Sunday, July 12th:
After spending time on Isola Pescatori, my next stop was Isola Bella.
The main thing to see on Isola Bella is the Palazzo Barromeo. The combined ticket for both the palace and gardens costs €12. This was one of my favorite places to visit while staying in Stresa. Photos are not allowed inside the huge palace. This ended up being a good thing because just as the boat pulled in, I noticed that my camera battery was starting to run low. I couldn’t believe it! I always charge my battery at night and always bring a spare battery with me but forgot this time.
The first part of the tour is of the palace. There were so many huge rooms to walk through. Explanations were provided in 4 languages of everything in each room. My two favorite rooms were the music room where the 1935 Conference of Stresa took place and the room with the mosaic flowers.
The next portion of the tour takes you down some steps where there is a small room with an amazing display of marionettes.
Then the tour takes you through the grotto rooms. Because of my battery situation, I only took one photo in this section of the palace.
As you leave the grotto rooms, you walk through a long hall with amazing tapestries and then finally you walk out into the most spectacular sight, the gardens.
As I walked back towards the palace area to use the bathroom (which was disgusting) the peacocks were showing off their feathers.
My battery ran out as I left the gardens. Because my ticket included a stop in Bevano, I decided to take the boat over to take a quick peek. I was able to squeeze out one more photo of the church in Bevano by taking the battery out and then putting it back in.
After visiting the church, I had a delicious gelato at L’Angelo del Gelato. I met a delightful older man while eating my gelato outside this gelateria. I asked him if the gelato at the L’Angelo del Gelato in Stresa was the same gelato as was being sold at this gelateria. We started chatting and he asked me where I was from. He made me laugh as he started telling everyone else in the gelateria (I think they were all from Baveno) that I was from Hawaii.
I headed back down to the dock to catch the boat back to Stresa. It was nice and peaceful as I waited. I enjoyed my short visit to Baveno.
I took this photo of Isola Bella (the side facing Stresa) while on a boat later in the week.
Sunday evening, I had dinner at Osteria degli Amici. I ordered a caprese salad and spaghetti allo scoglio (pasta with seafood/shellfish).
I had a wonderful day. I enjoyed visiting both Isola Pescatori and Isola Bella. Palazzo Barromeo was one of my favorite places to visit while in Stresa.
Next up – Monday ~ boat ride to the Botanical Gardens of Villa Taranto
shave ice & gelato 
Hi Girasoli, wondeful post. Palazzo Barromeo is a pretty amazing place. I don’t think I’ve seen a completely white peacock before. I enjoyed reading about your tour here and looking at your beautiful photos. That’s a really cute church on Bevano and I love that photo of the island that you took from the boat.
It’s too bad about the battery situation. Like you I always like to carry a spare. Once, I ran out of room on my memory card and forgot to bring a spare. I don’t like deleting photos until I have a chance to download a copy so that was hard trying to review and delete at the same time to make room on my card.
Thanks again for sharing your wonderful experiences to Stressa and all of your beautiful photos.
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That peacock is quite a sight! Love the marionettes too. And the sweet little church.
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Wow, Girasoli, amazing photos — as always! Palazzo Barromeo is something else, extremely ornate. I love the contrast between it, and its gardens, with the delightful little church in Baveno.
What a truly terrifying bird — wonderful photo, of course — but a chilling sight!
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Oh my stars! That was an incredible blog post!!
I leave in 2 weeks today.
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Wow-great photos – could be a travel digest. The white peacock must have been a thing of beauty to see in person. One photo was more beautiful than the next. Thanks for sharing your trip, photos and expertise in conveying the beauty of this place. Another to add to my ever-growing list of things to see in Italy. Mahalo!
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Isola Bella, is as the name says, a beautiful island. The gardens are quite gorgeous and that peacock is stunning.
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Kathy, there were four or five white peacocks walking around. Right before I was leaving they started showing off their feathers. It was almost like they knew we were all taking photos and were showing off. Quite amusing.
Annie, the marionettes were so cool! I would have taken more photos but was afraid of the battery running out. It was the first time I ever got the low battery sign on my camera and did not know just how many photos I would have left. I loved that church also. So simple but still so beautiful. There were also wonderful frescoes near the church that I wish I could have photographed.
sandra, I took a couple of close up photos of the peacocks that I thought about posting but did not knowing you would have cringed.
leslie, have a great trip!
menehune, it truly was quite an amazing place!
Maria, Isola Bella is the perfect name for this island. The palace and the gardens are spectacular.
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