The Italian-speaking canton of
Ticino
(
Tessin in German and
French;
www.tourism-ticino.ch
) occupies the balmy, lake-laced
southern foothills of the Alps.
It's radically different from
the rest of the country in
almost every way: culture, food,
architecture, attitude and
driving style owe more to Milan
than Zurich, and the glamour of
the place - its lushly wooded
hills, azure lakes and date
palms - often seems to blind
outsiders with romance. The
German Swiss in particular fall
head over heels for the Latin
paradise on their doorstep: it
takes just three hours from the
grey streets of suburban Zurich
to the fragrant subtropical
gardens of Lugano, and you'll
find throughout the canton that
printed information tends to be
in Italian and German,
sidelining English. Switzerland
has controlled the area since
the early 1500s, when it moved
to secure the southern
approaches of the St Gotthard
Pass against the dukes of Milan.
It's a cruel irony that the
determinedly patriotic Ticinesi
now suffer the country's highest
unemployment rates, even while
the region's service industries
thrive, staffed by Italian
guest-workers and paid for by
thousands of Swiss-German
tourists and second-home-owners.
The main attractions are the
lakeside resorts of Locarno
and Lugano , where
mountain scenery merges with the
subtropical flora encouraged by
the warm climate. The area is
also known for its old churches,
many containing medieval
frescoes and most featuring huge
external murals of St
Christopher, patron saint of
travellers. Unless you approach
from Italy, there's only one
train line in - through the 16km
Gotthard Tunnel . The
track's spiralling contortions
on the approach climb south of
Lake Luzern are famous: trains
pass the onion-domed church at
Wassen three times, first far
above you, then on a level, and
finally far below, before
entering blackness at Göschenen
and emerging at Airolo for the
descent to Ticino's capital, Bellinzona
.
