Islands hold secrets. Even Isolino San Giovanni, which faces Pallanza, a district of Verbania, kept one: painter Umberto Boccioni’s final love affair. 

The tiny island was the idyllic setting for the passionate encounter between the Italian Futurist and Princess Vittoria Colonna, shortly before Boccioni’s tragic horse accident at the age of 33. The secret was safeguarded for decades and was only revealed in the early 2000s, when “Una parentesi luminosa” (The light in between) was published. 

A few years after the passionate affair, another great artist stayed on the Isolino. Since 1927, the conductor Arturo Toscanini had chosen the tiny island as his summer retreat because he was enchanted by the panorama from the eighteenth-century palazzo, and was seduced by the lush English-style garden. 

The earliest extant record of the Isolino, which stands just metres from the shore, was around the year 1000 when it was identified as the Isola di Sant'Angelo, referring to a chapel dedicated to San Michele Arcangelo (St. Michael the Archangel) within its castle.

The current name is due to the presence of a baptismal font dedicated to San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist).
Since 1632 this island has been owned by the Borromeo family. It is private and is closed to the public.