Stresa - the sophisticated Queen - Private Experiences

Even though Stresa's look has changed since the Belle Epoque times, while walking along its lovely lakefront promenade where a couple of historic hotels are still welcoming travellers, it is not difficult to imagine the old-time Stresa,  when the aristocrats from Milan arrived on a horse-drawn carriage ride to stay in the elegant hotels or in the private villas for the summer season. The name of Stresa started to become popular already at the end of the 17th century when the counts Borromeos, ruling over lake Maggiore at that time, inaugurated the sumptuous palace and the gardens which can be found still nowadays on isola Bella. Stresa's most beautiful island turned out to be an interesting attraction in northern Italy that must be seen during the Grand Tour by the young aristocrats from England and from the rest of Europe.     But in those days Stresa was still a tiny and almost rural village with no road along the lake and just a small number of poor houses that belonged to the fishermen. The name "Stresa" comes from the word "Strixia" which means strip of land! This is what the village was like before the large road along the lake was built.