The large lakes lying in the foothills of the Alps north of Milan and near the border between Italy and Switzerland have been popular tourist destinations for over 100 years. The development of this tourist traffic owes much to a small railway of which little trace now remains. This article briefly describes that railway and its history. A more detailed history (in Italian) was written in 1984 by Bruno Porta.
Looking at a map of northern Italy between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como you can see that both these large lakes lie on a roughly north-south axis about 50 km apart. While the southern foothills of the Alps are not as tall as the mountains to the north, their steep slopes are nevertheless a barrier to overland travel. For centuries the lakes have provided the easiest means of north-south transport, but travelling east-west has been more difficult, requiring either a long detour to the south or a steep climb over the alpine foothills.
In between the two large lakes lies the smaller, hook-shaped Lake Lugano which lies on an east-west axis, with the town of Lugano (in Switzerland) on the northern shore at the lake's mid-point. At either end of Lake Lugano is about 12 km of land separating it from the two larger lakes. In the 19th century this route provided the most obvious direct link between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como.
At the western end of Lake Lugano, the easiest route was along the Tresa river which connects small town of Ponte Tresa on Lake Lugano with the large industrial town of Luino on Lake Maggiore. At the other end of Lake Lugano, the eastern link from Porlezza was not so easy, requiring a climb over the pass at Cardano (377 metres above sea level) before a sharp 178 metre descent into Menaggio.
Menaggio is situated on the western shore of Lake Como at the mouth of the Senagra river. The Romans conquered the area in 196 BCE and built the historic road called "Via Regina", connecting the Lombardy plain with the area north of the Alps. The modern day road along the western shore of Lake Como follows the route of the Via Regina. The Via Regina was an important commercial and travel route, and Menaggio became strategically important because of its position on the Via Regina. In the Middle Ages a castle was built and Menaggio was surrounded by walls. The castle was destroyed in 1523 but some of the town walls still remain.
By the middle of the 19th century Menaggio was already a well known resort and a number of large hotels were constructed.