Most of the people believe that it’s not possible to go back in time.
These people have never been in Monte Isola, the jewel of the Iseo lake, as well as the biggest lake island in Europe.
Easy
to reach by ferry from all the little towns near the lake (www.navigazionelagodiseo.it). For a short time it has been also possible to reach Monte Isola on
foot, thanks to the genius visionary of the bulgarian artist (US naturalized)
Christo (he is the best representative of the “land art”, the art that
momentarily modifies the landscape). With the installation “The Floating Piers”
he attracted in only two weeks 1 million and 200.000 visitors to Lake Iseo.
Monte Isola is a brescian village with a perimeter of about 9,5 km and it consists of 12 little districts. The most popular tourist district is definitely Peschiera Maraglio, little burg of fishermen and with a great tradition of weaving nets. Until the 1960’s the women wove the nets, which the men later used for the fishing. Today it’s possible to admire in person the art of the weaving during the many recreational and cultural events that are proposed during the summer season (www.visitmonteisola.it).
Very interesting is the 17th century shrine “Madonna della Ceriola”, which is situated on the peak on the mountain of the island. The ideal is to reach it walking for about an hour through the wood: the beautiful view you can enjoy is worth the sweat to reach it. In the sanctuary there are a lot of votive tablets left by the religious worshippers, in particular the ones in order to ask the Virgin Mary the gift of maternity.
The celebration of Santa Croce in the burg of Carzano is not to be missed: houses and streets are coated with fronds fir and wonderful paper flowers, which are realized by the local families. You can enjoy this splendour every five years in the month of September (the next event will be 2020) since 1836, the year in which the dwellers celebrated in this way the end of a cholera outbreak.
Cars
cannot be driven on the island (only the doctor, the priest and the mayor can
do it), and the motor-scooters can be driven only by the inhabitants (about
1800). The visitors can therefore appreciate the almost surreal silence of the
island on foot, by bicycle or with the little local bus.
Monte Isola has a favourable territory for the olive farming: the local olive oil is definitely incomparable in taste. Special in flavour is also the typical salami, which is worked as before, presents a slight smoking. In some periods of the year is possible to benefit of the show of dried sardines along the lake, then they’ll be eaten on the tables up to the subsequent period of fishing.
Around Monte Isola there are other two little islands: Loreto and Saint Paolo, which are both privately owned. Loreto is almost entirely occupied by a Neo-Gothic shining castle with a beautiful park, which was originally a convent for the nuns of St. Chiara. St. Paolo shows a large house with a garden and, during the event “The Floating Piers”, it has been surrounded by the yellow floating bridge in order to be connected to Monte Isola.
If you want to know all the tourist accommodation, artistic/cultural events, food tourism, shows and all sorts of events that characterize our lake Iseo, you should visit the website www.visitlakeiseo.info, a project that is initiative of the 16 towns bordering the Sebino. An internet portal that fully promotes the territory and the brand lake Iseo in an original and innovative way, using all the possibilities that today the social platforms provide.
