Mediterranean flair in Switzerland | Deccan Herald
It has a relaxed atmosphere, a tropical ambiance with palm trees and lake views and 2300 hours of sunshine a year, but I’m in Switzerland, which most people only associate with chalets, alpine pastures and sheep. Lugano, also known as Switzerland’s Monte Carlo with its avenues lined with magnolias, palm trees and linden trees, is the largest city in the southernmost Swiss canton of Ticino, which borders Italy. Milan is just a short train ride away. Italian-speaking Lugano, with a population of 60,000, has more than 71,000 Italians commuting to the city daily to work in its offices and banks as salaries here are much higher than in Italy.
“We say that Ticino is about combining Italian lifestyle and flair with Swiss efficiency and order, and getting the best of both worlds,” says our local tour guide Patricia Carminati. Trains and buses run with clockwork precision, but the atmosphere and cuisine are resolutely Italian, with pasta, risotto, polenta on menus and a tradition of aperitifs. We stroll through the old town of Lugano with its Lombard style architecture, starting from Via Nassa, one of the historic streets of Lugano, lined with exclusive designer boutiques, from jewelry and clothing to watches, under ancient arcades. The street is named after the traditional fishing nets Nassa for here the fishermen once wove them before they were converted into townhouses for the wealthy. Piazza Della Riforma is a popular public square with open-air restaurants, bars and bistros lined with ornate buildings with wrought-iron balconies that meander into a network of cobblestone alleyways. The lake promenade lungo, lined with linden trees and vendors selling roasted chestnuts, leads to the city’s main green lungs – Parco Ciani, with a peach-colored neoclassical villa that used to host events and weddings overlooking the lake, founded by the Ciani family in 1845 became brothers from Milan, with ancient plane trees, rhododendrons and palm trees. With a Mediterranean ambience, lawns, modern art installations, statues and red benches to lounge on, it’s popular with locals, from dog walkers, joggers, strollers and mothers with babies in strollers passing by. Lake Lugano, with its Ice Age origins surrounded by steep mountainsides lined with chestnut trees, is 63% in Switzerland and the rest in Italy. It’s at the heart of a lifestyle with fishing boats and yachts sailing the waters and villages with grotto or basement restaurants lining the lake’s shores. It dates back to the days when refrigeration did not exist and the warm, mild climate needed a place to age meat, age cheese, and age wine.
In the Victorian era part of the lake was named paradise because it was so picturesque, and today this is the starting point for a boat tour we take with local boat owner and entrepreneur Gabriella Rigiani, who gives us views of the lakeside villages and towns. We glide through the water past the grand hotels from the Victorian era that line the boulevard of Lugano, past small villages and towns. Gandria, with its pastel colored stone houses rising steeply on a cliff at the foot of Monte Bre, used to be a fishing village – today it is one of the most beautiful tourist villages. The 2 km long path from Castagnola to Gandria, called the Olive Path, was created to revitalize olive cultivation in the region and is known for its panoramic views of the countryside. A short train ride from Lugano is Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino, which sits on a strategic mountain pass and stood under the Dukes of Milan who used to control the movement of goods and people from Italy to northern Europe with three fortresses and a garrison of soldiers and horses – Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. Built in the Middle Ages and later expanded, these high defensive walls served to stop Confederate expansion. Today they are on the UNESCO World Heritage List as examples of unique alpine military architecture. We take a stroll through the old town with the ringing of church bells in the air, past stately mansions and large stone houses, with our multilingual guide Anna Bezzola, who owns a local tour company. Ahead lies the forbidding fortress of Castel Grande, home to Neolithic people, according to arrowheads found and dated here during archaeological digs. “The other places in Ticino have lakes, we have our fortresses,” says Anna proudly. “Even today, when the locals build houses and dig up the earth, when they come across dolmens from ancient times, it becomes a potential archaeological site. We love being Swiss, but we have also fought for and preserved our Italian language and heritage,” says Anna. History echoes through the streets of the old town. In a modern sports shop, Anna shows us painted wooden ceilings from the 15th century with images of animals and other symbolic motifs. In St. Peter’s Square, with al fresco cafes and pigeons, is the imposing Baroque Collegiate Church of St. Peter and Stephen with frescoes and stucco work, built by the same architect who worked on Como Cathedral. My favorite building in the city is the Ca Rossa, or Red House, with striking terracotta decorations on the facade, a decorative style popular in 19th-century Milan. Nearby is the lively Wednesday market with stalls selling fresh local produce – chestnut and linden honey, polenta and local liquors, sourdough bread and organic grappa, and the music of local musicians with their fiddles and throaty singing.
Our last visit to Ticino is the vibrant city of Locarno on the shores of Lake Maggiore with parks and gardens in bloom, palm and lemon trees. Surrounding the lake is the Parco de la Camilie with almost 1,000 different varieties of fragrant camellias. The Lido de Locarno, with its public swimming pools and outdoor thermal pools, is the center of recreation in summer. The city has one of the grandest public squares I’ve ever seen – the Piazza Grande with arcades and shuttered buildings. “This is where the city meets, markets, concerts, film screenings and festivals take place here,” explains Anna. Locarno is famous for its International Film Festival, which has been held in August every year for over 70 years.
We relax on the shore of Lake Maggiore with a walnut gelato, watch boats and swans and on the other side the high Monte Rosa mountains loom. Ticino can slow you down!