Ispra is another Eastern shore ancient village with a history steeped in the feudal system and local warring facions as shown by the castle of San Cristoforo. These days it is best known for being the joint research centre of the European commission

Today Ispra is known to be the seat of the Joint Research Centre (Euratom).This nuclear research centre has a number of nuclear reactors now being decommissioned. The purposes of Euratom are to create a specialist market for nuclear power and distribute it through the Community and to develop nuclear energy and sell surplus to non-Community States.

Its also has a number of institutes and sees business travellers and activity related to these:-

• Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC)
• Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC)
• the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES)
• Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP)
• Ispra site Directorate (IS).

The population is small with about 4,500 residents. As part of the Lake Maggiore region the tourist industry is important and well served by self catering villas and apartments and is surrounded by parks.