About 10 KM from the Hotel Tre Laghi, on the national highway, is the Park of the villa Pallavicino. This park is noted for its centuryold trees, for its beautiful flowers and gardens, and for wide sweep of the panorama over the Lake Maggiore and surrounding mountains. Many kinds of animals have roamed free in the park, giving brightness and joy to the landscape. The Park measures about 40 acres and is open to the public.
The origin of the Botanical Gardens of Villa Taranto, situated in Pallanza and covering an area of about 16 hectares on the northern slopes of the Campagnola promontory, dates back to 1931 when Capt. Neil McEacharn bought the property with the intention of converting it into one of the best botanical gardens in the world. Many thousands of plants, brought from the far corners of the world, and rare collections, some of them unique in Europe and acclimatized alter long and laborious efforts, have been arranged with art in this beautiful setting, between the mountains and the lake.
The garden can be reached by cable car or by car. From the alpine garden one has a splendid view of the central section of the lake, the italian and swiss mountains and of five lakes in the upper Lombardy region. The garden cover aproximately 12.000 sqm and are home to some 544 different species of plant, mostly alpine varietes, and a mineral water spring. The garden is situated 605 m. above Lake Maggiore and was started in 1933 thanks to the initiative of ing. Igino Ambrosini and other flora lovers who wanted to preserve and protect the alpine flora.