Lake Maggiore

Lake Maggiore extends for 66 kilometers at 194 m. a.s.l. between Italy and Switzerland, from the Po Valley to the alpine chains of Ossola and Ticino. Maximum depth is 380 m. near the Cannero Riviera. Its main affluent rivers are Ticino and Toce. In Roman times it was called “Lacus Maximus” and it is also known as “Verbano”. Thanks to the strategic position between two nations, the opening of Napoleon’s Route in 1805 and in 1906 of the international Simplon railway line, Lake Maggiore has become through the centuries an important and very efficient tourist destination. Between the XV and XVIII centuries Lake Maggiore was governed as feudal property by the Borromeo Family and became their traditional holiday destination and representative seat. Breathtaking scenarios created by magnificent mansions and luscious parks and gardens, such as the ones on Isola Bella and Isola Madre, became in the XIX and early XX centuries famous the world over and were greatly appreciated by European writers and musicians (i.e. Stendhal, Lord Byron, Alexandre Dumas senior, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Dickens, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fëdor Dostoevskij, Ernest Hemingway, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Listz and Richard Wagner) who chose Lake Maggiore as intermediate stop of their Grand Tour.