Description of the attraction
Isolino di San Giovanni is a small island in the Borromean archipelago, located on Lake Maggiore. It lies in the Gulf of Borromean to the north of the rest of the islands of the archipelago, 30 meters from the coast of Pallanza, the Verbania region, and is administratively subordinate to it.
The first mentions of Isolino di San Giovanni are found in the documents of Emperor Otto III at the end of the 10th century - then it was called Isola di Sant'Angelo. On the island there was a castle and a chapel dedicated to the Archangel Michael, which probably gave the name to the entire island. Later, the chapel was destroyed, and the name of the island was changed to San Giovanni after the name of the chapel with the font of John the Baptist (San Giovanni Battista).
In the middle of the 12th century, the island became the property of the Counts of Barbavar - this is stated in the documents of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. And at the end of the 16th century, the local noble Borromeo family decided to establish a College of Varnavites on Izolino di San Giovanni. They managed to buy the island in 1632, at the same time a villa was built here and a garden was laid out.
Palazzo Borromeo and the surrounding park acquired their present appearance after the renovation of the mid-19th century. Perhaps the most famous of its inhabitants was the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, who lived here from 1927 to 1952. Today, the Isolino di San Giovanni and the Palazzo Borromeo are privately owned and closed to the public.
