Location and Landscape - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide

Lake Maggiore is a lake basin in the north-east of the Piedmont region, bordering Lombardy and Switzerland, and the second-largest of the northern Italian lakes after Lake Garda. Nestled between the foothills of the Alpine arc, it occupies a valley trough of probably tectonic origin.

The basin is 65 km long, running north-north-east to south-south-west from Locarno in the north to Sesto Calende in the south. Its greatest width, apart from the Gulf of Borromeo (12 km), is 4.5 km between Cannero Riviera and Luino, and its total area is 212.2 km².

Most of the lake basin lies in Italian territory, where it forms the border between the regions of Piedmont to the west and Lombardy to the east. The northern part (42 km²), with the well-known towns of Locarno and Ascona, belongs to the Swiss canton of Ticino.

The total length of the shoreline is 166 km, and the greatest depth, roughly level with Luino, is 372 m. The lake lies 194 m above sea level, so its deepest point is 178 m below sea level.

At the mouths of the Ticino and Maggia in the north near Locarno, and where the Toce flows into the Gulf of Borromeo, larger alluvial plains with flat shorelines have formed, but otherwise the lakeshore is mountainous to hilly.


In the northern half the lake is framed by high mountains: Monte Limidario (2,187 m) and Monte Zeda (2,156 m) dominate the west, and Monte Tamaro (1,961 m) the east. In the south the mountains become lower and the hilly moraine country begins, merging into the northern Italian plain at Sesto Calende, where the Ticino flows out of the lake.

The lake contains three groups of islands: in the Swiss northern part are the Brissago Islands, near Cannero the Isolini di Cannero, and in the Gulf of Borromeo the best-known group, the Borromean Islands, with Isola Bella, Isola Madre, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola San Giovanni.

A long weekend, or a public holiday with a bridge day, makes for a wonderful short break on Lake Maggiore. During the school holidays in Baden-Württemberg or Bavaria, Lake Maggiore is a popular holiday destination too.