Referred to by its Roman designation for the anchor community opposite Stresa for ages until properly surveyed in the seventeenth century (its true size not really appreciable due to its sinuous nature) Lago Maggiore—literally the greater lake—is second to Lake Garda as Italy‘s largest by area but the longest of the three sub-Alpine lakes, the above Garda and Como being the others.
Developed during Roman times as a maritime link to the Adriatic via the Po, it again saw a trading revival during the Renaissance for transporting marble for the building of cathedrals in Milan and Turin—in the interim ruled as fiefs by the Habsburgs and clashing local rivals. Studying marsh gas, Alessandro Volta discovered and described methane here in 1776.
