75th anniversary of the summer season on the Brissago Islands in Ticino

To commemorate this "historic event", the 2025 season will offer numerous special events and cultural highlights, announced the Ticino Department of Construction and Environment.

Various spectacles and theater performances are planned for the second half of April under the title "Spring on the Islands". An exhibition by Fribourg photographer Daniel Pittet will also open on April 27.

The story of the two islets in Lake Maggiore reads almost like an adventure novel. The garden, which is still unique today, began with the purchase of the two islets by Richard and Antoinette Fleming St. Léger in 1885.

The baroness, who was born in Russia, soon imported rare and subtropical plants from all over the world, which thrived thanks to the uniquely mild climate on the Brissago Islands. On the Isola Grande, the baroness had a house built on the remains of a convent.

In 1927, Antoinette de St. Léger had to part with her beloved islands due to debt. The buyer was the German industrialist and art collector Max Emden.

Sale to Ticino municipalities in 1949

Emden had the garden renovated and most of the existing buildings demolished. On the Isola Grande, he had a Berlin architect build him a castle-like villa in the neoclassical style; among other things, white Carrara marble was used for the hall of mirrors and the staircases. Today the castle is called "Villa Emden" and houses a hotel and a restaurant.

After the sudden death of the millionaire in 1940, the islands fell into disrepair. It was not until November 2, 1949 that Emden's heirs sold the two islands to the municipalities of Ascona, Brissago and Ronco sopra Ascona, the Swiss Heritage Society and Pro Natura as well as the canton of Ticino.

The following spring - on April 2, 1950 - the "Botanical Park of the Brissago Islands" was opened to the public. Since January 1, 2020, the islands have been fully owned by the Canton of Ticino.