This one looks out over Lake Maggiore from a hillside garden terrace in Stresa — palm and cream villa at your shoulder, a mahogany-trimmed launch gliding across gold-streaked water, and the stepped terraces of Isola Bella out on the lake. An original vintage-style Italian lakes poster, drawn in sage, peach and pale blue.
The design is drawn flat from an elevated garden terrace above the lake — a white-and-mahogany launch cutting across the gold-streaked water, the stepped terraces of Isola Bella beyond it, layered pale-blue mountains behind, and to the right a cream villa with a tower and balustraded balconies, a tall date palm and a stand of cypresses. In the foreground a stone balustrade with urns, clipped hedges and pink and white flowering shrubs sits above a coral rock outcrop at the shoreline. Stresa runs across the top in a large dark-olive serif with ITALY letterspaced beneath it between two thin rules, the whole worked in sage green, cream, peach, pale blue and dark olive under a hazy peach-to-mint sky. Printed to order on heavyweight matte art paper with a smooth, uncoated surface that keeps those hard colour edges crisp and readable from across the room. No glare, no plastic sheen, no photograph: just paper and ink.
- Paper: 189 g/m2 (10.3 mil) heavyweight matte art stock — substantial enough to hang unframed without curling
- Finish: uncoated matte — no glare under lamps, windows or gallery lighting
- Opacity: 94%, so a wall color or a second sheet behind it never shows through
- Brightness: 104% ISO — a bright white base that keeps the flat color blocks saturated
- Origin: paper milled in Japan; every poster is printed to order, never warehoused
Size chart
| Poster size | Art panel (centered) | Works well |
|---|---|---|
| 14"" × 14"" | 14 × 14 in | desk shelves, small nooks, gallery-wall filler |
| 16"" × 16"" | 16 × 16 in | bedrooms, home offices, above a console or sofa |
| 18"" × 18"" | 18 × 18 in | living rooms, stairwells, a single statement wall |
The illustration is a square panel centered on the sheet with a clean margin above and below, so it sits well in an off-the-shelf frame with or without a mat. Ships rolled in a protective tube, unframed.
Quick answers
Which size should I order? The 16″ × 16″ is a versatile choice for most walls. Choose the 14″ × 14″ for a desk, shelf, hallway or gallery wall, and the 18″ × 18″ when you want the artwork to make a bigger statement.
Does it come framed? No — it ships rolled and unframed in a protective tube. All three sizes — 14″ × 14″, 16″ × 16″ and 18″ × 18″ — are standard US frame sizes, so an off-the-shelf frame is easy to find. A ready-to-hang framed version of this design is listed separately.
Is this a reprint of an old travel poster? No. It is an original illustration drawn in the mid-century travel-poster tradition — flat color, clean edges, bold lettering — and a new composition made for RaZits. It is not a scan of a historic print.
Is the island in the picture real? Yes — it is Isola Bella, one of the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore and a short boat ride from Stresa's waterfront. Its baroque palace and terraced gardens were built by the Borromeo family from the 17th century, and the island opens to visitors from spring to autumn.
Stresa from the villa terrace, a launch gliding across the lake.
