Italian Lakes: May 14 - Lake Maggiore to Lake Garda

This morning we are driving from Lake Maggiore which is northwest of Milan to Lake Garda which is northeast of Milan. Along the way we will visit a botanical garden and a statue on Lake Maggiore and visit the city of Bergamo.

Our first stop is the Giardini Botanici Di Villa Taranto in Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore. This is a private estate called “La Crocetta” that in 1931 was bought from the Marquise of Sant’Elia by Scottish Captain Neil Mc Eacharn who decided to convert the estate into a botanical garden. The gardens cover about 40 acres and house 20,000 plants of particular botanical value as well as 80,000 blooming bulbous specimens and 15,000 border plants. When we visited most of the bulbs had finished blooming, but the azaleas and rhododendrons were in bloom.

Here is a very nice fountain just as you enter the park.

A nice grouping of of Japanese maples.

The fountain from the other side. The grass was so smooth and well trimmed that any golf course would gladly use it for their putting greens.

Some of the rhododendrons.

In multiple colors.

Not sure what you call this shrub but it had pretty flowers.

This is the original villa.

Formal gardens with the villa and the snow covered mountains in the background.

A closer shot showing the mountains in the distance behind the villa.

Some of the bedding plants.

This magnificent tree which was in the entrance was a "Quercus Coccinea" or scarlet oak that had been planted in 1938.

After leaving the gardens we proceeded along the lake shore until we came to this enormous statue just outside the town of Arona. This is a statue of St. Carlo Borromeo who we've met before. He was born in the town of Arona in 1538. The statue is made of copper over an iron and wood framework and with its pedestal stands 115.5 ft tall. You can climb all of tfhe way to the head using a ladder inside of it and supposedly the view is spectacular but no one wanted to try it.

Right across the lake was one of the Borromeo family palaces. The red and blue flags flying on the palace are the Borromeo family flag and indicate that a member of the family is in residence.

This is a small 17th century church right next to the statue. Its claim to fame is that inside the church is the rebuilt room where St. Borromeo was born. This room was salvaged from the ruins of the original Borromeo palace that had been destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars.

Here is that room which has been made into a small chapel.

This is our last view of Lake Maggiore as our next stop is the city of Bergamo.

Bergamo is a city about 25 mile northeast of Milan and is a popular place for summer residences of wealthy Milanese as it is a lot cooler then Milan in the summer. Bergamo is split into two sections: Bergamo Alta and Bergamo Basso, i.e., upper and lower. We will be visiting Bergamo Alta which is the old medieval part of town. Bergamo was originally settled by Celtic peoples, then became an important Roman town in 49 BC. During the middle ages is was ruled by Milan and then in 1428 in became part of the Venetian Republic. Napoleon controlled it in the late 18th and early 19th century and when he left the Austrians took over until the Italian Unification in about 1860.

Here we are at the Finicolare getting ready to head up to the upper city