1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lugano, Lake of

LUGANO, LAKE OF (also called Ceresio), one of the smaller lakes in Lombardy, N. Italy, lying between Lago Maggiore (W.) and the Lake of Como (E). It is of very irregular shape, the great promontory of Monte Salvatore (3004 ft.) nearly cutting off the western arm from the main lake. The whole lake has an area of 191/2 sq. m., its greatest length is about 22 m., its greatest width 2 m., and its greatest depth 945 ft., while its surface is 899 ft. above sea-level. Between Melide (S. of the town of Lugano) and Maroggia (on the east shore) the lake is so shallow that a great stone dam has been built across for the St Gotthard railway line and the carriage road. The chief town is Lugano (at its northern end), which by the St Gotthard line is 19 m. from Bellinzona and 9 m. from Capolago, the station at the south-eastern extremity of the lake, which is but 8 m. by rail from Como. At the south-western extremity a railway leads S.W. from Porto Ceresio to Varese (9 m.). Porlezza, at the east end of the lake, is 8 m. by rail from Menaggio on the Lake of Como, while Ponte Tresa, at the west end of the lake, is about the same distance by a steam tramway from Luino on Lago Maggiore. Of the total area of the lake, about 71/2 sq. m. are in the Swiss Canton of Ticino (Tessin), formed in 1803 out of the conquests made by the Swiss from the Milanese in 1512. The remainder of the area is in Italy. The lake lies among the outer spurs of the Alps that divide the Ticino (Tessin) basin from that of the Adda, where the calcareous strata have been disturbed by the intrusion of porphyry and other igneous rocks. It is not connected with any considerable valley, but is fed by numerous torrents issuing from short glens in the surrounding mountains, while it is drained by the Tresa, an unimportant stream flowing into Lago Maggiore. The first steamer was placed on the lake in 1856.  (W. A. B. C.)