Christo's Floating Piers - Lago d'Iseo

Christo’s Floating Piers is/was a temporary, site-specific, interactive art installation on Lago di’Iseo. The piers are a saffron-colored walkway that runs for some 3 kilometers. The floating walkway allows visitors to experience walking on water, and visitors are encouraged to take their shoes off.  For the sixteen days of the installation, Monte Isola is/will be connected with the smaller island of San Paolo and the mainland at Sulzano.

Lago d’Iseo is about a 40-minute drive from Bergamo. We drove to Iseo (town), parked, took a boat (9:30 am) to Monte Isola where we spend the day exploring the Floating Piers and Monte Isola. We had booked the parking and boat tickets weeks in advance on the advice of a friend, so it was fairly smooth sailing for us getting in and out.

We were glad we went as it was spectacular to see and experience. The piers moved a little, but not that much. They were quite wide at 16 meters (52 feet) and felt safe.  As advised, we took our shoes off to experience walking on water. We walked on water and found Christo.

Just a few weeks earlier we were hiking (see Lago Iseo, Predore to Tavernola Bergamasca Hike) on Lago Iseo with views down onto the installation under construction. At that time, it hadn’t taken on its saffron color. Monte Isola warrants another visit in the future when it’s back to its sleepy self and minus the floating saffron ribbons and millions of visitors.