In the city of Lugano, in Canton Ticino, southern Switzerland

 "Because the world is so full of death and horror, I try again and again to console my heart and pick the flowers that grow in the midst of hell." -- Hermann Hesse, the German-born Swiss poet, novelist and painter

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(in southern Switzerland) Lugano, the largest city in Ticino canton, lies along Lake Lugano, northwest of Como; to the south is Mount San Salvatore, and to the east is Mount Brè. (Most of Lake Lugano (63%) is held by Switzerland, in an area where the lake is one of the country’s popular tourist attractions.) First mentioned in the 6th century, Lugano was occupied in 1499 by the French and taken in 1512 by the Swiss. The center of the Lugano canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, it was then included in the newly formed Ticino canton and, with Locarno and Bellinzona, was one of the three cantonal capitals until 1878. In 1888 it became the seat of a bishop with jurisdiction over Italian-speaking Switzerland. (During the struggle of 1848–66 to expel the Austrians from Lombardy, Lugano served as the headquarters for the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Mazzini.)

+ Positioned on the lake with the Alps at its back, Lugano offers visitors a little bit of everything. Ride a cable car up Monte San Salvatore or Monte Bre for great panoramas of lake, rivers, mountains, and red-roofed buildings. Explore the city's churches, cathedrals, and the expressive and colorful Piazza della Riforma. Sample some slow-cooked Ticinese cuisine, explore the lake on a boat. or spend the day at the lido with its Olympic-sized pool.

+ Ticino’s lush, mountain-rimmed lake isn’t its only liquid asset. The largest city in the canton is also the country’s third-most-important banking center. A vivacious city, it has posh designer boutiques, bars, and pavement cafes huddling in the maze of steep cobblestone streets that unwind at the edge of the lake and along the flowery promenade. (The opening of its LAC Arts Center has enhanced its cultural stakes.) The peaks of Monte Brè and Monte San Salvatore, above the lake, provide awesome views deep into the Alps, and attract lots of hikers and mountain bikers during the warmer months.

 + Since 1882, Lugano has been an important stop on the Gotthard Railway, the trans-alpine line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The railway brought a decisive contribution to the development of tourism and more generally of the tertiary sector which are, to this day, predominant in the economy of the city. Today, Lugano's primary sources of revenue are tourism and international finance, but there is some industry here, including the manufacture of chocolate, silk, and machinery. (The city is Italian in both appearance and character.) Its main landmarks are the 13th-century Cathedral of San Lorenzo, the former Franciscan Church of Santa Maria degli Angioli (with frescoes by Bernardino Luini), and the Villa Favorita in the suburb of Castagnola (housing one of Europe’s greatest private art collections).