The Borromeo's Family on Lago Maggiore

The Angera Rocca The magnificent Rocca d’Angera is the graceful result of the merge of five different buildings from various era, spacing from the medieval times to the Fifteenth Century: the Torre Castellana, Ala Scaligera, Ala Viscontea, Torre di Giovanni Visconti and the Ala dei Borromeo.
It’s almost impossible not to feel the strength and the importance of the building, and you will taste the solemnity of the Sala del Buon Romano, della Mitologia, delle Cerimonie, di San Carlo, dei Fasti Borromeo where great paintings, portraits and polished furniture take your mind to ancient, long-gone eras.

The Borromeo's History Hailing from San Miniato, in Tuscany, the Borromeo were forced to leave middle Italy around 1370 to reach Milan in order to escape the ban of the family after the death sentence of Filippo, who headed the uprising in Florence. It was Vitaliano I (around 1391 - 1449) who established the timeless fortune of the family in Lombardy. He bought many estates in the province of Novara, around Lago Maggiore (1439/1447), where the first settlements of the Stato Borromeo took place. We owe the building of the palazzo and the Isola Bella’s garden to Vitaliano VI, in 1650. At the time of his death, the great construction site was not over yet, but the island was already looking like it looks today.
Today, the cultural interests of the family prevail the political ones. In fact, they are involved with uncommon passion for the promotion of the huge historical and botanical heritage of both the islands and the Rocca d’Angera.