Social excursions

Please find details below regarding the available social excursions for the European Rice Convention 2023.

Thursday 7 September

Eremo Santa Caterina – Villa Panza

All day (for partners/spouses only)

You will cross by boat Lake Maggiore to join Eremo Santa Caterina.

Clinging to a rock face directly overhanging the lake, the Hermitage of Santa Caterina del Sasso is certainly one of the most charming sights of Lago Maggiore.

The entrance to the church is through a portico consisting of four round, renaissance-style arches.

The structure of the current building is truly unique, the fusion of three chapels, originally built separately in three different eras. There are numerous pictorial cycles both inside and outside the Church, mainly covering the period running between the 14th and the 19th century. Art and history merge wonderfully in this most striking of natural frames, almost a balcony leaning out towards the Borromeo Gulf, Stresa and the islands.

Programme
8:45
Meeting in the lobby with Event Solutions coordinator
9:00
One way trip by boat from for Baveno to Eremo Santa Caterina (duration: 40 min.)
9:45
Arrival at Eremo
10:00 - 11:15
Visit time
11:20
Transfer by bus to the restaurant Tana D’Orso
12:20
Lunch at Tana D’Orso
14:00
Transfer by bus to Villa Panza
14:20
Arrival at Villa Panza
14:30 - 15:15
Visit time
15:15
Transfer by bus to Grand Hotel Dino
16:30
Arrival at Grand Hotel Dino

Friday 8 September

Isola Bella Island

Afternoon (for all participants)

The island is situated in the Borromean Gulf just in front of the Grand Hotel Dino.

The island is 320 metres long by 400 metres wide and is divided between the Palace, its Italian gardens and a small fishing village.

It took almost four hundred years and the teamwork of hundreds of architects, engineers, plasterers, painters and cabinetmakers, who have given rise to the extraordinary transformation of Isola Bella from a rock of the lake into a place of delights.

After lunch, enjoy a guided tour of the palace and explore the gardens on your own.

Programme
12:30
Transfer by private boat from Grand Hotel Dino to Isola Bella Island
13:00
Lunch at Il Delfino restaurant on Isola Bella island
15:00
Guided visit of the Palace – Free visit of the Gardens
16:30
Departure by boat from Isola Bella island to join the Grand Hotel Dino