Palazzo Borromeo

In 1670 Count Vitaliano Borromeo decided to turn a rock awash in the middle of the lake into a “place of delights”. It took four centuries to complete this magnificent work that includes Palazzo Borromeo and its scenic gardens. The tour of the house is fascinating: the Throne and Queens rooms, the Napoleon's Room, the Gallery of General Berthier displaying a collection of 130 paintings. On a lower floor, six grottoes covered with pebbles, tufa rock, stucco and marble were designed to afford cool relief from summer heat. World famous, its baroque garden, with the Teatro Massimo at the centre, consists of ten terraces in the shape of a truncated pyramid. Visitors marvel at the sight of the monumental unicorn, the obelisks, the statues, the two towers and other architectural elements, as well as the mighty trees, like the camphor and citrus trees, and the collections of roses, rhododendrons and camellias.