Whilst attending a Milanese conference in 1934, to mark the birth of the Alpinia Botanical Garden, Henry Correvon, previously founder of an

Alpine garden in Switzerland, pronounced ‘The Alpino belvedere is the most beautiful in the world. They tell me that I exaggerate, but I deny the exaggeration’.

Established by Igino Ambrosini and Giuseppe Rossi, the garden extends over circa 40,000 sq.m in the Alpine hamlet of Stresa. More than seven hundred essences have found a home at this altitude of 800 m. a.s.l., many of which are indigenous, or originate from the Orient and America.

The symbolic flower of the Alpinia Botanical Garden is the gentian, a small rare and wonderful bell-shaped flower with a characteristic purplish-blue colour, also to be found are edelweiss, numerous ferns and varieties with showy blooms such as poppies, primroses and numerous other species of conservation interest.

There are also plants from the Caucasus, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas and North America that have been nurtured here and have found the perfect habitat to thrive in.

Of special interest is the rhododendron collection, which comprises several Asian and native species.

The circular path is specially landscaped to better appreciate the garden and its splendid blooms. There are two routes (which eventually join up); starting from the left you transverse the woodland, whist by starting from the right you directly access the panoramic balcony to appreciate the amazing viewpoint. The Borromean Gulf and its islands appear like a miniature landscape that you can almost touch with your fingertips while, in the background, rows of the Pre-Alps and the Alps peaks alternate up to the Swiss mountains. The natural spring located about halfway along the path is wonderful for cooling off, especially in the hottest weather; it is dedicated to Marco De Marchi, founder of the Pallanza Hydrobiological Institute.

The road that leads from Gignese to the garden crosses the hamlet of Alpino, and runs alongside some splendid Art Nouveau villas built in the 19th and 20th centuries when the location became popular with the nobility and the wealthy Lombard-Piedmont bourgeoisie as a pleasurable holiday resort. Many painters and musicians chose to sojourn here.

Amongst the most famous residences is Villa Tina-Anfossi. Built between 1907 and 1908, its inauguration was even attended by Achille Ratti - the future Pius XI, known as the mountaineer pope - who expressed his thoughts: ‘Here everything is music, and the master's task is to translate the superb voice of nature into notes’. The villa’s owner, the pianist-composer Giovanni Anfossi, hosted famous guests such as Toscanini, Leoncavallo and D'Annunzio.

Interesting to know: in 1934, the national football team, led by Vittorio Pozzo, chose the Hotel Alpino as their pre-game venue before the matches that eventually led to them winning their first world championship.