Gardens of the Italian Lakes
Travel by boat to visit some of the finest lakeside gardens of Lakes Como and Maggiore, plus visit the Orticolario garden show in the company of designer Annie Guilfoyle
OTOUR LEADER Annie Guilfoyle is an award-winning designer and lover of all things Italian. She combines a successful garden design consultancy with lecturing, writing and judging internationally. ur journey to the Italian Lakes will take us to some of the finest lakeside and island gardens of this uniquely beautiful region. We will travel mostly by boat, discovering landscapes of quiet enchantment and sublime grandeur. While our days will be infused with exquisite light, by night we will revel in the fin de siècle atmosphere of our lakeside hotels. The warm, humid microclimate results in exceptional growing conditions, with much to enthuse the plantsman. Combining great botanical interest with the fascinating history of the gardens’ origins, our tour will move from the Renaissance to the 20th century through compelling and often neglected chapters of Italian garden history with visits including the baroque splendours of Isola Bella and Villa del Balbianello perched atop a small wooded peninsula. The tour culminates at Orticolario, an unusual, small garden festival near Como. We will stay at two lovely lakeside hotels offering a perfect combination of elegance, tradition and charm: Hotel Villa Flori overlooking Lake Como, and the Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromees on the shores of Lake Maggiore. This tour has been arranged exclusively for readers of Gardens Illustrated by Boxwood Tours, Quality Garden Holidays, a specialist garden tour company set up in 1990 by Sue and Brian Macdonald, Kew-trained, professional gardeners.