Isola Madre is the largest island in the Verbano region, and it rises from the water in the widest part of the Gulf of Borromeo. It was once known as the Isola di San Vittore due to the presence of a chapel dedicated to the saint, and it was probably the first of the islands to be inhabited.
The first work to transform it into a private residence was carried out by Count Lancillotto Borromeo at the beginning of the sixteenth century. In the final decades of the sixteenth century, the island experienced a very busy period of construction under Renato I Borromeo (at the time, it was renamed Renata Island), with work carried out under the direction of some extremely important architects such as Pellegrino Tibaldi, Crivelli, and Filippo Cagnola. At the end of the eighteenth century, the place already basically looked the same as it does to this day. The last great architectural work carried out was he family chapel, commissioned in 1858 by Vitaliano IX and overseen be the architect, Defendente Vannini.