Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Verbania
POP 31,200
North of Stresa, Verbania is the biggest town on the lake and is split into three districts.
Verbania Pallanza is the most interesting, with a tight web of lanes in its old centre, while
Verbania Intra has a pleasant waterfront and handy car ferries to Laveno on the eastern
shore. Running north from Pallanza, Via Vittorio Veneto has a jogging and cycling path
that follows the lakefront.
The city's highlight is the spectacular grounds of the late-19th-century
Villa Taranto
(
0323 40 45 55;
www.villataranto.it
; Via Vittorio Veneto 111, Verbania Pallanza; adult/child €10/5.50;
8.30am-6.30pm; Villa Taranto)
. In 1931, royal archer and Scottish captain Neil McEacharn
bought the villa from the Savoy family and started to plant some 20,000 species over a
30-year period. With its rolling hillsides of purple rhododendrons and camellias, acres of
tulip flowers and hothouses full of equatorial lilies, it is considered one of Europe's finest
botanical gardens. During the last week in April tens of thousands of tulips erupt in mag-
nificent multicoloured bloom for
Settimana del Tulipano
, while in spring and autumn Verb-
anis hosts the Camellia Show (
www.camelieinmostra.it
).
Overlooking Pallanza's cute port and the Isolino San Giovanni, the neo-Gothic
Ristor-
ante Milano
( 0323 55 68 16;
www.ristorantemilanolagomaggiore.it
;
Corso Zanitelli 2, Verbania Pal-
lanza; meals €60-70; noon-2pm & 7-9pm Wed-Sun, noon-2pm Mon)
sits lakeside amid a shady
gravel-and-lawn garden. It serves a contemporary menu including lake perch and char
with seasonal vegetables.
Caffè Bolongaro
( 0323 50 32 54; Piazza Garibaldi 9; pizzas €4.50-8)
,
on the waterfront in Pallanza, serves good pizza.
Verbania's
tourist office
( 0323 50 32 49;
www.verbania-turismo.it
;
Corso Zanitello 6-8;
9am-1pm Mon-Fri)
is on the waterfront in Verbania Pallanza.
Set in a lovely 19th-century building on the lakefront promenade,
Hotel Belvedere
(
0323 50 32 02;
www.pallanzahotels.com
; Viale Magnolie 6, Verbania Pallanza; d without/with lake view
from €99/110;
)
makes an excellent Maggiore base.
