Brissago is famous not only for its tobacco and cigar factory, but also for its islands, which seen from above look like bright green spots in the blue of the lake. Between 1885 and 1928 Baroness Antonietta Saint-Léger, a Russian of German origin, planted a botanical garden designed as an earthly paradise, and her successor, the department store king Max Emden, continued her work.

Today the neo-classical villa contains a restaurant and the administration offices of the Botanical Park of Canton Ticino. Their plants are still there, together with the Himalayan cinnamon with its scent of camphor, the Madagascar gladiolus, the bald cypress from the swamps of North America with its trunk under water, and numerous other exotic species.

The islands of Brissago are easy to reach by boat, have the mildest climate in Switzerland, and can be best admired from Ronco s/Ascona, a little village caressed by the sun, situated on the slopes of the mountain and characterised by the church of San Martino, which dominates the surrounding countryside. The hill between Ronco and Monte Verità above Ascona is the site of luxury villas, and the view can be enjoyed from one of the spectacular footpaths. Here, especially on clear winter and spring days, you can discover all the charm of the south: mimosas and agave grow between the walls and the view over the lake is of a rare beauty.