Lugano
Encyclopedia
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland
, in the Italian-speaking
canton
of Ticino
, which borders Italy
. The city lies on Lake Lugano
, and its warm summers and the fact that in recent years it has attracted an ever growing number of celebrities, entertainers and successful athletes have given it the nickname of the "Monte Carlo of Switzerland". It is the 9th largest city of Switzerland by population.
The origin of the name is possibly the Latin
word Lucus, meaning wood or sacred wood, or Gaulish locovanno "lake dweller".
. Within the modern city limits (Breganzona, Castagnola, Davesco and Gandria) a number of ground stone
s or quern-stone
s have been found. In the area surrounding Lugano, items from the Copper Age
and the Iron Age
have been found. There are Etruscan
monuments at Davesco-Soragno (5th to 2nd century BC), Pregassona (3rd to 2nd century BC), and Viganello (3rd to 2nd century BC). Graves with jewelry and household items have been found in Aldesago, Davesco, Pazzallo and Pregassona along with Celtic money in Viganello.
The region around Lake Lugano was settled by the Romans
by the 1st century BC. There was an important Roman city north of Lugano at Bioggio
. There are fewer traces of the Romans in Lugano, but several inscriptions, graves and coins indicate that some Romans lived in what would become Lugano.
, ceded various assets located in Lugano to the Church of Saint Carpophorus
in Como
in 724. Other documents, dating from 804 and 844 refer to Lake Lugano as Laco Luanasco, and an act of 984 indicates Lugano as a market town. In 874 the town was referred to as Luano, and in 1189 it became known by its present name. The town coat of arms also dates to around this time. The four letters on the coat of arms are an abbreviation of Lugano according to documents from 18 October 1208 and 14 November 1209. This city was also known in the German-speaking cantons as Lowens, Lauis and Lauwis.
During the fighting between Guelphs and Ghibellines
and the new disputes between Como and Milan
, during the 14th and 15 centuries, Lugano was the scene of clashes between opposing forces. After a long rule by the Rusca family, Lugano was freed from the domination of Como, which had been taken over in 1335 by the Visconti. At the same time the link between town and the valley strengthened. By 1405–06 documents attest to a vallis comunitas Lugani et, which was a governing body that was independent of Como. The new community included the parish
s of Lugano, Agno, Riva San Vitale
and Capriasca
. In 1416 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti conquered the region of Lugano and the Rusca valley and made it a fief. A year later, Lugano's freedoms were first documented in a series of statutes modeled on those of Como. The town was able to secure complete independence.
Between 1433 and 1438 the Duke of Milan, Aloisio Sanseverino sat as a feudal lord over Lugano. He compensated the Rusca family with the ownership of Locarno. Under the reign of his heirs in the following decades rebellions and riots broke out, which lasted until the French invasion of 1499.
It was the object of continuous disputes between the Dukes of Como and Milan
until it became a Swiss dominion in 1513. Swiss control lasted until 1798 when Napoleon conquered the Old Swiss Confederation and created the Helvetic Republic
. Under the Helvetic Republic, Lugano became the center of the Canton of Lugano
.
, Locarno
and Valmaggia. However, as with the other cantons of the Helvetic Republic, the autonomy
of Lugano was very limited, the republic having been founded by Napoleon in order further to centralise power in Switzerland. The canton was led by a Directory
of five members, who appointed a "national préfet
".
In 1746, the Agnelli brothers opened the first printing press and bookshop in Lugano. They began publishing the newspaper Nuove di diverse corti e paesi in 1748 and changed its name to Gazzetta di Lugano in 1797. The newspaper was widely read in north and central Italy. It supported the cause of the later Jansenists against the Jesuits and was therefore banned in 1768 in the territory of the Papal States
. It was open to the themes of enlightened reform and the American Revolutionary War
. It was the first newspaper in the Italian language to publish an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence
of 1776. After the death of Abbot Gian Battista Agnelli in 1788, who had been the editor for more than 40 years, Abbot Giuseppe Lodovico Maria Vanelli took over the paper. Under Abbot Vanelli, it supported the revolutionary ideas from France, which drew protests from the Austrian government in Lombardy
. The publication of the magazine ceased abruptly after edition number 17 of 29 April 1799, following the anti-French riots in Lugano during which the Agnelli printing house was sacked and Abbot Vanelli was shot.
The canton was deeply divided between "patriots", supporting the Cisalpine Republic
, and traditionalist "aristocrats
". By 1799 riots broke out in Lugano, and the second préfet, Francesco Capra, fled the city. Power passed to a provisional government
sympathetic to the Habsburg
s. However, French occupation was restored in 1800. Discontent continued and in early 1802 a revolt in Capriasca
led to the autumn pronunciamento of Pian Povrò, which declared the independence of Lugano from the Helvetic client republic
.
With the Act of Mediation
, the following year, political agitation was finally quelled, as were the struggles between unionists and federalists. The canton of Lugano merged with Bellinzona
creating the canton of Ticino
, which endures to the present day.
After 1803, the political municipality of Lugano was created. One of the first tasks of the new city government was to determine the division of property and authority between the patriziato
and the new political municipality. Two agreements between the two organizations, in 1804 and 1810, began this process. In the second half of the 19th century the political municipality received various properties and rights from the patriziato. Francesco Capra, the préfet during the Helvetic Republic, became the first mayor of Lugano from 1803 until 1813. The cantonal constitution of 1814, set Lugano, Bellinzona and Locarno as capitals of the Canton. They each served as the capital in a six-year rotation. Lugano was the capital in 1827–33, 1845–51 and 1863–69.
In the 19th century, the city government was dominated by the Liberal Party
. In 1900, slightly more than half of the seats on the city council (at the time 50 total members, but 60 members since 2004) were held by Liberals. Most of the rest of the seats were held by either Conservatives or Socialists.
The city government initially had eleven members, but in 1908 their number was reduced to five and in 2004 increased to seven. Throughout most of the 20th century, the Liberals held the absolute majority here as well. The rest of the municipal executive posts were held by the Conservatives, the Socialists (1944–48, 1976–80 and since 2000) and the Ticino League
(since 1992).
Around 1830 new civic and government buildings began to emerge in Lugano. The city also began to expand into the surrounding hills, along the Cassarate, and toward Molino Nuovo, Paradiso and Castagnola. In 1843–44 the town hall was built on the site of the Bishop's Palace (built in 1346). It housed the cantonal government in 1845–51 and again in 1863–69. Since 1890, it has housed the city government. The promenade was built in stages: first part was in the 1870s, a second in the first decade of the 20th century. In the first decades of the 19th century, the roads that connect Lugano with Bellinzona (1808–12), Ponte Tresa (1808–20) and Chiasso (1810–16) were built. In 1848 the first steamboat on Lake Lugano began to operate, with regular, scheduled service since 1856. The construction of the causeway between Melide and Bissone in 1844–47 favored the development of the Chiasso-Bellinzona-Lugano-Gotthard line at the expense of the north-south route along Lake Maggiore
. This tendency for development was strengthened further in 1882 with the completion of the Gotthard railway line
. The railway station was built in 1874–77 in Lugano, and transformed it into one of the main links between northern Italy and central and northern Europe, which led to the development of tourism and in general helped the services sector.
. This reflects the trend to move away from the city to the suburban communities. With the creation of Nuova Lugano in 2004, the population doubled (in 2006 the population was 52,059, of which over a third of were foreigners).
Following the Second World War, and particularly during the 1960s and 70s, thanks to an abundant flow of capital from nearby Italy, Lugano experienced a period of exponential growth in banking activities which led to it placing itself as the third financial centre of Switzerland, with over 100 banking institutions present in the town. Trade, tourism and finance are the mainstays of the local economy. In 2000, nine-tenths of the workers were employed in the services sector, of which three-quarters are commuters, including many cross-border commuters (13% of the working population).
In 1975, the Congress Center was built followed in 1978 by the new City Hospital. In 1963 the city acquired the land for the airfield Lugano-Agno, and the first scheduled flights was in 1980. At the beginning of the 21st century they began the Grande Lugano projects, including: the car tunnel Vedeggio-Cassarate, which started in 2005 and connects the A2 motorway with the neighborhood of Cornaredo, the creation of a new Kulturpol on the site of the former Grand Hôtel Palace and a convention and exhibition center in the area of Campo Marzio.
In June 2011, officials of the Israeli city of Yehud
announced they would undertake a massive construction project to replicate Lugano's old square in the center of their city, to reinvigorate commerce and tourism. The replica will be replete with neoclassical columns and colonnades.
.
The city is located where the river Cassarate
enters the lake between the Brè
(925m) and the San Salvatore
(912m) mountains.
Lugano has an area, , of 32.09 square kilometres (12.4 sq mi). Of this area, 3.25 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 10.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.73 km² (2.6 sq mi) or 21.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.48 km² (1.7 sq mi) or 14.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.12 km² (29.7 acre) or 0.4% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 9.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 0.5% is used for growing crops and 9.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes. Of the unproductive areas, and .
The main population center of the city of Lugano is along the west bank of the river, and forms a crescent around the bay. It includes a "new-" or "Greater-Lugano" next to the old town and the various city districts, which used to be independent municipalities. In 1972 it incorporated Brè-Aldesago and Castagnola, in 2004 Breganzona, Cureggia, Davesco-Soragno, Gandria, Pambio-Noranco, Pazzallo, Pregassona and Viganello and in 2008 Barbengo, Carabbia and Villa Lugano. It also includes the neighborhoods of Besso, Cassarate, Centro, Loreto and Molino Nuovo which were not independent.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Gules, a cross throughout argent, between the upper case serif letters "L", "V", "G" and "A" (respectively in the I, II, III and IV quarters).
The town's thriving economy provides an estimated 38,000 jobs, over a third of which are occupied by cross-border commuters. Business, tourism and finance constitute the backbone of the local economy. In 2000, the tertiary sector offered 90% of all jobs in Lugano, of which 75% were occupied by commuters, many of which commute from neighbouring Italy (approximately 13% of the active working population); in the same year tax revenues reached CHF 104 million, of which CHF 59 million were attributable to the banking sector. The city is Switzerland's third largest banking
centre after Zurich
and Geneva
. With regards to intercommunal financial equalisation, thanks to its financial strength Lugano contributes significantly to the equalisation fund. The population is Italian-speaking and mainly Roman Catholic
.
Lugano has a population of . , 36.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.
Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 6.9%. Most of the population speaks Italian
(80.3%), with German
being second most common (7.1%) and Serbo-Croatian
being third (2.7%). Of the Swiss national languages , 1,855 speak German, 597 people speak French
, 20,998 people speak Italian, and 39 people speak Romansh. The remainder (3,071 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.1% male and 52.9% female. The population was made up of 15,457 Swiss men (28.1% of the population), and 10,461 (19.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 19,417 Swiss women (35.3%), and 9,725 (17.7%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 318 live births to Swiss citizens and 190 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 351 deaths of Swiss citizens and 92 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 33 while the foreign population increased by 98. There were 7 Swiss men and 3 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 672 non-Swiss men and 556 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 197 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 706 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.7%.
The age distribution, , in Lugano is; 4,666 children or 8.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 5,013 teenagers or 9.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 6,270 people or 11.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 8,267 people or 15.0% are between 30 and 39, 9,113 people or 16.6% are between 40 and 49, and 6,844 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 6,459 people or 11.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 4,947 people or 9.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 3,481 people or 6.3% who are over 80.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.61 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.6 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 19.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 23,168 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. there were 489 single family homes (or 20.6% of the total) out of a total of 2,372 inhabited buildings. There were 214 two family buildings (9.0%) and 1,046 multi-family buildings (44.1%). There were also 623 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings (used for both housing and commercial or another purpose).
The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.64%. there were 16,333 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 3 room apartment of which there were 5,398. There were 1,811 single room apartments and 2,019 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 13,342 apartments (81.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2,485 apartments (15.2%) were seasonally occupied and 506 apartments (3.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Lugano was 1073.49 Swiss franc
s (CHF) per month (US$860, £480, €690 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 623.12 CHF (US$500, £280, €400), a two room apartment was about 809.81 CHF (US$650, £360, €520), a three room apartment was about 1030.53 CHF (US$820, £460, €660) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1890.13 CHF (US$1510, £850, €1210). The average apartment price in Lugano was 96.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF.
the most popular party was the FDP
which received 26.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Ticino League
(19%), the CVP
(18.71%) and the SP
(17.46%). In the federal election, a total of 11,980 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 42.8%.
In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 27,557 registered voters in Lugano, of which 15,214 or 55.2% voted. 237 blank ballots and 38 null ballots were cast, leaving 14,939 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT
which received 3,680 or 24.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the LEGA
(with 2,854 or 19.1%), the SSI (with 2,532 or 16.9%) and the PS
(with 2,170 or 14.5%).
In the Consiglio di Stato election, 158 blank ballots and 79 null ballots were cast, leaving 14,980 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the LEGA which received 3,839 or 25.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 3,596 or 24.0%), the PS (with 2,496 or 16.7%) and the SSI (with 2,169 or 14.5%).
, there were 28,174 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,994 workers who commuted away. Lugano is the economic center of the region and draws about 7.1 workers into the municipality for every one leaving. About 12.4% of the workforce coming into Lugano are coming from outside Switzerland, while 1.6% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 15.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 44.6% used a private car.
, there were 43 hotels in Lugano with a total of 1,584 rooms and 2,889 beds.
The airline Darwin Airline
has its head office on the grounds of Lugano Airport
in Agno, near Lugano.
. The city of Lugano, the villages of Barbengo, Brè-Aldesago
, Gandria and Biogno and the sites of Cantine di Gandria and Castagnola are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
The heritage sites of national significance included two libraries, the Biblioteca Cantonale and the Biblioteca Salita dei Frati as well as the Swiss National Recording Archives (Fonoteca nazionale svizzera). There were three churches; Cathedral of S. Lorenzo
, Church of S. Maria degli Angioli and the Church of S. Rocco. There were three museums; the Museo cantonale d’arte, the Museo cantonale di storia naturale and the Villa Ciani complex with the Museo civico. The cemetery complex at via Trevano is also one of the sites, as is the Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana
(RTSI) Italian language broadcast facility. The rest of the sites are notable houses throughout the city. They include; the Palazzo civico at piazza della Riforma, the Palazzo e cinema Corso at via Pioda, the Palazzo Riva at via Francesco Soave, the Palazzo Riva at via Massimiliano Magatti, the Palazzo Riva at via Pretorio 7 and Villa Favorita in Castagnola.
In addition to the lake, Lugano is surrounded by mountains. The mountains provide a number of opportunities for sports or sightseeing. The area surrounding Lugano is home to over 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) of mountain biking
trails, the largest net of trails in Switzerland. Monte Brè
(925 metres (3,034.8 ft)) east of Lugano has had a funicular
that runs up the mountain since 1912. Monte Brè, which is Switzerland's sunniest spot, is also home to the village of Brè which is a fairly intact old village. Monte San Salvatore (912 metres (2,992.1 ft)) also has a funicular, with the base station located only 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) from the Lugano-Sud motorway exit and 5 minutes away from the Paradiso railroad station. Monte San Salvatore is located on the outskirts of Lugano and provides an excellent view over the entire city.
. The wettest month is May during which time Lugano receives an average of 194 mm (7.6 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.3 days. The driest month of the year is December with an average of 63 mm (2.5 in) of precipitation over 5.6 days.
In Lugano about 63.7% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
).
In Lugano there were a total of 7,931 students . The Ticino education system
provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten
and in Lugano there were 1,356 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years and includes both a standard school and a special school. In the municipality, 2,280 students attended the standard primary schools and 129 students attended the special school. In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two year middle school followed by a two year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four year program to prepare for higher education. There were 1,932 students in the two year middle school and 47 in their pre-apprenticeship, while 884 students were in the four year advanced program.
The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college. In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student). There were 492 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 722 who attend part-time.
The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields. There were 89 students in the professional program. , there were 3,537 students in Lugano who came from another municipality, while 887 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Lugano is home to 2 libraries. These libraries include; the Biblioteca universitaria di Lugano and the Biblioteca cantonale Lugano. There was a combined total of 448,811 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 51,740 items were loaned out.
Some of the schools in Lugano include;
which over 1600 km (994.2 mi) between Amsterdam and Rome.
The yellow "Post" buses, part of the Autopostale service, offer 64 regional public service lines, as well as five urban lines, travels an estimated 7.9 million kilometres and transports 7 million passengers annually. Its network is also integrated with other modes of transport, such as the funiculars and the federal railways, and therefore regularly announces competitive offers on tourist excursions.
Its Palm Express service connects Lugano to St. Moritz
. The AutoPostale station and ticket office is located at Via Balestra 4 in the centre of Lugano. The inner city TPL
(Trasporti pubblici luganesi) buses connect the centre with the suburbs; the Autolinee regionali luganesi buses connect Lugano with the towns of Canobbio
, Davesco
, Lamone
, Sonvico
and Tesserete
.
Lugano is served by Lugano Airport, in the nearby municipality of Agno. Darwin Airline, Flybaboo
and Swiss Airlines operate to Lugano Airport. While there is limited service to Lugano's airport, Milan’s airports are around 60 to 90 minutes away and provide access to a greater number of worldwide locations.
, the Swiss Federal Railways, connects Lugano's railway station
with those of other Swiss and Italian cities and towns.
Cisalpino
AG, a joint venture between SBB-CFF-FFS and Trenitalia
, offers several trains to Lugano from major cities in Switzerland and northern Italy.
From May until mid October, the tourist oriented Wilhelm Tell Express
travels from Lake Lucerne
to Lugano.
Additionally, the metre gauge
Lugano-Ponte Tresa Railway
(FLP) connects Lugano with Ponte Tresa
.
In the future, connections to Bellinzona will improve with the opening of the Ceneri Tunnel and connections to cities in Northern Switzerland, such as Zürich
, will improve with the Gotthard Base Tunnel
.
Lugano is also served by three funicular railways. The Funicolare Lugano Città - Stazione is a short line connecting Lugano railway station to the city centre, whilst the Funicolare Monte Brè and the Funicolare Lugano Monte San Salvatore ascend nearby hills to vantage points.
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The Palazzo dei Congressi
is the performing arts center for Lugano. It is a main hall for the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
.
The Lugano Festival runs during April and May, followed by the related "Progetto Martha Argerich
" in June. Estival Jazz arrives in July. The Blues-to-Bop Festival in late August and early September turns the city into a hive of activity as thousands crowd the streets and piazzas for free open-air concerts.
In 1956 Lugano hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest
.
The Museo Cantonale d'Arte has two parallel objectives: the conservation and study of the Museum's permanent collection, which is above all made up of works belonging to the 19th and 20th centuries; and the planning and presentation of temporary exhibitions. It focuses on art of the canton Ticino and present artists from the region on a regular basis.
In the Brè village we have an artistic way. The town of Brè sopra Lugano offers its visitors charming corners created by its characteristic stone buildings. The cobble stone streets of the town offer art enthusiasts an artistic path that is very interesting both because of the presence of national and international “names” and the combination of art and the environment.
(HCL) plays in the Switzerland National League. They play at the Resega arena and have won seven national titles, having participated twice in the European Cup
final round and once in the top four final in Euroleague. In 1991, Lugano reached the final of the famous Spengler Cup
and twice reached third place in the IIHF
Continental Cup Superfinal.
FC Lugano plays in the Swiss Challenge League. They play at the Stadio Cornaredo and won the Swiss title in 1938, 1941 and 1949 and the Swiss Cup in 1931, 1968 and 1993.
BC Lugano Tigers (former Basket Club Lugano) plays in the Swiss National League A (LNA)
. They play at the Elvetico gym, won the Swiss Cup in 2011 and have been Swiss LNA Champions in 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2010.
Lugano hosts an annual major international sporting event, the "Gran Premio Citta Di Lugano" which is a European Athletics permit meeting and attracts racewalkers from all over the world. They compete for substantial prizes in the 20 km racewalk, which is an Olympic event, and many national records have been set.
. There are 4,714 individuals (or about 17.75% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 2,294 individuals (or about 8.64% of the population) did not answer the question.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, in the Italian-speaking
Linguistic geography of Switzerland
The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Only three of these languages, however, maintain equal status as official languages at the national level within the Federal Administration of the Swiss Confederation: German, French, and Italian.Native speakers...
canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, which borders Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The city lies on Lake Lugano
Lake Lugano
Lake Lugano is a glacial lake in the south-east of Switzerland, at the border between Switzerland and Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore...
, and its warm summers and the fact that in recent years it has attracted an ever growing number of celebrities, entertainers and successful athletes have given it the nickname of the "Monte Carlo of Switzerland". It is the 9th largest city of Switzerland by population.
The origin of the name is possibly the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word Lucus, meaning wood or sacred wood, or Gaulish locovanno "lake dweller".
Pre-History
The shores of Lake Lugano have been inhabited since the Stone AgeStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
. Within the modern city limits (Breganzona, Castagnola, Davesco and Gandria) a number of ground stone
Ground stone
In archaeology, ground stone is a category of stone tool formed by the grinding of a coarse-grained tool stone, either purposely or incidentally. Ground stone tools are usually made of basalt, rhyolite, granite, or other macrocrystalline igneous stones whose coarse structure makes them ideal for...
s or quern-stone
Quern-stone
Quern-stones are stone tools for hand grinding a wide variety of materials. They were used in pairs. The lower, stationary, stone is called a quern, whilst the upper, mobile, stone is called a handstone...
s have been found. In the area surrounding Lugano, items from the Copper Age
Copper Age
The Chalcolithic |stone]]") period or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic/Æneolithic , is a phase of the Bronze Age in which the addition of tin to copper to form bronze during smelting remained yet unknown by the metallurgists of the times...
and the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
have been found. There are Etruscan
Etruscan language
The Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization, in what is present-day Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna...
monuments at Davesco-Soragno (5th to 2nd century BC), Pregassona (3rd to 2nd century BC), and Viganello (3rd to 2nd century BC). Graves with jewelry and household items have been found in Aldesago, Davesco, Pazzallo and Pregassona along with Celtic money in Viganello.
The region around Lake Lugano was settled by the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
by the 1st century BC. There was an important Roman city north of Lugano at Bioggio
Bioggio
Bioggio is a municipality in the district of Lugano, in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.The municipality was created in 2004 with the union of old town of Bioggio, Bosco Luganese and Cimo. In the 2008 also Iseo has chosen to be part of municipality and be aggregated with the other old...
. There are fewer traces of the Romans in Lugano, but several inscriptions, graves and coins indicate that some Romans lived in what would become Lugano.
Foundation of Lugano
The first written mention of a settlement at Lugano can be found in documents, which are of disputed authenticity, with which the Longobard king, LiutprandLiutprand, King of the Lombards
Liutprand was the King of the Lombards from 712 to 744 and is chiefly remembered for his Donation of Sutri, in 728, and his long reign, which brought him into a series of conflicts, mostly successful, with most of Italy. He profited by Byzantine weakness to enlarge his domains in Emilia and the...
, ceded various assets located in Lugano to the Church of Saint Carpophorus
Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus, and Licinius
Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus and Licinius were Christian soldiers who, according to local tradition, were martyred at Como during the reign of Maximian.-Legends:...
in Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
in 724. Other documents, dating from 804 and 844 refer to Lake Lugano as Laco Luanasco, and an act of 984 indicates Lugano as a market town. In 874 the town was referred to as Luano, and in 1189 it became known by its present name. The town coat of arms also dates to around this time. The four letters on the coat of arms are an abbreviation of Lugano according to documents from 18 October 1208 and 14 November 1209. This city was also known in the German-speaking cantons as Lowens, Lauis and Lauwis.
During the fighting between Guelphs and Ghibellines
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...
and the new disputes between Como and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, during the 14th and 15 centuries, Lugano was the scene of clashes between opposing forces. After a long rule by the Rusca family, Lugano was freed from the domination of Como, which had been taken over in 1335 by the Visconti. At the same time the link between town and the valley strengthened. By 1405–06 documents attest to a vallis comunitas Lugani et, which was a governing body that was independent of Como. The new community included the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
s of Lugano, Agno, Riva San Vitale
Riva San Vitale
Riva San Vitale is a municipality in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, located in the district of Mendrisio.Riva San Vitale is also the home of the Virginia Tech Center for European Studies and Architecture , the European campus center and base of operations for the regional activities of...
and Capriasca
Capriasca
Capriasca is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.The municipality was created in 2001 by a merger of Cagiallo, Lopagno, Roveredo, Sala Capriasca, Tesserete and Vaglio.-History:...
. In 1416 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti conquered the region of Lugano and the Rusca valley and made it a fief. A year later, Lugano's freedoms were first documented in a series of statutes modeled on those of Como. The town was able to secure complete independence.
Between 1433 and 1438 the Duke of Milan, Aloisio Sanseverino sat as a feudal lord over Lugano. He compensated the Rusca family with the ownership of Locarno. Under the reign of his heirs in the following decades rebellions and riots broke out, which lasted until the French invasion of 1499.
It was the object of continuous disputes between the Dukes of Como and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
until it became a Swiss dominion in 1513. Swiss control lasted until 1798 when Napoleon conquered the Old Swiss Confederation and created the Helvetic Republic
Helvetic Republic
In Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...
. Under the Helvetic Republic, Lugano became the center of the Canton of Lugano
Canton of Lugano
Lugano was the name of a canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, with its capital at Lugano. The canton unified the former Landvogteien of Lugano, Mendrisio, Locarno and Valmaggia....
.
Canton of Lugano
The canton of Lugano unified the former Landvogteien of Lugano, MendrisioMendrisio
Mendrisio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura of the university of Italian speaking Switzerland ....
, Locarno
Locarno
Locarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...
and Valmaggia. However, as with the other cantons of the Helvetic Republic, the autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
of Lugano was very limited, the republic having been founded by Napoleon in order further to centralise power in Switzerland. The canton was led by a Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
of five members, who appointed a "national préfet
Préfet
A prefect in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Sub-prefects are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, arrondissements...
".
In 1746, the Agnelli brothers opened the first printing press and bookshop in Lugano. They began publishing the newspaper Nuove di diverse corti e paesi in 1748 and changed its name to Gazzetta di Lugano in 1797. The newspaper was widely read in north and central Italy. It supported the cause of the later Jansenists against the Jesuits and was therefore banned in 1768 in the territory of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
. It was open to the themes of enlightened reform and the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. It was the first newspaper in the Italian language to publish an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
of 1776. After the death of Abbot Gian Battista Agnelli in 1788, who had been the editor for more than 40 years, Abbot Giuseppe Lodovico Maria Vanelli took over the paper. Under Abbot Vanelli, it supported the revolutionary ideas from France, which drew protests from the Austrian government in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
. The publication of the magazine ceased abruptly after edition number 17 of 29 April 1799, following the anti-French riots in Lugano during which the Agnelli printing house was sacked and Abbot Vanelli was shot.
The canton was deeply divided between "patriots", supporting the Cisalpine Republic
Cisalpine Republic
The Cisalpine Republic was a French client republic in Northern Italy that lasted from 1797 to 1802.-Birth:After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte proceeded to organize two states: one to the south of the Po River, the Cispadane Republic, and one to the north, the Transpadane...
, and traditionalist "aristocrats
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
". By 1799 riots broke out in Lugano, and the second préfet, Francesco Capra, fled the city. Power passed to a provisional government
Provisional government
A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...
sympathetic to the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s. However, French occupation was restored in 1800. Discontent continued and in early 1802 a revolt in Capriasca
Capriasca
Capriasca is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.The municipality was created in 2001 by a merger of Cagiallo, Lopagno, Roveredo, Sala Capriasca, Tesserete and Vaglio.-History:...
led to the autumn pronunciamento of Pian Povrò, which declared the independence of Lugano from the Helvetic client republic
French client republic
During its occupation of neighboring parts of Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars, France established republican regimes in these territories...
.
With the Act of Mediation
Act of Mediation
The Act of Mediation was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Switzerland by French troops in 1798. After the withdrawal of French troops in July 1802,...
, the following year, political agitation was finally quelled, as were the struggles between unionists and federalists. The canton of Lugano merged with Bellinzona
Bellinzona
Bellinzona is the administrative capital of the canton Ticino in Switzerland. The city is famous for its three castles that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000....
creating the canton of Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, which endures to the present day.
19th Century
Bürgergemeinde
The Bürgergemeinde is a statutory corporation in public law in Switzerland...
and the new political municipality. Two agreements between the two organizations, in 1804 and 1810, began this process. In the second half of the 19th century the political municipality received various properties and rights from the patriziato. Francesco Capra, the préfet during the Helvetic Republic, became the first mayor of Lugano from 1803 until 1813. The cantonal constitution of 1814, set Lugano, Bellinzona and Locarno as capitals of the Canton. They each served as the capital in a six-year rotation. Lugano was the capital in 1827–33, 1845–51 and 1863–69.
In the 19th century, the city government was dominated by the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Switzerland
The Liberal Party of Switzerland was a party with economically liberal policies. It was known as a party of the upper class. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the larger Free Democratic Party to establish FDP.The Liberals....
. In 1900, slightly more than half of the seats on the city council (at the time 50 total members, but 60 members since 2004) were held by Liberals. Most of the rest of the seats were held by either Conservatives or Socialists.
The city government initially had eleven members, but in 1908 their number was reduced to five and in 2004 increased to seven. Throughout most of the 20th century, the Liberals held the absolute majority here as well. The rest of the municipal executive posts were held by the Conservatives, the Socialists (1944–48, 1976–80 and since 2000) and the Ticino League
Ticino League
The Ticino League is an isolationist, national conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino.In 1991, after some public campaigning in the Sunday journal Mattino della Domenica against political power and use of public money, the editor Giuliano Bignasca and the...
(since 1992).
Around 1830 new civic and government buildings began to emerge in Lugano. The city also began to expand into the surrounding hills, along the Cassarate, and toward Molino Nuovo, Paradiso and Castagnola. In 1843–44 the town hall was built on the site of the Bishop's Palace (built in 1346). It housed the cantonal government in 1845–51 and again in 1863–69. Since 1890, it has housed the city government. The promenade was built in stages: first part was in the 1870s, a second in the first decade of the 20th century. In the first decades of the 19th century, the roads that connect Lugano with Bellinzona (1808–12), Ponte Tresa (1808–20) and Chiasso (1810–16) were built. In 1848 the first steamboat on Lake Lugano began to operate, with regular, scheduled service since 1856. The construction of the causeway between Melide and Bissone in 1844–47 favored the development of the Chiasso-Bellinzona-Lugano-Gotthard line at the expense of the north-south route along Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona.The climate is mild...
. This tendency for development was strengthened further in 1882 with the completion of the Gotthard railway line
Gotthardbahn
Gotthardbahn was the name of a private Swiss railway company which operated the railway line from Immensee to Chiasso . Nowadays this term usually does not refer to that company, but to the railway line itself...
. The railway station was built in 1874–77 in Lugano, and transformed it into one of the main links between northern Italy and central and northern Europe, which led to the development of tourism and in general helped the services sector.
Modern Lugano
From the mid-19th century to 1970 the city recorded constant population growth, especially between 1880 and 1910, when the population more than doubled. This increase was partly due to foreign nationals settling in Lugano (in 1870 18.7% of the population, 1910 43.6%) and people from other language areas of Switzerland (1870 1.4% of the population, 1910 6.9%). In the last three decades of the 20th century, the population fell slightly, despite the merger in 1972, of the municipalities of Castagnola and Brè-AldesagoBrè-Aldesago
Brè-Aldesago is a district of the city of Lugano, Switzerland. Barbengo was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Lugano in 1972....
. This reflects the trend to move away from the city to the suburban communities. With the creation of Nuova Lugano in 2004, the population doubled (in 2006 the population was 52,059, of which over a third of were foreigners).
Following the Second World War, and particularly during the 1960s and 70s, thanks to an abundant flow of capital from nearby Italy, Lugano experienced a period of exponential growth in banking activities which led to it placing itself as the third financial centre of Switzerland, with over 100 banking institutions present in the town. Trade, tourism and finance are the mainstays of the local economy. In 2000, nine-tenths of the workers were employed in the services sector, of which three-quarters are commuters, including many cross-border commuters (13% of the working population).
In 1975, the Congress Center was built followed in 1978 by the new City Hospital. In 1963 the city acquired the land for the airfield Lugano-Agno, and the first scheduled flights was in 1980. At the beginning of the 21st century they began the Grande Lugano projects, including: the car tunnel Vedeggio-Cassarate, which started in 2005 and connects the A2 motorway with the neighborhood of Cornaredo, the creation of a new Kulturpol on the site of the former Grand Hôtel Palace and a convention and exhibition center in the area of Campo Marzio.
In June 2011, officials of the Israeli city of Yehud
Yehud
Yehud is a city in the Center District in Israel that is part of the joint municipality of Yehud-Monosson. In 2007, Yehud's population was approximately 25,600 .- History :...
announced they would undertake a massive construction project to replicate Lugano's old square in the center of their city, to reinvigorate commerce and tourism. The replica will be replete with neoclassical columns and colonnades.
Geography
Lugano lies at the edge of Lake Lugano ( or ), which is situated between the lakes Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como, south of the AlpsSwiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
.
The city is located where the river Cassarate
Cassarate
Cassarate is a village in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland, today a quarter of the city of Lugano.Cassarate is located in the former municipality Castagnola. In 1972 Castagnola municipality was incorporated into its larger neighboring municipality Lugano.There is also a...
enters the lake between the Brè
Monte Brè
Monte Brè is a small mountain east of Lugano on the flank of Monte Boglia with a view of the bay of Lugano and the Pennine Alps and the Bernese Alps...
(925m) and the San Salvatore
Monte San Salvatore
The Monte San Salvatore is a mountain in the Lepontine Alps above Lake Lugano and the city of Lugano in Switzerland.-External links:*...
(912m) mountains.
Lugano has an area, , of 32.09 square kilometres (12.4 sq mi). Of this area, 3.25 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 10.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.73 km² (2.6 sq mi) or 21.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.48 km² (1.7 sq mi) or 14.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.12 km² (29.7 acre) or 0.4% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 9.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 0.5% is used for growing crops and 9.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes. Of the unproductive areas, and .
The main population center of the city of Lugano is along the west bank of the river, and forms a crescent around the bay. It includes a "new-" or "Greater-Lugano" next to the old town and the various city districts, which used to be independent municipalities. In 1972 it incorporated Brè-Aldesago and Castagnola, in 2004 Breganzona, Cureggia, Davesco-Soragno, Gandria, Pambio-Noranco, Pazzallo, Pregassona and Viganello and in 2008 Barbengo, Carabbia and Villa Lugano. It also includes the neighborhoods of Besso, Cassarate, Centro, Loreto and Molino Nuovo which were not independent.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Gules, a cross throughout argent, between the upper case serif letters "L", "V", "G" and "A" (respectively in the I, II, III and IV quarters).
Demographics
Since its union with some surrounding municipalities (Breganzona, Cureggia, Davesco-Sorengo, Gandria, Pambio-Noranco, Pazzallo, Pregassona, and Viganello) in 2004, Lugano has a population of over 54,000 and is therefore Canton Ticino's largest city. This was the second major expansion after the union in 1972 with the municipalities of Brè-Aldesago and Castagnola.The town's thriving economy provides an estimated 38,000 jobs, over a third of which are occupied by cross-border commuters. Business, tourism and finance constitute the backbone of the local economy. In 2000, the tertiary sector offered 90% of all jobs in Lugano, of which 75% were occupied by commuters, many of which commute from neighbouring Italy (approximately 13% of the active working population); in the same year tax revenues reached CHF 104 million, of which CHF 59 million were attributable to the banking sector. The city is Switzerland's third largest banking
Banking in Switzerland
All banks in Switzerland are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority , which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes...
centre after Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. With regards to intercommunal financial equalisation, thanks to its financial strength Lugano contributes significantly to the equalisation fund. The population is Italian-speaking and mainly Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Lugano has a population of . , 36.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.
Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 6.9%. Most of the population speaks Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(80.3%), with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
being second most common (7.1%) and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
being third (2.7%). Of the Swiss national languages , 1,855 speak German, 597 people speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, 20,998 people speak Italian, and 39 people speak Romansh. The remainder (3,071 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.1% male and 52.9% female. The population was made up of 15,457 Swiss men (28.1% of the population), and 10,461 (19.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 19,417 Swiss women (35.3%), and 9,725 (17.7%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 318 live births to Swiss citizens and 190 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 351 deaths of Swiss citizens and 92 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 33 while the foreign population increased by 98. There were 7 Swiss men and 3 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 672 non-Swiss men and 556 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 197 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 706 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.7%.
The age distribution, , in Lugano is; 4,666 children or 8.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 5,013 teenagers or 9.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 6,270 people or 11.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 8,267 people or 15.0% are between 30 and 39, 9,113 people or 16.6% are between 40 and 49, and 6,844 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 6,459 people or 11.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 4,947 people or 9.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 3,481 people or 6.3% who are over 80.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.61 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.6 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 19.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 23,168 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. there were 489 single family homes (or 20.6% of the total) out of a total of 2,372 inhabited buildings. There were 214 two family buildings (9.0%) and 1,046 multi-family buildings (44.1%). There were also 623 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings (used for both housing and commercial or another purpose).
The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.64%. there were 16,333 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 3 room apartment of which there were 5,398. There were 1,811 single room apartments and 2,019 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 13,342 apartments (81.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2,485 apartments (15.2%) were seasonally occupied and 506 apartments (3.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Lugano was 1073.49 Swiss franc
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
s (CHF) per month (US$860, £480, €690 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 623.12 CHF (US$500, £280, €400), a two room apartment was about 809.81 CHF (US$650, £360, €520), a three room apartment was about 1030.53 CHF (US$820, £460, €660) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1890.13 CHF (US$1510, £850, €1210). The average apartment price in Lugano was 96.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF.
Historic population
The population of the original town of Lugano (not including the municipalities added after 1972) is given in this chart:Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
which received 26.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Ticino League
Ticino League
The Ticino League is an isolationist, national conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino.In 1991, after some public campaigning in the Sunday journal Mattino della Domenica against political power and use of public money, the editor Giuliano Bignasca and the...
(19%), the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(18.71%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(17.46%). In the federal election, a total of 11,980 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 42.8%.
In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 27,557 registered voters in Lugano, of which 15,214 or 55.2% voted. 237 blank ballots and 38 null ballots were cast, leaving 14,939 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
which received 3,680 or 24.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the LEGA
Ticino League
The Ticino League is an isolationist, national conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino.In 1991, after some public campaigning in the Sunday journal Mattino della Domenica against political power and use of public money, the editor Giuliano Bignasca and the...
(with 2,854 or 19.1%), the SSI (with 2,532 or 16.9%) and the PS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(with 2,170 or 14.5%).
In the Consiglio di Stato election, 158 blank ballots and 79 null ballots were cast, leaving 14,980 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the LEGA which received 3,839 or 25.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 3,596 or 24.0%), the PS (with 2,496 or 16.7%) and the SSI (with 2,169 or 14.5%).
Economy
, Lugano had an unemployment rate of 5.59%. , there were 77 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 28 businesses involved in this sector. 3,520 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 420 businesses in this sector. 33,601 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 3,877 businesses in this sector. There were 12,191 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.9% of the workforce., there were 28,174 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,994 workers who commuted away. Lugano is the economic center of the region and draws about 7.1 workers into the municipality for every one leaving. About 12.4% of the workforce coming into Lugano are coming from outside Switzerland, while 1.6% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 15.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 44.6% used a private car.
, there were 43 hotels in Lugano with a total of 1,584 rooms and 2,889 beds.
The airline Darwin Airline
Darwin Airline
Darwin Airline is a regional airline with its head office on the grounds of Lugano Airport in Agno, Switzerland, near Lugano. It operates scheduled domestic services and international services to Italy, France and Spain. Its main base is Lugano Airport....
has its head office on the grounds of Lugano Airport
Lugano Airport
Lugano Airport is a regional airport located west of Lugano, Switzerland. It lies closer to the nearby village of Agno than to Lugano itself, and so is usually known as Lugano-Agno....
in Agno, near Lugano.
Tourism
Lugano is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Switzerland. Both Lake Lugano and the surrounding mountains provide a wide variety of outdoor activities. Lugano is, also, home to a number of historic buildings and museums.Heritage sites of national significance
There are 17 sites in Lugano that are part of the Swiss heritage site of national significanceSwiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. The city of Lugano, the villages of Barbengo, Brè-Aldesago
Brè-Aldesago
Brè-Aldesago is a district of the city of Lugano, Switzerland. Barbengo was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Lugano in 1972....
, Gandria and Biogno and the sites of Cantine di Gandria and Castagnola are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
The heritage sites of national significance included two libraries, the Biblioteca Cantonale and the Biblioteca Salita dei Frati as well as the Swiss National Recording Archives (Fonoteca nazionale svizzera). There were three churches; Cathedral of S. Lorenzo
Lugano Cathedral
thumb|260px|Side view of the cathedral.The Cathedral of Lugano is a Roman Catholic church in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland, founded in the High Middle Ages but rebuilt in the late 15th century, with the façade completed in 1517.-History:...
, Church of S. Maria degli Angioli and the Church of S. Rocco. There were three museums; the Museo cantonale d’arte, the Museo cantonale di storia naturale and the Villa Ciani complex with the Museo civico. The cemetery complex at via Trevano is also one of the sites, as is the Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana
Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana
Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programs in Italian for Switzerland...
(RTSI) Italian language broadcast facility. The rest of the sites are notable houses throughout the city. They include; the Palazzo civico at piazza della Riforma, the Palazzo e cinema Corso at via Pioda, the Palazzo Riva at via Francesco Soave, the Palazzo Riva at via Massimiliano Magatti, the Palazzo Riva at via Pretorio 7 and Villa Favorita in Castagnola.
Natural sights
A very popular destination in Lugano is Lake Lugano. The lake is 48.7 square kilometres (18.8 sq mi) in size, 63% of which is in Switzerland and 37% in Italy. It has an average width of roughly 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) and is nearly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) at its widest. The maximum depth of the lake is 279 metres (915.4 ft). The water is generally warm with average water temperatures in the summer ranging from 19.5 °C (67.1 °F) to 24 °C (75.2 °F). Bathing in the lake is allowed at any of the 50 or so bathing establishments located along the Swiss shores. There are numerous shipyards, water taxis and boat rental sites along the lake, as well as hotels and restaurants that offer mooring.Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
trails, the largest net of trails in Switzerland. Monte Brè
Monte Brè
Monte Brè is a small mountain east of Lugano on the flank of Monte Boglia with a view of the bay of Lugano and the Pennine Alps and the Bernese Alps...
(925 metres (3,034.8 ft)) east of Lugano has had a funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
that runs up the mountain since 1912. Monte Brè, which is Switzerland's sunniest spot, is also home to the village of Brè which is a fairly intact old village. Monte San Salvatore (912 metres (2,992.1 ft)) also has a funicular, with the base station located only 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) from the Lugano-Sud motorway exit and 5 minutes away from the Paradiso railroad station. Monte San Salvatore is located on the outskirts of Lugano and provides an excellent view over the entire city.
Buildings
- St. Lawrence Cathedral (9th and 15th century)
- St. Mary of the Angels Church (16th century) with the fresco of the Christ's Passion from Bernardino LuiniBernardino LuiniBernardino Luini was a North Italian painter from Leonardo's circle. Both Luini and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio were said to have worked with Leonardo directly; he was described to have taken "as much from Leonardo as his native roots enabled him to comprehend". Consequently many of his works were...
- Parco civico – Villa Ciani
- Piazza della Riforma
- Villa Favorita
Museums
- Art Museum
- Museo delle CultureMuseo delle CultureThe Museo delle Culture is one of the museums that form part of the Polo Culturale of the City of Lugano.-Heleneum:Since the beginning the Museum is settled at the Heleneum, a lakeside mansion house built between 1930 and 1934 by Hélène Bieber, a cosmopolitan strong-minded lady who lived there...
(Museum of Cultures) - Cantonal Art Museum
- Foundation Aligi SassuAligi SassuAligi Sassu was an Italian painter and sculptor.-Biography:Aligi Sassu was born in Milan, Lombardy, into a Sardinian-origin family. His father Antonio was one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party at Sassari in 1894, and had moved to Milan in 1896, where he had married Lina Pedretti in...
and Helenita Olivares - Historical Museum
- Cantonal Museum on Natural History
- Swiss Custom Museum
- Municipal Art Museum
- Wilhelm Schmid Museum
- Hermann Hesse Museum
Climate
Lugano's climate is characterized by relatively mild winters and warm, damp summers. Precipitation falls year-round but is lightest during the winter months. It has an average of 103.3 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 1545 mm (60.8 in) of precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
. The wettest month is May during which time Lugano receives an average of 194 mm (7.6 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.3 days. The driest month of the year is December with an average of 63 mm (2.5 in) of precipitation over 5.6 days.
Education and research
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
).
In Lugano there were a total of 7,931 students . The Ticino education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
and in Lugano there were 1,356 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years and includes both a standard school and a special school. In the municipality, 2,280 students attended the standard primary schools and 129 students attended the special school. In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two year middle school followed by a two year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four year program to prepare for higher education. There were 1,932 students in the two year middle school and 47 in their pre-apprenticeship, while 884 students were in the four year advanced program.
The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college. In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student). There were 492 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 722 who attend part-time.
The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields. There were 89 students in the professional program. , there were 3,537 students in Lugano who came from another municipality, while 887 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Lugano is home to 2 libraries. These libraries include; the Biblioteca universitaria di Lugano and the Biblioteca cantonale Lugano. There was a combined total of 448,811 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 51,740 items were loaned out.
Some of the schools in Lugano include;
- Università della Svizzera italianaUniversità della Svizzera italianaUniversità della Svizzera italiana is a public university located in Lugano, Switzerland, founded in 1996...
: Lugano is the home of the faculties of informatics, economics, and communication sciences. - Swiss National Supercomputing CentreSwiss National Supercomputing CentreThe Swiss National Supercomputing Centre develops and supports technical computing for the Swiss scientific research community. It provides high-performance computing infrastructure that enables world-class simulation-based science....
: an autonomous unit of ETH ZurichETH ZurichThe Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....
that focuses on high-performance computing. - Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial IntelligenceIDSIAThe Swiss institute for Artificial Intelligence IDSIA was founded in 1988 by the private Dalle Molle foundation...
: a non-profit oriented research institute for artificial intelligence, affiliated with both the Università della Svizzera ItalianaUniversità della Svizzera italianaUniversità della Svizzera italiana is a public university located in Lugano, Switzerland, founded in 1996...
and SUPSI. - Franklin College SwitzerlandFranklin College SwitzerlandFranklin College Switzerland is a private, independent, liberal arts college in Switzerland with an enrollment of approximately 450 students. Located in the Italian speaking city of Lugano, Franklin offers Bachelor of Arts degrees that are accredited by both the Commission on Higher Education of...
: an American and Swiss accredited liberal arts college. - The American School In SwitzerlandThe American School In SwitzerlandThe American School In Switzerland is a private school that receives elementary, middle, and high school students from many different nations and provides them with a Western-based education. Located in Montagnola, a small town above Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland, it has a current student body of...
: an international secondary school. - SUPSI: university of Applied Science of Southern Switzerland.
- Centro scolastico per le industrie artistiche (CSIA): A school after secondary education for studying art and design.
Transport
Lugano is located along the A2 motorway, a part of the European route E35European route E35
European route E 35 is a European route that runs from Amsterdam, Netherlands, in northwestern Europe, to Rome, Italy in the south of the continent...
which over 1600 km (994.2 mi) between Amsterdam and Rome.
The yellow "Post" buses, part of the Autopostale service, offer 64 regional public service lines, as well as five urban lines, travels an estimated 7.9 million kilometres and transports 7 million passengers annually. Its network is also integrated with other modes of transport, such as the funiculars and the federal railways, and therefore regularly announces competitive offers on tourist excursions.
Its Palm Express service connects Lugano to St. Moritz
St. Moritz
St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...
. The AutoPostale station and ticket office is located at Via Balestra 4 in the centre of Lugano. The inner city TPL
TPL
-Companies and Organizations:* Tallinna Prantsuse Lütseum * Tamilnadu Petroproducts Limited, a South Indian Petrochemicals company* The Trust for Public Land* Toronto Public Library-Computers:...
(Trasporti pubblici luganesi) buses connect the centre with the suburbs; the Autolinee regionali luganesi buses connect Lugano with the towns of Canobbio
Canobbio
Canobbio is a municipality in the circolo Vezia of the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland-History:Roman era inscription and cremation graves from the 3rd Century AD indicate that there was an earlier settlement near the modern village. Canobbio is first mentioned in 712 as...
, Davesco
Davesco
Davesco is a village in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.It was first recorded in 1110 as Avesco.The village, together with Soragno, constituted the former municipality Davesco-Soragno. In 2004, Davesco-Soragno municipality was incorporated into the larger, neighboring...
, Lamone
Lamone
Lamone is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Lamone is first mentioned in 854 as Namonni. In 1295 it was mentioned as Lamono....
, Sonvico
Sonvico
Sonvico is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Sonvico is first mentioned in 1146 as Summo Vico. In 1206 it was mentioned as Somovico....
and Tesserete
Tesserete
Tesserete is a village and former municipality in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.In 1976 the neighboring municipality Campestro was incorporated into Tesserete....
.
Lugano is served by Lugano Airport, in the nearby municipality of Agno. Darwin Airline, Flybaboo
Flybaboo
Fly Baboo SA, marketed as Baboo, is a regional airline based on the grounds of Geneva International Airport and in Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland. The airline's registered office is in Geneva. A subsidiary of Lebanese Investment Group M1, it operates scheduled services within Europe, as well as...
and Swiss Airlines operate to Lugano Airport. While there is limited service to Lugano's airport, Milan’s airports are around 60 to 90 minutes away and provide access to a greater number of worldwide locations.
Railways
The SBB-CFF-FFSSBB-CFF-FFS
Swiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...
, the Swiss Federal Railways, connects Lugano's railway station
Lugano railway station
Lugano railway station is a station owned and operated by the Swiss Federal Railways. It serves the city of Lugano, near the southern end of the Gotthardbahn, in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland....
with those of other Swiss and Italian cities and towns.
Cisalpino
Cisalpino
Cisalpino AG was a railway company operating international trains between Switzerland and Italy connecting Basel, Schaffhausen, Zürich, Geneva, Milan, Venice, Trieste, Livorno, and Florence...
AG, a joint venture between SBB-CFF-FFS and Trenitalia
Trenitalia
Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. Trenitalia is owned by Ferrovie dello Stato, itself owned by the Italian Government. It was created in 2000 following the EU directive on the deregulation of rail transport.-Passenger transport:...
, offers several trains to Lugano from major cities in Switzerland and northern Italy.
From May until mid October, the tourist oriented Wilhelm Tell Express
Wilhelm Tell Express
The Wilhelm Tell Express is a boat and panoramic train line which connects Lucerne to Locarno crossing the Swiss Alps from north to south....
travels from Lake Lucerne
Lake Lucerne
Lake Lucerne is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.The lake has a complicated shape, with bends and arms reaching from the city of Lucerne into the mountains. It has a total area of 114 km² , an elevation of 434 m , and a maximum depth of 214 m . Its volume is 11.8...
to Lugano.
Additionally, the metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
Lugano-Ponte Tresa Railway
Ferrovia Lugano-Ponte Tresa
The Lugano–Ponte Tresa Railway is a local railway line in Canton Ticino in Switzerland. The line links the town of Lugano with Ponte Tresa, and is long. It has a gauge of , and is electrified on the overhead system at 1200 volts DC.The FLP is the last working line of a network of three...
(FLP) connects Lugano with Ponte Tresa
Ponte Tresa
Ponte Tresa is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Ponte Tresa is first mentioned in 818 as ad Tresiae Pontem, though this comes from a 12th Century copy of the earlier document. In 875 it was mentioned as Ponte Tretia...
.
In the future, connections to Bellinzona will improve with the opening of the Ceneri Tunnel and connections to cities in Northern Switzerland, such as Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, will improve with the Gotthard Base Tunnel
Gotthard Base Tunnel
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a new railway tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps, expected to open in 2016. With a route length of and a total of of tunnels, shafts and passages, it is the world's longest rail tunnel, surpassing the Japanese Seikan Tunnel....
.
Lugano is also served by three funicular railways. The Funicolare Lugano Città - Stazione is a short line connecting Lugano railway station to the city centre, whilst the Funicolare Monte Brè and the Funicolare Lugano Monte San Salvatore ascend nearby hills to vantage points.
Culture
Palazzo dei Congressi
Palzzo dei Congressi is a venue located in Rome, Italy. Constructed originally for the 1942 Universial Exposition, but cancelled to World War II, it hosted the fencing and the fencing part of the modern pentathlon events for the 1960 Summer Olympics....
is the performing arts center for Lugano. It is a main hall for the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
The Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana is a Swiss orchestra based in Lugano. The orchestra's primary concert venue is the Auditorio RSI....
.
The Lugano Festival runs during April and May, followed by the related "Progetto Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...
" in June. Estival Jazz arrives in July. The Blues-to-Bop Festival in late August and early September turns the city into a hive of activity as thousands crowd the streets and piazzas for free open-air concerts.
In 1956 Lugano hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
.
The Museo Cantonale d'Arte has two parallel objectives: the conservation and study of the Museum's permanent collection, which is above all made up of works belonging to the 19th and 20th centuries; and the planning and presentation of temporary exhibitions. It focuses on art of the canton Ticino and present artists from the region on a regular basis.
In the Brè village we have an artistic way. The town of Brè sopra Lugano offers its visitors charming corners created by its characteristic stone buildings. The cobble stone streets of the town offer art enthusiasts an artistic path that is very interesting both because of the presence of national and international “names” and the combination of art and the environment.
Sports
Hockey Club LuganoHockey Club Lugano
Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League A and has won seven Swiss championships. The team is the twelfth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2010/11 season with 4,060...
(HCL) plays in the Switzerland National League. They play at the Resega arena and have won seven national titles, having participated twice in the European Cup
IIHF European Champions Cup
The IIHF European Champions Cup was an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation , which took place during a long weekend in early January. The winner was considered the official club champion of Europe by the IIHF...
final round and once in the top four final in Euroleague. In 1991, Lugano reached the final of the famous Spengler Cup
Spengler Cup
The Spengler Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team HC Davos and played each year in Davos, Switzerland, between...
and twice reached third place in the IIHF
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 70 members...
Continental Cup Superfinal.
FC Lugano plays in the Swiss Challenge League. They play at the Stadio Cornaredo and won the Swiss title in 1938, 1941 and 1949 and the Swiss Cup in 1931, 1968 and 1993.
BC Lugano Tigers (former Basket Club Lugano) plays in the Swiss National League A (LNA)
Ligue Nationale de Basketball (Switzerland)
Ligue Nationale de Basketball A ' is the top professional basketball league in Switzerland. The national league is divided into two divisions, the A and the B, with a system of promotion and relegation between them.- League A Teams :...
. They play at the Elvetico gym, won the Swiss Cup in 2011 and have been Swiss LNA Champions in 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2010.
Lugano hosts an annual major international sporting event, the "Gran Premio Citta Di Lugano" which is a European Athletics permit meeting and attracts racewalkers from all over the world. They compete for substantial prizes in the 20 km racewalk, which is an Olympic event, and many national records have been set.
Religion
From the , 18,035 or 67.9% were Roman Catholic, while 1,517 or 5.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. There are 4,714 individuals (or about 17.75% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 2,294 individuals (or about 8.64% of the population) did not answer the question.