This locality, wedged between the municipal territories of Stresa and Gignese, is chiefly known thanks to the renowned botanical garden "Alpinia", and was probably named after the Grand Hotel Alpino, which was built on the remains of a former mountain pasture.
Thanks to the exceptional panorama ranging from the Borromeo Gulf to the Swiss Alp chain, Alpino became, ever since mid 19th century, a tourist resort for many European nobles and for all the excursionists, mainly British, who used to stop here before proceeding to reach the wonderful Mottarone peak.
But Alpino was mainly chosen as a residence and holiday resort by numerous artists who found here the ideal ambience to stimulate their inspiration, thanks to its quiet and luxuriant natural environment, the pleasantness of a mild climate and the charms and spectacular beauty of the surroundings.
Lombard School painters such as Filippo Carcano, Uberto dell'Orto, Eugenio Gignous, Eleuterio Pagliano, Guido Boggiani and many other, as well as musicians, such as Ildebrando Pizzetti, Giovanni Anfossi, Toscanini and his apprentice Cantelli were all fascinated by the place.
Some of them also decided to build here magnificent dwellings, and this is how Villa Pica-Alfieri, Villa Rebora Pimpinelli, Villa Dell'Orto and Villa Anfossi were born. In this last villa a Latin epigraph by Achille Ratti is preserved, whose meaning clearly explains the unique Alpino image: "Everything is music here and the maestro's duty is to translate into notes the superb voice of Nature".
