Things To Do in Lugano
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Lugano Attractions
The city tourist office offers a walking tour with a guide on Mondays at 9:30am, April to October. These free tours depart from the Palazzo Civico at the Piazza Riforma.
In Town
Parco Civico is the city park along Lake Lugano. It contains the Palazzo dei Congressi (the convention center), the casino, and the Villa Ciani art museum. Outdoor concerts are presented in the summer.
Cattedrale di San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence), via Cattedrale, in the Old Town, was originally a Romanesque church. It was reconstructed in the 13th and 14th centuries and overhauled in the 17th and 18th centuries. It has three outstanding Renaissance doorways and a baroque interior. Look for the 16th-century tabernacle at the end of the south aisle; it was designed by the Rodari brothers of Maroggia.
The major church is the Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli (Church of St. Mary of the Angels), Piazza Luini, located on the south side of the resort. This church was built at the end of the 15th century and is known throughout the Ticino for its frescoes by Bernardino Luini, the Lombard painter. His huge fresco The Crucifixion dates from 1529. Many critics have compared the beauty of his work to that of Leonardo da Vinci. Art critic John Ruskin found an "unstudied sweetness" in Luini's work. The church was occupied by Franciscans until 1848.
Nearby Attractions
The best way to discover the small lakeside villages around Lugano is to rent a bike at the railway station and set off to explore. Arm yourself with a good map from the tourist office and head for the nature reserve of Origlio Lake, proceeding to Ponte Capriasca, where you can visit a parish church with a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. From here, you can continue to the villages of Tesserete and Colla along the left valley side of Cassarate, going through the woods with a marked trail to Sonvico. On your way back to Lugano, you'll pass through the idyllic villages of Dino, Ponte di Valle, and finally Lugano. In all, the trip takes in about 37km (23 miles) and can be done in about 4 hours.
- Cooking Class
Swiss Miniature Village
Small replicas of the major buildings in Switzerland are displayed along a labyrinth of asphalt paths. There's also a miniature of the twin castles in Sion. You can purchase an official guidebook for detailed explanations. This attraction is especially popular with children. - Landmark
Villa Heleneum
Lying 4km (2 1/2 miles) northwest of Lugano, this landmark building is along the much-frequented walk to Gandria. It contains the Museum of Extra-European Cultures, which exhibits objects from Oceania, Indonesia, and Africa. The collection was donated by Serge Brignoni, an exponent…
Lugano Shopping
Its role as capital of Italian-speaking Switzerland almost guarantees that Lugano's selection of merchandise will include a cosmopolitan blend of Teutonic and Mediterranean merchandise. Most of it can be viewed along either side of the resort's main shopping street, via Nassa.
You'll find five floors of department-store shopping at everybody's favorite large store, Manor, Piazza Dante (tel. 091/912-76-99; www.manor.ch). A roughly equivalent department store, with some gift items and more of an emphasis on foodstuffs, groceries, hardware, and housewares, is Migros, via Pretorio 15 (tel. 091/913-72-13). If you're looking for chocolates and pastries, head for a bakery that many locals remember from their childhood, Münger, via Luvini 4 (tel. 091/985-69-43; www.munger.ch).
Lugano Nightlife
Lugano reigns as the center of the Ticino's nightlife circuit, with options that attract local residents from quieter towns throughout the district. The most obvious options involve visits to either of the two casinos described in this guide.
Other Nightlife Offerings
Other than gambling, you'll find a dense roster of bars and cafes, many of them lining the edges of the historic center's most famous square, piazza Riforma. One of the most interesting is the Café Olimpia (tel. 091/922-74-88), an elegant stone building with hundreds of chairs set out in front and a focus on live music some evenings. A few steps away is the Café Tango (tel. 091/922-27-01; www.tango-ti.ch), more like a bar than a traditional cafe, where an Argentine motif (and recorded music) often attracts clients from everywhere in Europe.
If striptease artistes are your thing, consider Dancing Cécil, Via Guisan 3, in the nearby suburb of Lugarno-Paradiso (tel. 091/994-97-24). It's open daily from 10pm.
