LAKE MAGGIORE

History of navigation on Lake Maggiore

Words: ing. Massimo Gozzi

Lake Maggiore has suffered from having been divided up in the 1820s, when steam navigation was just getting started, between three governments: the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Royal Imperial Austrian Government and the Swiss State. This has made managing navigation on the lake complex from the very beginning. Indeed, almost at the same time, in April 1825 in Milan the Royal Imperial Government granted the service licence to the “Società per la Navigazione sulle acque del Lombardo Veneto", while a company was set up in Turin with the corporate purpose of navigation on Lake Maggiore, with Italian and Swiss shareholders. The two companies then merged, but maintained separate administrations, creating the “Impresa Lombardo-Sardo-Ticinese”. In order to assert its importance, the company first purchased an engine from an existing steamer, the “Eridano”, which was a pioneering steamship used on the river Po between Pavia and Venice. With it, a new steamer was built, named “Verbano”. Launched on 15th February 1826, her hull and framework were in timber, the furnace was fired with pine wood, and a limited set of sails was maintained. 
As it became more successful, the navigation company was motivated to replace the “Verbano”, which by then had become outdated as technology had moved forward. Her replacement was a new steamship built by the Swiss company Escher-Wyss. Initially the Austrian government was reluctant to grant her authorisation to sail, but eventually the boat, also named Verbano, was launched in 1843.
From 1851 onwards, the economic situation became increasingly interlinked with military affairs. The Austrian government used steam cannon boats that were later to become passenger vessels. Managed by the Austrian Lloyd (funded by the government), the stretch of lake was reinforced and integrated with the larger section that links Lake Maggiore with Trieste, through the Ticino and Po rivers. At the same time, the Government of the Kingdom of Sardinia launched a cooperative service with the Swiss government, adding three new, updated steamers to the fleet.
In the 1860s Lake Maggiore became fully Italian (and Swiss). At this time, the service was the responsibility of the Strade Ferrate dell'Alta Italia, which assigned it to the "Impresa di Navigazione sul Lago Maggiore", owned by the Milanese entrepreneur Innocente Mangili. He transformed the steamships inherited from the previous managements, and purchased new ones to supplement and expand the fleet.