A small “reverse Brexit” has taken place at the beginning of this year on the shores of Lake Lugano, with a town moving back inside the borders of the European Union.
The town of Campione d’Italia is located on the shores of Lake Lugano and counts around 2000 residents. It had been an Italian enclave in Switzerland since the 1860s, formally part of Italy’s territory but practically managed like the rest of the Swiss Confederation - which isn’t part of the European Union, it bears reminding.
Everything has changed now, following a request from Rome to Brussels asking for the official return of Campione d’Italia into the European Union customs area - a request which was approved and carried out starting 1 January 2020.
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It will definitely be a big chance for the residents of Campione d’Italia since up until 2019 they used Swiss phone data, currency, licence plates and services. A petition was started up by some of them to protest the move, but it didn’t have any effect and today Campione d’Italia is effectively part of Italy. For tourists, this change will mean remembering to have some euros at hand as well as Swiss francs and to consider the fact that they will be crossing a European Union border when visiting.
If you’d like to know more, you can look at Campione d’Italia official website here.
