Posted Mon Oct 27 13:49:00 UTC 2008

Lugano is Ticino’s largest city, located on the shores of Lake Lugano, about an hour north of Milan. For more than 100 years now it has been a favorite vacation spot for the Swiss and many international travelers, but it is also one of Switzerland’s major financial cities, right behind Zurich and Geneva. In recent years it has been nicknamed the “Monte Carlo of Switzerland” due to the large number of world celebrities who visit and have homes there.

An important cultural hub for the Swiss Mediterranean region, Lugano offers a large variety of municipal and private art galleries and museums, a major performing arts center—the Palazzo dei Congressi—and three local sports teams—Hockey Club Lugano, AC Lugano football, and BC Lugano Tigers basketball. The city is rich with historic art and architecture, and boasts several institutions of higher education, such as the University of Lugano (Università della Svizzera italiana) and Franklin College Switzerland. Lugano offers wonderful shopping and dining throughout the city, and many residents and visitors enjoy strolling through the city’s many large piazzas and pretty Venetian-style villages.