Greater, in respect to scales, intervals, etc., when used in opposition to minor; major.
Word of the Day: Catachrestical
Maggiore
Encyclopedia Britannica
MAGGIORE, Lago (French, Lac Majeur ∖ in Italian also frequently Lago Verbano∙, Latin, Verbanus), is the westrnost of the great lakes of northern Italy. In accordance with its popular name it has long been reputed the largest of them all; but though in length it somewhat surpasses Lago di Garda, it does not cover so extensive an area. Of the total surface of 82 square miles, 65 belong to Italy, and the remaining* 17 to the Swiss canton of Tessin or Ticino. The length from north to south, between 45’ 43' and 46° 10' N. lat., is 38 miles; the breadth, generally between 2 and 4 miles, is increased to 6 or 7 at the junction of the Toce valley on the west. The Ticino, the leading tributary of the Po, enters at the one end of the lake and escapes at the other. The very interesting geological problems which Lago Maggiore suggests are not yet fully cleared up. (See Taramelli, Il cantone Ticino meridionale ed i paesi finitimi, Bern, 1880, forming vol. xvii. of the materials for the geological map of Switzerland.) The whole of the west side and the east side as far south as Vai Travaglia are shut in by a region of gneiss and schists, while the remaining portion presents dolomites, calcareous rocks, and conglomerates, mingled with strongly developed moraines. On Dufour’s great map of Switzerland the greatest depth is given as 2801 feet, opposite Pino; but this is probably much in excess, as in G. B. Maggi’s topographical map of the lake (Turin, 1857) the highest figure registered along the medial line ‘is only 1233 feet between Barbe and Lavello, and at the laying of a telegraph line in 1860 Salis found no more than 337 between Vira and Locarno. The ordinary height of the surface above the sea is about 640 feet. Between the lowest and highest water-mark, however, there ...is a difference in ordinary years of nearly 12 feet, and in very exceptional cases of twice as much. For not only is the Ticino subject to floods, but the lake receives a number of considerable streams (the Toce, the Maggia, the Verzasca, the Tresa, &c.), and some of these bring down the surplus waters of other lakes— Lugano, Varese, and Orta. The flood of 1868, which exceeded by about 6 feet the greatest that had been known for centuries, so deepened and enlarged the outlet of the river that the level of the lake was permanently reduced by about a foot and a half, and alterations had to be made at the various ports to suit the new condition of things. (See Paolo Gallizia in Atti del Coll, degli Ingegn. ed Archit. in Milano, 1879.) At least twenty-three species of fish are caught in Lago Maggiore; and the fisheries are of value enough to be closely preserved by the proprietors.
The principal towns and villages round the lake are the following,—the first being in Switzerland, and the others in Italy:—Locarno (population in 1880, 2645), at the mouth of the Maggia, one of the alternate capitals of the canton of Ticino; Cannobio (2000), famous from the 15th century for its tanneries, and with paper-mills and silkworks; Luino (2000), the original home of the Luini family, and the scene of one of Garibaldi’s exploits in 1867, commemorated on the spot by a statue of the victor; Laveno (1500), formerly an Austrian naval harbour; Intra (4500), a busy manufacturing town—cotton, glass, silk, &c.; and Pallanza (4200), a flourishing little city with a large cathedral, a penitentiary, &c., and altogether· the most important place on the lake. The celebrated Bor-komean Islands, lying off Pallanza, have been already described, vol. iv. p. 64; compare Medone, Le isole Borro-mee, with views by Falkenstein (Novara, 1840). As the St Gotthard and St Bernardino routes meet at Bellinzona, much of the trade between Italy and the north used to pass by way of the lake and the high roads that skirt its banks; and the opening of the St Gotthard railway, which joins the Italian system at Pino on the east side, and goes as far as Locarno on the west side, will bring back some of the traffic which the earlier railways diverted into other channels. The first steamboat was launched on the lake in 1826.
See P. Morriggia, 1st. della Nobiltà del Lago Maggiore ; Arnoretti, Viaggio ai tre laghi ’ , Vagliano, Rive del Verbaiιo.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 15, p. 198
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