Sights in Ticino
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Santuario della Madonna del Sasso
Overlooking the town, this sanctuary was built after the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared in a vision to a monk, Bartolomeo d'Ivrea, in 1480. There's a small museum, a church and several rather rough, near life-size statue groups (including one of the Last Supper) in niches on the stairway. The best-known painting in the church is La Fuga in Egitto (Flight to Egypt), painted in 1522 by Bramantino.
Contrasting in style are the naive votive paintings by the church entrance, where the Madonna and Child appear as ghostly apparitions in life-and-death situations.
A funicular runs every 15 minutes from the town centre past the sanctuary to Orisella, but the 20-minute walk up is …
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Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angioli
The simple Romanesque Chiesa diSanta Mariadegli Angioli, against which a now crumbling former hotel was built, contains two frescos by Bernardino Luini dating from 1529. Covering the entire wall that divides the church in two is a grand didactic illustration of the Crucifixion. The closer you look, the more scenes of Christ’s Passion are revealed, along with others of him being taken down from the cross and his resurrection. The power and vivacity of the colours are astounding. Less alive is Luini’s depiction of the Last Supper on the left wall.
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Castello Visconteo
Castello Visconteo, dating from the 15th century and named after the Visconti clan that long ruled Milan, today houses a museum with Roman and Bronze Age exhibits. Locarno is believed to have been a glass-manufacturing town in Roman times, which accounts for the strong showing of glass artefacts in the museum. This labyrinth of a castle, whose nucleus was raised around the 10th century, also hosts a small display (in Italian) on the Locarno Treaty.
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Via Pretorio 9 (Cherry Building)
The pink brick Mario Botta office block is known to locals as the Cherry Building because of the cherry tree planted on the roof. It was designed by Lugano's Mario Botta (born 1943 in Mendrisio to the south), who has made an international name for himself as a leading light in contemporary architecture. Best known for his work abroad (like San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art and the Kyobo Tower in Seoul), Botta has also left an indelible mark on and around Lugano.
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Museo Casa Anatta
The late 19th century saw the arrival of ‘back to nature’ utopians, anarchists and sexual libertarians from northern Europe in Ascona. Their aspirations and eccentricities are the subject of the Museo Casa Anatta on Monte Verità (take the small bus to Buxi from the post office; Sfr1). All sorts of characters, including Herman Hesse, dropped by to look at the goings on.
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Campione d’Italia
The 12-storey casino, converted by Lugano’s favourite architect, Mario Botta, into Europe’s biggest in 2005, does a brisk business. Smart dress is required. From noon to midnight you can take bus 39 from Lugano’s Piazza Manzoni (one-way/return Sfr6.80/13.60) to Campione d’Italia. The last return bus leaves at 12.40am, and then there’s one at 6.39am.
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Banca del Gottardo
Banca del Gottardo is a series of interconnected monoliths designed by Lugano's Mario Botta (born 1943 in Mendrisio to the south), who has made an international name for himself as a leading light in contemporary architecture. Best known for his work abroad (like San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art and the Kyobo Tower in Seoul), Botta has also left an indelible mark on and around Lugano.
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Museo del Cioccolato Alprose
Chomp into some cocoa culture at the Museo del Cioccolato Alprose. This is a great place to take the children or anyone with a sweet tooth. As well as getting a chocolate-coated history lesson, you can watch the sugary substance being made and enjoy a free tasting. The shop, cunningly, stays open half an hour longer. Take the Ferrovia Ponte Tresa train (Sfr7).
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Museo Hermann Hesse
In Torre Camuzzi, is the Museo Hermann Hesse. Personal objects, some of the thousands of watercolours painted by Hermann Hesse in Ticino, books and other odds and ends help re-create something of Hesse’s life. From Lugano, get the Ferrovia Ponte Tresa train to Sorengo and change for a postal bus (Sfr3.40, 20 minutes).
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Museo delle Dogane Svizzere
Across the lake from Gandria is the Museo delle Dogane Svizzere, at Cantine di Gandria, and accessible by boat. It tells the history of customs (and more interestingly smuggling) in this border area. On display are confiscated smugglers’ boats that once operated on the lake.
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Swissminiatur
Melide is a bulge of shore from which the A2 freeway slices across the lake. The main attraction is Swissminiatur, where you’ll find 1:25 scale models of more than 120 national attractions. It’s the quick way to see Switzerland in a day.
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Parco Scherrer
Parco Scherrer, 400m left (west) from the boat stop, offers a bustling range of architectural styles, including copies of famous buildings and generic types (eg Temple of Nefertiti, Siamese teahouse). It’s all set in subtropical parkland.
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Museo delle Culture Extraeuropee
About 1.7km from central Lugano, in Villa Heleneum, is the Museo delle Culture Extraeuropee. The brew of tribal relics from far-off countries includes a collection of masks and statues soaked in sexuality. Take bus 1.
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Chiesa Nuova
Built in the 17th century, the Chiesa Nuova has an almost sickeningly ornate baroque ceiling. Outside, left of the entrance, stands a giant statue of St Christopher with disproportionately tiny feet.
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Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna
The Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna, in Palazzo Pancaldi, includes paintings by artists connected with the town, among them Paul Klee, Ben Nicholson, Alexej Jawlensky and Hans Arp.
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Collegio Papio
The Collegio Papio, now a high school, boasts a fine Lombard courtyard and includes the 15th-century Chiesa Santa Maria della Misericordia, with medieval frescos.
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Giardini Jean Arp
Giardini Jean Arp is a lakeside park off Lungolago Motta, with sculptures by the surrealist artist scattered among the palm trees. It is free to swim in various convenient spots around the lake.
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Galleria Gottardo
Galleria Gottardo is a private foundation of the BSI (formerly Banca del Gottardo) bank, which puts on exhibitions ranging from sculpture to photography.
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Cattedrale di San Lorenzo
The early 16th- century Cattedrale di San Lorenzo boasts a Renaissance facade and contains some fine frescos and ornately decorated baroque statues.
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Museo Cantonale d’Arte
The Museo Cantonale d’Arte celebrates the work of modern artists (mostly 19th and 20th century masters) from the region.
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Museo d’Arte Moderna
There's creativity from the cutting edge at the Museo d'Arte Moderna. Housed in Villa Malpensata, it is one of the city's main art spaces.
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Villa Ciani
The ochre-hued Villa Ciani, just in from the lake, is also the site of regular art exhibitions.
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Chiesa di San Francesco
The 16th-century Chiesa di San Francesco has frescos by Baldassare Orelli.
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Chiesa di Sant 'Antonio
Chiesa di Sant 'Antonio is best known for its altar to the Cristo Morto (Dead Christ).
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