It has been known to the world as Christo’s lake since the great Bulgarian-American artist brought the artistic installa- tion “The Floating Piers” here from18 June to 3 July 2016, an immense orange catwalk – made of 200 thousand cubes of polyethylene and covered with a dahlia yellow cloth, 16 metres wide and 3 km long – that joined the town of Sulzano to Monte Isola and the island of San Paolo for two weeks.
A unique performance-installation, which allowed millions
of people to walk on the water of Lake Iseo, the highest lake island in Europe and the largest in central-southern Europe. Since then the romantic charm of the lake and the unique natural world on Monte Isola have been discovered and appre- ciated by visitors from every corner of the world.
The atmosphere here is different from any other Italian lake. Nature regulates the time and places, such as the Torbiere Natural Reserve, declared a priority area for biodiversity, the workshops that create nets and wooden boats, the sher- men’s trattorias where they cook freshly caught sh…
On Monte Isola, for example, there are no cars: people walk, go by bicycle or take small buses that lead to the mountain top, where we nd the church of Madonna della Ceriola, and a whole series of hamlets.
Among the most signi cant events in Carzano, an ancient shing village of shermen and net makers, is the festival of the Santa Croce. This takes place every ve years and during the festival inhabitants decorate their homes with handmade paper owers, and in the evening a host of small white lights create a fairy-tale landscape.
Nature and services are complementary: charming hotels and small guesthouses, a great food tradition, family and a sincere atmosphere.
Not far from here, towards Franciacorta, there are golf courts, vineyards and the romantic charm of the Monastery of San Pietro in Lamosa, which takes us back to the atmosphere of the Middle Ages.