Isole di Brissago

Geschichte

The Brissago Islands are a group of two islands located in the Swiss part of Lake Maggiore close to Ronco sopra Ascona and Brissago. Both islands belong to the district of Locarno, in the canton of Ticino.San Pancrazio is the larger and is well known for its botanical garden. On the smaller of the islands, known as Isolino, or Isola Piccola or Isola di Sant’Apollinare, the vegetation is allowed to develop naturally. Both benefit from the mild climate provided by the lake. The minimum distance from the shore is 1,040 metres for San Pancrazio and 930 metres for Sant'Apollinare, making them the farthest islands from the shore in Switzerland. Both islands culminate at 200 metres above sea level or 7 metres above lake level .HistoryRoman remains have been found on San Pancrazio. The islands were used as a refuge by early Christians. In the thirteenth century nuns of the Humiliati order built a monastery on San Pancrazio, while the local parish also built around this time the Church of S. Pancrazio. After the suppression of the Humiliati in 1571 by Pope Pius V, the order's property was given to the hospital in Locarno and the islands became uninhabited.St LegerIn 1885 an Anglo-Irishman of the St. Leger family, Richard Fleming, and his Russian-born wife, Antoniette (nee Bayer, 1856 to 1948) purchased the Brissago Islands. On San Pancrazio they constructed a large house and then began to create a botanical garden, which required bringing by boat to the island earth and manure. In 1897 Richard Fleming left the islands for Naples where he worked at the British Consulate and died in 1922. Antoniette remained and continued to develop the garden. During this later period the writer James Joyce visited the island and stayed at her house. Between 1886 and 1914, Antoinette de Saint Léger (as she called herself) hosted on the island the painters Danielle Ranzoni, Filippo Franzoni and Giovanni Segantini and the composer Ruggero Leoncavallo. After the end of World War I she also hosted James Joyce, Rainer Maria Rilke and Harry Graf Kessler.