"Verbano" a Lago Maggiore Travel Page by Manara

'What can one say of Lake Maggiore, of the Borromeo Isles, except to pity those who do not love them?' These words were written by Stendhal, who was very young when he first visited these places, in the spring of year 1800.
He came back again and again, and he was staying in Belgirate when he wrote his masterpiece 'La chartreuse de Parme'.
Many other writers and poets were enchanted by this lake and its surroundings: Goethe, Byron, Dumas, Flaubert, Dostoevski, Shaw, Hemingway, Thomas Mann.

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View from the mount Mottarone

Between Lombardy and Piedmont

Here on VT the lake Maggiore is listed in the region of Lombardy, but this long and narrow lake actually lies on the border between this region and Piedmont. The northern part of the lake is in Switzerland.
The people from this area used to talk about a 'Riva Grassa' and a 'Riva Magra': at times when 'fat' meant 'rich', the Riva Grassa was the one on the western side, where many rich people built their luxurious villas, and equally luxurious hotels accommodated rich holidaymakers. The villages and towns of the 'Lean Bank' of Lombardy, instead, still lived on the traditional, less rewarding, jobs. Lombardy has its de-luxe resorts by the lakes, but they are mainly on the banks of the Lago di Como.
Verbano is the old name of the lake . It was used in Roman times, but its origins are probably celtic, as the name dates back to times before the arrival of Romans in this part of Italy. The name Verbano is still very much in use, for instance it identifies the province Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.

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Aerial views of the lake

You will not find many aerial views among my pictures, so these ones are exceptions. The first shows the view of the lake from the top of mount Mottarone.
The second is from a much higher vantage point. I took it during a flight to Paris. I happened to be sitting in the right place when we flew over the Lago Maggiore, before flying across the Alps, and I had my camera close at hand. In this second picture the land around the lake is rather brown, because it was taken in February.