Lake Lugano

One of the most beautiful Pre-Alpine lakes, with its mysterious charm and touristic traditions; a small part of it belongs to the Province of Varese, while most of it extends into the Swiss territory.

ALTITUDE

271 m

AREA

48.7 sq. km

LENGTH

35 km

MAXIMUM DEPTH

288 m

From the wonderful reliefs overlooking the lake, we can enjoy breathtaking views; the villages located on the shores are ideal destinations for visitors in search for relaxation and green environments. Here cultural attractions are not lacking too, along with innumerable possibilities of excursions on foot or by mountain bike. Here we start our voyage of discovery, exploring Lake Lugano (or Lake Ceresio) and its surroundings.

Our itinerary begins from Porto Ceresio (1), a beautiful village overlooking the waters, boasting greatly charming constructions dating back to the Nineteenth century. Here we can take a relaxing walk on the lakeside, explore the village’s small streets and take a break in the dehors of the characteristic cafés. Then our path can run in two different directions.

Heading North it will lead to Cuasso al Monte (2), where we may visit a convent built in 1635 in the middle of a beech wood: because of its isolated position, locals named it “the Desert”. We may save a little time to visit the impressive ruins of the castle, which stretch across the entire slope of a hill and were part of a massive defensive system built with the function of protecting the territory of Lombardy, then called “Seprio”.

We can then leave to the discovery of the defensive system of Linea Cadorna, a line of trenches scattered along the Northern part of the Province, up to the peak of Monte Piambello, revealing also landscape foreshortenings of great beauty. Nearby, in the Municipality of Valganna (3), we meet the delicious painted village of Boarezzo, downstream the historic Maglio di Ghirla and Badia di Ganna, where our first route ends.

Our second choice, starting back from Porto Ceresio, may deflect southwards for Viggiù (4), with its wonderful historic centre characterized by houses with large courtyards that once hosted stone cutting and processing workshops, along with several villas and churches, remarkable from a historic and architectural point of view.

Leaving from Viggiù we can face the climb of Monte Pravello and Monte Orsa, which offer a magnificent view on Valceresio and Canton of Ticino; otherwise we may move to Induno Olona (5), where the Castle of Frascarolo (in a second moment converted into a residential villa) and the Chapel of S. Pietro in Silvis are located. Do not miss Monte San Giorgio, on the Italian-Swiss border: it is a fossiliferous site of international importance which allowed the study of the evolution of many groups of organisms dating 247-235 million years and which lived in a marine environment. Today the site – both on the Italian and on the Swiss border- is under UNESCO protection.