The underrated region where Italian lifestyle meets Swiss efficiency

Greetings and farewells – “Ciao, bella!“, “Ciao, ciao!” – flutter through the carriage, as passengers chat and upcoming stations (Ambri-Piotta, Faido, Lavorgo) flicker on the digital screens. “Grazie,” says the conductor, scanning my ticket as I glimpse yet another palm tree through the sun-splashed windows. It feels like Italy, but this is actually Switzerland, just not as you know it.

Alpine meets Mediterranean vibes in Ticino, the only Swiss canton where Italian is the sole official language, and where pastel-hued villages reflect into sparkling lakes, and snow-drizzled mountains backdrop promenades with immaculately groomed flower beds and inviting al fresco cafe-bars.

Lakes and vineyards stud the Swiss canton of Ticino.

“We like to say we have the Italian lifestyle but with Swiss efficiency,” says Michel Cavadini, who meets me as my train – bang on time – pulls into Locarno, a resort town perched by Lake Maggiore, one of the divine bodies of water bordering southern Switzerland and northern Italy.

Cavadini grew up here, and after a stint away, he’s back as Ticino Tourism’s head of foreign markets. While German and French-speaking Swiss know all about Ticino – and its milder temperatures and 2200 hours of annual sunshine, more than Melbourne, apparently – the region is comparatively unknown overseas. Australians, for example, stick mostly to the cities, pistes and railways north of the Gotthard Pass, which separates Ticino from the rest of Switzerland.

Once an ordeal to get here – you’d need a mule at least – Swiss engineering prowess has pierced the 2106-metre-high pass with awe-inspiring road and rail tunnels. I’ve travelled down from Zurich on the slower, scenic Treno Gottardo, which takes over three hours, but faster trains reach Ticino in under two. Coming from Milano Centrale? You’ll be in Ticino in just over an hour.

You could stay in Lugano, the canton’s biggest city (home to a fifth of Ticino’s 350,000 population). It sits by Lake Lugano, another mountain-fringed beauty spot shared by Switzerland and Italy. But even lovelier, for me, is Locarno, 30 minutes up the road and with handy public transport for day trips plus links to Ticino’s 4000-kilometre-strong network of marked walking trails.

Landscapes perfect for hikers.

One path ascends to the 15th-century sanctuary of Madonna del Sasso, which crowns a crag above my hillside base, Hotel Belvedere Locarno, where rooms have balconies facing Lake Maggiore and eclectic artwork includes vintage posters of the Locarno International Film Festival, an event luring celebrities to town each August. Hollywood-esque blue skies (and 20-degree daytime temperatures) are a feature of my late-March stay when magnolias and camellias bloom in the hotel’s gorgeous gardens.

There’s a cinematic beauty to the shores and cobbled old cores of Locarno and neighbouring Ascona, a quaint former fishing village with lakeside buildings shaded peach, turquoise and canary yellow. Vibrant colours may also entice you into the local gelato parlours. Ticinese and Italian tastebuds are same-same but different. Pasta, pizza, risotto and tiramisu are menu staples alongside regional specialities like polenta, rabbit stew and cicitt di capra (goat sausage). Merlot is Ticino’s dominant wine grape, though they make (fruity, floral) white varieties as well as reds.

A Ticino highlight – the stone bridge of Lavertezzo in the Verzasca Valley.

I enjoy drinking in the Ticinese landscapes, taking train rides or hikes through heart-fluttering valleys with emerald-green streams, chestnut forests and white-powdered peaks. I take the ferry from Ascona to Isole di Brissago, a luxuriant, pocket-sized island in Lake Maggiore, Switzerland’s lowest point at 193 metres above sea level. Mediterranean and subtropical trees and plants – from places like Tasmania and Brazil, Japan and South Africa – thrive on this island, while Italy’s lakeside towns loom across the water.

You’ll probably wonder why Ticino is Swiss and not Italian. A history-themed stroll of Bellinzona, the canton’s UNESCO-listed capital, reveals all. Local guide Anna Bezzola shares tales of Napoleonic plots, Milanese dukes and Swiss rebels as we roam the ramparts of Castelgrande, the largest of Bellinzona’s three medieval castles. Vineyards carpet its southwest-facing slopes and in the other direction, there’s a wander-worthy, espresso-scented Citta Vecchia (old town).

The Castello di Montebello, one of three fortresses in UNESCO-listed Ticino’s capital.

Walking the stairs and narrow lanes down from the fortress, we’re drawn to the boutiques and eateries in Bellinzona’s arcaded patrician houses, most pre-dating Ticino’s establishment as a canton in 1798 and its incorporation into the Swiss Confederation 50 years later. We admire the loggias and frescoes decorating the three-storey inner courtyard of the Palazzo Civico, a renaissance-style city hall, then we drift over to the Collegiate Church of Saints Peter and Stephen, a baroque wonder that’s cathedral-like in its dimensions and decor, with elaborate interior lashings of marble and stucco.

Pointing out the finer details, Anna tells me the church’s designer was Tommaso Rodari of Maroggia – the same architect who crafted Como Cathedral in the Italian Lakes. Were this church there, or in Rome or Florence, I’d suspect it would be humming with tourists. But this morning, we have it to ourselves. You could hear a pin drop.

It’s a wrench to say “arrivederci” to Anna and Ticino – a sentiment that swells on my (bang on time) train ride back to Zurich. Emerging from the 57-kilometre Gotthard Base Tunnel into the German-speaking canton of Uri, I’m greeted with dramatic scenery – we’re still in Switzerland, remember – but the skies are greyer, rain is trickling down my window, people are holding umbrellas outside. Ticino already feels like a dream.

FIVE MORE THINGS TO DO IN TICINO

Canyoning, for an adrenaline rush.

CENTOVALLI RAILWAY Despite toasting its 100th birthday in 2023, this remains a hidden gem and a paean to slow travel, taking two hours to venture 52 kilometres across the wild and wonderful countryside between Locarno and Domodossola, a cute little city in Italy’s Piedmont region. Views on this journey – from precariously perched farms and villages to plunging gorges and vertiginous viaducts – are jaw-dropping, and you can alight at more than 20 stops along the way for hikes, refreshments and cable cars. See vigezzinacentovalli.com

MONTE BRE Touted as the “sunniest peak in Switzerland”, this 925-metre mountain rises above Lake Lugano. Take the funicular up, breathe in the fabulous panoramas and visit the nearby medieval stone village of Bre, which has cute restaurants serving rustic Ticinese cuisine and cobbled alleys fringed by quirky sculptures and murals. You can also walk a trail that cascades down from Bre to the Sentiero dell’olivo (Olive Trail), a path linking Castagnola, a suburb of Lugano (where the funicular begins), and the lake-hugging village of Gandria. See montebre.ch

MORCOTE Arguably even more photogenic than Gandria, Morcote is another alluring village by Lake Lugano (and reachable by ferry from Lugano city). After a cappuccino at one of its promenade cafes, climb the 400 or so steps for one of Ticino’s finest vistas: the belltower of the Santa Maria del Sasso church with the lake as the backdrop. Requiring less effort to visit is the Parco Scherrer, a terraced botanical garden tucked above Morcote’s main street. The brainchild of a globe-trotting textile merchant, it’s adorned with lush foliage, whimsical follies and exotic artworks. See morcote.ch

ADRENALINE RUSHES Beyond the hiking and e-biking opportunities, Ticino’s pulse-raising scenery lends itself to activities like via ferrata, canyoning and river rafting. You can indulge your inner Indiana Jones by walking across a 270-metre Tibetan Bridge swinging 130 metres above a valley just outside Bellinzona. Or, near Locarno, try one of Europe’s highest bungy jumps, leaping 220 metres from the top of the Verzasca Dam, like James Bond in 1995’s GoldenEye. See 007bungy.ch

MARKETS Browse, sample and buy Ticino’s appetising produce, from pungent cheeses and herb-infused cold cuts to fruity wines and grappas, at the weekly markets spilling across the canton’s alleys and squares. Thursdays sees traders and customers mingling on Locarno’s Piazza Grande, one of Switzerland’s largest public spaces (and a stage for screenings during the summer film festival). Besides all the food and drink, stalls sell hand-made arts, crafts, fabrics and fashions. Even larger is the market held on Saturday mornings in Bellinzona, which usually has more than 100 vendors and live music from folksy performers in traditional Ticinese costumes. See bellinzonaevalli.ch

THE DETAILS

FLY
Swiss Air and Qantas flies from Sydney and Melbourne to Zurich via Singapore. Regular trains depart Zurich for Locarno, Bellinzona and Lugano. See sbb.ch/en

STAY
Hotel Belvedere Locarno has rooms from around CHF267 ($507) a night. Overnight guests get a complimentary Ticino Ticket, which provides free public transport around the canton. See belvedere-locarno.com/en

TOUR
See alpsandbeyond.com

MORE
ticino.ch
myswitzerland.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Swiss Tourism and Ticino Tourism.