Think of Switzerland and it’s the French and German-speaking regions that spring to mind first. However, the Italophone area of Ticino, bordering Italy to the south, is just as important a part of this diverse country, with a unique character, sunny disposition and Italian-influenced cuisine that is nevertheless innately Swiss.
Sharing Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano with Italy, Ticino has a Mediterranean feel, with palm tree-lined lakeshore promenades in the towns of Locarno, Lugano and Ascona, along with some of the best beaches and warmest water in the country – this is one of Switzerland’s sunniest cantons, after all. Locarno’s vast Piazza Grande, a cobbled square on a scale to rival those in Spain and Italy, testifies to the outdoor culture of Ticino. Every August, a huge open-air cinema is set up here during the longstanding Locarno Film Festival, while markets, music festivals and food events, as well as numerous cafés and restaurants, animate the square year-round.
Yet this southern European character is coupled with scenery that is distinctly Swiss. Funiculars and (‘scattered hotel’), following the Italian model of converting restored traditional villages into unique stays.
