Lake Maggiore

Lake Maggiore stretches from the Alpine valleys toward the northern Italian plain. Its waters formed a route for people and goods, linked through the Ticino and the Naviglio Grande to Lombardy and Milan. Fishing and cultivation supported communities along its shores, while navigation connected them to a wider trading world.

The lake region came under the influence of the Milanese Visconti and Sforza, who entrusted territory there to the Borromeo family. On Isola Bella, Carlo III Borromeo began a palace in 1632, transforming an island formerly occupied by a fishing settlement. The lake's long history of water transport entered a new phase in 1826 with the launch of the steam vessel Verbano.