Lake Maggiore or Verbano ( Lagh Magior in Lombard and Piedmontese ) is a pre-Alpine lake of fluvioglacial origin in the Italian geographical region . Its shores are shared between Switzerland ( Canton Ticino ) and Italy (provinces of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Novara , in Piedmont , and Varese , in Lombardy ).
The name Maggiore derives from the fact that it is the largest of the lakes in the area, but among the Italian lakes it is the second in surface area after Lake Garda (as well as the second in depth after Lake Como ). In the past it was joined to Lake Mergozzo , from which it was separated due to the formation of the Fondotoce Plain .
Lake Maggiore is located at a height of approximately 193 meters above sea level . Its surface area is 212 km² , most of which, approximately 80%, is in Italian territory. It has a perimeter of 170 km and a length of 64.37 km (the largest among Italian lakes); the maximum width is 10 km and the average width is 3.9 km. The volume of water contained is equal to 37.5 billion m³ with a theoretical replacement time of approximately 4 years. The hydrographic basin is approximately 6,598 km² of which 3,229 are in Italian territory and 3,369 in Swiss territory (the ratio between the surface area of the basin and that of the lake is 31.1). The maximum altitude of the catchment basin is Punta Dufour in the Monte Rosa massif (4,633 m above sea level), while the average altitude is 1,270 m above sea level. The basin is characterized by the existence of around thirty artificial reservoirs with a collection of approximately 600 million of m³ of water which, if released simultaneously, would raise the lake level by approximately 2.5 m. The maximum depth is approximately 370 m (in the cryptodepression between Ghiffa and Porto Valtravaglia ) which is therefore 177 m below sea level.
The major tributaries are the Ticino , the Maggia , the Toce (which receives the waters of the Strona torrent and therefore of Lake Orta ) and the Tresa (in turn an emissary of Lake Lugano and fed by the Margorabbia ). The major tributaries have a different flow pattern, while Ticino and Toce, which have a catchment basin at high altitudes, reach a maximum flow in the period between May and October coinciding with the melting of snow and glaciers ; the other tributaries have a trend strongly influenced by rainfall . Minor tributaries are the Verzasca , Cannobino , San Bernardino , San Giovanni , Giona and Boesio streams . The only emissary is the Ticino which flows from the lake to Sesto Calende .
Envoys
Bardello
Boesio
Mergozzo Canal
Cannobino
Erno
Fraud of Caldè
Fraud of Porto Valtravaglia
Jonah
Maggia
Molinera
Monvallina
Riale Corto
Riale del Molino
Riale del Roddo
Riale di Casere
Rio Ballona
Rio Colmegnino (or Rio di Colmegna)
Rio Colorio
Rio dell'Asino
Rio Molinetto
Rio Valmara
Rone
San Bernardino
Saint John
San Giovanni di Bedero
Thick Forest
Stronetta
Tiasca
Ticino
Toce
Aquanegra stream
Tresa
Trigo
Versella or Varesella
Verzasca
Vevera
Geology
The origin of Lake Maggiore is partly glacial, as evidenced by the layout of the hills formed by moraine deposits of a glacial nature, but it is ascertained that the glacial excavation took place on a pre-existing river valley, the profile of the lake in fact has the typical V shape of river valleys.
Baveno pink granite was widely used as a building material in the past . Furthermore, the ancient construction uses of Angera stone are known (used for example in classical antiquity and in the medieval period), while the Caldè limestone quarries provided for many centuries the raw material for the lime with which high-rise buildings were built. Lombardy and Piedmont: thanks to the ease of transport by boat, first on the lake, then on the Milanese canals
Lake Maggiore is characterized by cold winters, but milder than inland, and moderately snowy (with average accumulations of 10 cm for each snowfall and sometimes even higher than 30 cm up to a maximum of 50 cm), summers are moderately hot, humid and stormy, the average temperature in January is around 2 degrees centigrade, with peaks of 3 degrees on the northern side of the Borromean Gulf (due to the extensive exposure to the sun), night temperatures can drop below 0, up to -10, but very rarely go below this value. In summer the average temperatures are around 22 degrees centigrade, with daytime peaks rarely exceeding 32 degrees. Proceeding towards the internal valleys the temperatures gradually become more rigid. The area is very rainy and sometimes, especially in intermediate seasons, floods can occur. The temperature of the surface waters (up to 2 meters deep) of the lake reach winter peaks of 5-6 degrees, while in summer they reach an average of 22-24 degrees.
Some statistics on Lake Maggiore . It should be noted that during lean periods the water level between Locarno and Sesto Calende can vary by 1 cm, while during floods up to 30 cm
Like all pre-Alpine lakes, Lake Maggiore is crossed, especially in the summer, by two types of prevailing winds, one which blows in the morning from the mountains towards the plain (called moscendrino as it comes from the Monte Ceneri Pass , sometimes tramontana ) and a small breeze that blows from the plain to the mountains especially during the afternoon (called inverna ). These constant winds make the pre-Alpine lakes an excellent field for practicing sports that use the wind, such as sailing and windsurfing . Lake Maggiore has some particular points, especially in the upper part, where the mountains squeeze together to form a narrow valley in which these winds blow very strongly.
Then there are other winds typical of this lake such as the winter wind , which blows from the south-west and generally brings storms, the major one , which comes from the north-east and is very dangerous as it agitates the lake a lot, the valmaggine which blows slightly from the valleys behind Locarno , the mergozzo , which blows especially at night, from the north-west
In Lake Maggiore there are many large, small or tiny islands , divided between 8 in Piedmont, 2 in Switzerland and 2 in Lombardy, for a total of 12.
Borromean Islands
Beautiful island
Isola Madre
Isola dei Pescatori (or Isola Superiore or Isola Superiore dei Pescatori)
Islet of San Giovanni
Malghera islet (or rock).
Brissago Islands
San Pancrazio Island (or Big Island)
Island of Sant'Apollinare (or Isolino)
Castles of Cannero
Isolino Partegora
Sasso Galletto
Between Stresa and Verbania there is the Borromean archipelago: Isola Madre (the largest in the lake basin), Isola Bella and Isola Superiore dei Pescatori (also known more simply as Isola dei Pescatori or Isola Superiore)
Opposite the Swiss town of Ronco sopra Ascona are the two islands of Brissago, the larger of which hosts a botanical garden.
In front of the coast of Cannero Riviera there are the three emerged rocks called Castelli di Cannero: the major rock, totally occupied today by the Vitaliana war artefact, a fortress commissioned by Count Ludovico Borromeo starting from 1518, the minor rock, on which the ruins of the so-called "prisons" stand, but in fact a small advanced tower with a falconette gunboat garrisoning the southern canal port, and finally the little rock (towards Maccagno ) of the "Melgonaro", on which only a stunted but tenacious plant grows fascinated poets and engravers such as Piero Chiara , Marco Costantini , Carlo Rapp .
Finally, we must mention the small island of San Giovanni in front of Verbania (famous because it was the residence of the orchestra director Arturo Toscanini in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Borromeo for many years ), the small island of La Malghera also known as Isola delle Bambole , among 'Isola Bella and that of the Fishermen and therefore the Isolino Partegora in the small gulf of Angera .
History:
The finds and evidence found tell us that following the actual creation of the lake, with the complete retreat of the ice, the surrounding area was inhabited by nomadic groups , who used the territory mainly as a place for hunting and supplies.
In the Chalcolithic historical period, the first residential areas were built in the immediate vicinity of the lake and from that moment there was a slow consolidation of sedentary groups .
On the shores of the lake, the Golasecca culture developed between the 9th and 4th centuries BC , a Celtic -speaking Iron Age civilization . The Golasecchians advanced as far as some areas of present-day Lombardy , only to be pushed back again to their western borders by the descent of the Celts into the Italian peninsula , probably the population of the Taurine Gauls .
The Gauls therefore had supremacy over the lake territory until the advance of the Romans who turned the Piedmont and Lombard areas back into provinces of the empire . The " Verbanus Lacus " (name given to it by the Romans, from which the nomenclature Lake Verbano will probably derive ) or " Lacus Maximus " (another name even attributed to it by Virgil ) will remain firmly in the hands of the Roman Empire . In Roman times, navigation along the lake experienced particular development, so much so that ships could descend the Ticino and thus reach Pavia , from where they could reach, thanks to the Po , as far as the Adriatic Sea . It is no coincidence that the excavations of the Angera settlement have brought to light finds that show strong connections between the lake and the upper Adriatic. This shipping line experienced particular development during the early Middle Ages , when Pavia was the capital of the Lombard kingdom first and then of the kingdom of Italy.
To arrive at a period of rebirth of the cities on the lake we had to wait until the Middle Ages , which led to the creation of villages, castles and in general a very different example of the physiognomy of inhabited places.
In this period the area around the lake, as well as numerous territories in the surroundings of Milan , passed into the hands of various families such as the Della Torre , the Visconti , the ruling house of the Habsburgs from 1713 and in particular the Borromeo family , which had enormous influence for many years on Lake Maggiore, starting from the acquisition of the fiefdom of Arona in 1445. Another very illustrious lineage that had a great influence in the medieval era is that of the Marquises Morigi or Moriggia, who received numerous territories from the Viscontis such as the degagne of San Maurizio and San Martino, the Valtravaglia which were nicknamed "Morigie lands". Over the centuries the families of Borromeo and Morigi fought bitterly for hegemony over these lands. The Borromeo themselves also had, between 1523 and 1524, actual armed clashes against Francesco II Sforza who on several occasions sent troops and armed ships against the Borromeo fortresses located on the islands of Cannero . Other noble families linked to the territory since the Middle Ages were the Besozzi , the Sessa , the Luini and the Capitanei of Locarno.
Starting from the 14th century, navigation along the lake was also exploited to transport the heavy blocks of marble coming from Candoglia and other quarries located in the surroundings of the lake towards the two main Lombard construction sites of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: the cathedral of Milan and the Charterhouse of Pavia
