Lake Maggiore

Lake Maggiore is the long, winding lake that runs for about 64 km from Locarno in Switzerland to Arona in Italy, on the southern side of the Alps. Its western shore belongs to Piedmont, its eastern shore to Lombardy, and its northern tip reaches into the Swiss canton of Ticino, where the lake surface, at 193 m, is the lowest point in Switzerland. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the westernmost of the three great pre-Alpine lakes. It is also deep: its bed lies below sea level almost everywhere, reaching 372 m at the deepest point.

The lake bends so much that from almost nowhere can you see more than a part of it, which is its charm: the view keeps changing. The upper end is fully Alpine, hemmed in by steep slopes; the middle runs between gentler hills; the south opens onto the Lombard plain. On clear days the snowfields of Monte Rosa, about 50 km to the west, stand over the water. The climate is mild enough for lemons, olives and Mediterranean plants, and the lake is known for its gardens: those of Villa Taranto at Verbania, the Alpinia botanical garden above Stresa and the island gardens.

The Borromean Islands, in the western bay between Stresa and Verbania, are the lake's great set piece. The Borromeo family began acquiring them in the early 16th century and still own most of them. Isola Bella was a bare rock until the 17th century, when the family built a summer palace and brought in soil to make a garden of ten stacked terraces rising out of the water. Isola Madre, the largest island, has had English-style gardens since about 1823, and Isola dei Pescatori is the only one still lived in, a fishing village. Further north, the Brissago Islands off the Swiss shore also hold a botanical garden, and the tiny Castelli di Cannero islands lie just off Cannero Riviera. Above Ghiffa, the Sacro Monte devotional complex is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy on the World Heritage List.

Tourism took off in the mid-19th century and gained a royal seal of approval when Queen Victoria stayed at Baveno in 1879. Earlier, the lake had been a highway for marble quarried on its shores and carried by water to build Milan Cathedral. It has a footnote in the history of science too: Alessandro Volta first isolated methane in the late 1770s from marsh gas he collected here.

Getting there

Locarno sits at the northern end, and Lugano Airport (LUG) is about 18 km away. On the Italian side, Verbania and Stresa are the main resorts, and Milan Malpensa (MXP), about 52 km away, is the largest airport serving the lake. Railways follow the eastern shore and the southern part of the western shore, where the Domodossola–Milan line passes. Boats run by Navigazione Laghi, including car ferries, link towns on both the Italian and Swiss shores with each other and with the Borromean and Brissago islands.