Nuova Carta Topografica dei tre Laghi Maggiore… Lugano e Como—Ostinelli 1824 map

Nuova Carta Topografica dei tre Laghi Maggiore, di Lugano e di Como, ultimamente corretta e migliorata. [New topographical map of the three lakes Maggiore, Lugano and Como, recently corrected and improved] Detailed early nineteenth-century map of the Italian and Swiss lake district, showing the three great pre-Alpine lakes of Maggiore, Lugano and Como with the surrounding mountain country, roads, rivers and settlements. Published at Como by Carlo Antonio Ostinelli in 1824, the map combines tourist utility with serious topographical ambition: relief is rendered by dense hachuring, while the legend distinguishes roads, post stations, administrative centres, rivers, ports, mines and other practical features. It appeared at a moment when the lakes were becoming central to the Romantic and Grand Tour imagination, but before the railway age transformed travel through Lombardy and Ticino. A handsome, information-rich sheet, attractive for collectors of Italian lakes, Alpine travel, early regional tourism and northern Italian cartography of enduring visual appeal and value.