Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
1
Villa Taranto
BOTANICAL GARDEN
OFFLINE MAP
In 1931, royal archer and Scottish captain Neil McEacharn bought Villa Taranto
from the Savoy family and started to plant some 20,000 species over a 30-year
period. Near the town of Pallanza, it is considered one of Europe's finest botanical
gardens, with rolling hillsides of rhododendrons and camellias, acres of tulips and
hothouses full of equatorial lilies.
( 0323 40 45 55;
www.villataranto.it
;
Via Vittorio Veneto
111, Verbania Pallanza; adult/reduced €9.50/5.50;
8.30am-6.30pm;
;
Villa Taranto)
2
Locarno
SWISS TOWN
Ruled by Milan's Visconti until 1513, Locarno's latter-day fame comes from
pleasure-seeking summer concerts and its international film festival. Wander the
old town's cinematic piazzas and lakeside promenade, and admire the fine Lom-
bard art hidden in churches such as the
Chiesa Nuova
(Via Cittadella) and the
Chiesa di San Francesco
(Piazza San Francesco). A rope railway ascends 365m
from Locarno to the
Santuario della Madonna del Sasso
(Via del Santuario 2)
,
where Bramantino's
Fuga in Egitto
(Flight into Egypt) captures a soft-faced Mary
amid a craggy Lombard landscape.
(
Locarno)
3
Funivia Stresa- Mottarone
CABLE CAR
Captivating views of the lake unfold during a 20-minute cable-car journey to the
top of 1491m-high Monte Mottarone. On a clear day you can see Lago Maggiore,
Lago d'Orta and Monte Rosa, on the border with Switzerland.
( 0323 3 02 95;
www.stresa-mottarone.it
;
Piazzale della Funivia, Mottarone; return adult/reduced €17.50/11;
9.30am-5.30pm;
Stresa)
At the midstation (803m), more than 1000 alpine and
;
