Isola Bisentina

The Bisentina Island, pearl of Lake Bolsena, is renowned for the mildness of its climate and the extraordinary quantity and particularity of the tree and animal species it hosts. Long uninhabited, it preserves traces of human activity that has preserved its environmental characteristics, making it a unique ecosystem for the growth of centuries-old plants and the development of a rich avifauna. Francesco Barberini, an aspiring ornithologist and young Ensign of the Republic, visited the island periodically over the course of an entire year to survey and census the great variety of birds present.From this monitoring, he was able to observe how this place, an important stopover along the migratory routes, is rich in different species in terms of habits and behaviour, from the small florin to the imposing cormorants. The story of this adventure is a guidebook enriched by the plates of Marco Preziosi, a well-known naturalist illustrator, depicting the twelve main species of birds that inhabit the island.

Isola Bisentina is one of the two islands of Lake Bolsena, the largest by surface area, located opposite the town of Capodimonte. Mentioned by Dante in the Divine Comedy, it lies close to the western shore, a few kilometres from the promontory where the ancient Etruscan-Roman city of Bisenzio, from which it takes its name, once stood. Thanks to a favourable microclimate, it preserves lush vegetation with numerous valuable tree species, including some centuries-old trees.Traces of pile-dwelling settlements off the island indicate that the area was inhabited as early as the Archaic period, and the continued presence of man is evidenced in Etruscan and Roman times by finds dating from the 6th century B.C. onwards. Later, the island offered refuge to the inhabitants of the coastal towns destroyed by the Longobards and Saracens. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the island was still documented as a prison for heretics, until it became the property of the powerful Farnese family, who had the church of Saints James and Christopher built there, with a dome designed by a pupil of Vignola, to create the family tomb. This was the period when several pontiffs were among the visitors, so that Bisentina earned the nickname 'island of the popes'.The seven chapels located on its banks, as well as the convent, were built by the Friars Minor: that of St Catherine is attributed to Antonio Sangallo the Younger, one of the most prominent architects of his time, while the frescoes in the chapel of Mount Calvary belong to the school of Benozzo Gozzoli.