We will begin our tour in the Borromean Islands from the Mother Island, the largest and most characteristic for the collection and silent atmosphere. The ancient Borromeo palace is surrounded by a splendid garden of rare plants and exotic flowers in which peacocks, parrots and pheasants of all varieties live in complete freedom, creating the charm of a tropical land. Isola Madre is particularly famous for the flowering of azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, but also for the ancient wisteria pergolas and the largest European cypress tree of Kashmir.
We will then continue with Isola Bella, a natural jewel that the human hand has made even more precious: the flower gardens and artistic beauties enrich the landscape. The garden of the Isola Bella, a typical example of a 17th century "Italian garden" developed on terraces, is a real unspoilt paradise where rare exotic plants and flowers of great beauty are preserved. The ancient baroque palace offers visitors an elegant and sumptuous setting that preserves numerous works of art: tapestries, furniture, statues, paintings, stuccos but also the curious mosaic caves, a place of coolness and delight.
Finally we will conclude with the Isola dei Pescatori, which is the only one among the islands not to belong to the Borromeo family and to be inhabited during all the months of the year. The traditional multi-storey houses are built to make the most of the little space available: they are almost all equipped with long balconies, essential for drying fish and in fact owes its name to the fishing activity practiced by its inhabitants.

Lunch at your leisure

Finally we will end our tour by visiting Villa Taranto.
The villa is dominated by gardens with 7 km of avenues and considered some of the most beautiful gardens in the world.
The gardens, which are home to over twenty thousand botanical essences, present floral species that come from various parts of the world. Among the rare species: the large Victoria cruziana water lilies (grown in tropical greenhouses), the conifers Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the Dicksonia antarctica ferns, the Emmenopterys henryi of the Rubiaceae family.