Lago Maggiore (Ticino shore)

The Lago Maggiore stretches from Ticino into Italy; its Swiss northern end around Locarno and Ascona is known for a mild, almost Mediterranean climate, palm promenades and camellia blossom. Locarno holds, at around 197 m, the lowest point in Switzerland at the lake's surface. Above the town stands the pilgrimage church Madonna del Sasso, reached by funicular.

Highlights

• Palm promenades of Locarno and Ascona
• Pilgrimage church Madonna del Sasso above Locarno
• Brissago Islands with botanical garden
• Mild, Mediterranean climate

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Practical info

Background & History

The Ticino shore of Lake Maggiore lies at the northernmost tip of this great Upper Italian lake, where Switzerland, with its sun-blessed southern side, reaches into the Mediterranean climate. Around Locarno and Ascona, palms, camellias and citrus trees flourish, and the mild light has always attracted painters, poets and life reformers. The nearby Monte Verità above Ascona became famous, where at the beginning of the 20th century a colourful colony of dropouts, vegetarians, anarchists and artists created a counter-world to industrial society and strove for a free reform of living.

Geologically the lake basin is the work of vast ice-age glaciers, which scoured out the valley so deeply that Lake Maggiore ranks among the deepest lakes in Europe, its bed reaching far below sea level. Locarno itself bears, with the pilgrimage church of Madonna del Sasso, a spiritual landmark high above the water, and is today known far beyond the region for its international film festival, at which films are shown under the open sky on the great Piazza Grande. In the nearby valleys, such as the Verzasca Valley, crystal-clear rivers and old stone villages beckon. The Ticino shore thus unites southern lushness, alpine history and cultural radiance in the closest space.