~~~ in the region of the Italian portion of the lake since the island depicted on the inventory is one of the Borromean Island situated in the Italian portion of the lake.

Through the years I've read that some believed the chips/plaques were actually 1940s and not as early as some believe (or as I believed/informed)...
...and one bit of information which might back up that thought is found in a 1990 book by SITAV-(Societa Incremento Turistico Alberghiero) while explaining their history at another hotel/casino [Saint-Vincent] in their region just after WWII; where they note the following in both English and Italian (regarding to compete with their neighbors/France/...and to attract a great number of tourests from the rest of Italy and abroad since the war has ended)... about how strong and well-managed they were compared to 'other casinos (unmamed)' that were operational just after WWII: "In those years, gaming houses with all sorts of licenses and authorizations had been springing up all over the place, often without any technical or financial underpinning. Within a few months, however, they had 'all' been closed down by their central government [I know nothing about post-war Italian governments]." They do go on to make it quite clear that the casino at St-Vincent did manage to remain... and assumed the status of the fourth Italian casino alongside of Sanremo, Campione and Venice.

So, according to these notes, we at least know there were other casinos in Itlay besides those that are well-documented... Why there is no mention of names -- nor records, I do not know, nor do I know what local governments' reason was in closing those other casinos (if there is even a reason on record).

Concerning the year(s) when these sets were made, surely they were produced prior to the mass interest of American chip collectors... and with there being so few Italian/European collectors today and especially years ago, I can not believe these sets were made as souvenirs - as I cannot imagine where the interest would be... especially with the pricetag of such elaborate material.

The last I heard of the Borromee family (landlords in the reagion) is that they were in business in Philly). Their history is very interesting should anyone care to read about it.

If we only knew all there was to know about gaming history...!