Province VB
Verbania, VB
A lakeside town on the western shore of Lake Maggiore, formed in 1939 by merging Pallanza and Intra. It is the seat of the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province and the usual base for the Piedmont side of the lake, with a botanical garden as its main single draw.
Sights
- Giardini Botanici di Villa Taranto, a large botanical estate laid out from the 1930s by Neil McEacharn, with a documented tulip planting and an extensive dahlia collection
- The Pallanza lakefront, facing Stresa and the Borromean Islands
- Museo del Paesaggio, the town museum of landscape art and sculpture
- Isolino di San Giovanni, the small island off Pallanza where Toscanini lived from 1927 to 1952, seen from the water
- Intra, the older commercial half of the town, with the car ferry across to Laveno
Things to do
- Take the ferry from Pallanza to the Borromean Islands
- Walk the lakefront between Suna, Pallanza and Intra
- Go up into the hills behind the town for the lake views
- Eat lake fish
Annual events
April
Tulip display at Villa Taranto
The garden's spring planting and its best known season.
July to October
Dahlia display at Villa Taranto
The dahlia collection in flower through the summer and into autumn.
September
LetterAltura
Festival of mountain, travel and adventure writing, running since 2007.
When to visit
April to June, when the gardens are in flower and the lake is not yet at peak season.
