeus Veratrum album.

Grand Hotel et des Iles Borromées is a historic luxury hotel located on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Italy.

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

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]

The Toce (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtoːtʃe; ˈtɔːtʃe]) is a river in Piedmont, Italy, which stretches the length of the Val d'Ossola from the Swiss border to Lake Maggiore into which it debouches near Fondotoce in the commune of Verbania. The river is 83.6 kilometres (51.9 mi) long and is formed in the upper Val Formazza by the confluence of a number of torrents in the plain of Riale.

The Stronetta, or Rio Stronetta (Italian pronunciation: [ˈriːo stroˈnɛtta]), is a small mountain torrent in the Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, northern Italy. It rises in the mountains to the south-east of Gravellona Toce and flows through the industrial district of the town, and into Lago Maggiore at Fondotoce, a locality of Verbania. A peculiarity of the river is that in places it is entirely covered by vegetation, and can be difficult to make out.