MAGGIORE, ma-Wra, LAKE. A body of fresh water, of which four-fifths is in the Italian provinces of Novara and Como, the northern fifth in the Swiss Canton of Ticino (Map: Italy, C 11. It is 636 feet above the sea, 37% miles long, 6 miles wide between Cerro and Feriolo, with an average width of a little over two miles and an area of 82 square miles. The greatest depth is 1221 feet. It is the longest lake in Italy. though surpassed in area by Lake Garda (q.v.). The river Ticino (q.v.) flows through the length of it from north to south, and the most important of the twenty other streams that feed it are the llaggia from the northwest and the Toee from the west. The north, west, and southwest shores rise into lofty mountains with snow-capped peaks. but the east bank gradually declines to the level of the plains of Lombardy on the southeast. The water in the north of the lake is green, in the south deep blue. As the Saint Gotthard and Saint Ber nardino highways meet at Bellinzona, on the Ticino, five miles above the head of the lake. much of the Swiss and German trade with Italy formerly passed via the lake and the roads that parallel it. Steamboats every two or three hours in summer now connect the principal points on the lake (from Locarno to Arona in six hours). and the railroad between Bellinzona and Sesto-Calende, skirting the east shore of the lake, is part of the system connecting Genoa (q.v.) with the north, via the Saint Gotthard Tunnel. The prin cipal places on the lake are Locarno (q.v.), Magadino. and Brissago in Switzerland, and in Italy Cannobio, Slaeeagno. Luino (q.v.), Laveno, Infra, Pallanza, Baveno. Stresa. Arona (q.v.). Sfagadino ( population. in 1888. 768; in 1900, 800) was once the most important port on upper Lake Maggiore, hut the Saint Gotthard railway turned the course of trade in other directions.
Brissago (population, in 1901, 572) is pictu resque, with villas, gardens. and olive-groves. Cannohio. an ancient town (population of com mune in 1881, 2557: in 1901. 3023), has three ho tels. markets wine. fruit, grain, cattle, and hides, and manufactures silk and cotton goods. At lake Eglio, north of Maecagno and 2950 feet above the sea. are an excellent hotel and splen did scenery. Laveno (population of commune in 1901, I901) is at the mouth of the Boesio, on a -bay that was once a fortified har bor for Austrian gunboats. The fortifications were pulled down in 1859. and a monument com memorates the Garibaldians who fell here in that year. A pottery now occupies the site of Fort San Michele; the other chief industry is silk spinning. Just behind Laveno rises the Sasso del Ferro (3485 feet ). while a • few miles to the northeast is Mount Nudo (4052 feet). lntra population of commune in 1901, 69021 has im portant cotton. glass. and other factories, belong ing mostly to Swiss proprietors. Pallanza ( pop ulation of commune in 1tt01, 5237) commands a view of the famous Borromean Islands (q.v.). and, being the warmest spot on the lake, is a favorite winter resort for foreigners. Near Ba veno (population of commune in 1901. 25021 is a villa occupied by Queen Victoria in the spring of 1879. Breezy and picturesque Stresa ( popula tion of commune in 1901. 1491) is the summer home of many of the Italian nobility. From Stresa Mount Mottarane (q.v.) can he ascended.