We were visiting family in Lugano, Switzerland which is right across the border from Italy and where they, in fact, speak Italian. My daughter in law had been reading about the gardens of Italy and read of one called Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) which is a lovely mansion and garden entirely covering one island. It took an hour drive, a hop onto a ferry, more driving and then a boat to the Island. It turned out to be an incredible place. The mansion (maybe a castle?) was beautifully restored and the garden was unbelievable. I took so many photos. Here are just a few.

I took a photo of a poster which shows what the island looks like from up above.

A view from the boat as we approached on Lake Maggiore.

A look at just one of the incredible rooms. There was even a Napoleon room as he slept here once.

This is what you see as you leave the castle and head toward to gardens.

This statue is holding the symbol of Isola Bella.
Isn’t it amazing all of the places in the world that we’ve never heard of which turn out to be delightful surprises?