 The Piazza Grande , setting for Locarno’s annual film festival,
is the heart of the town centre. In the upper town, patrician houses with
concealed balconies bear witness to the supremacy of this once wealthy trading
metropolis. The Casa Rusca gallery, housed in one of Locarno’s most beautiful
palazzi, contains work by Dadaist artists among its large collection. Galleries,
shops and cafes line the alleys of the town, which boasts the sunniest climate
in Switzerland. Locarno’s landmark is the pilgrimage church of Madonna del Sasso
– a place of prayer with sublime views over the lake and mountains.
Highlights.
Madonna del
Sasso. The sanctuary dedicated to the town’s patron saint is the most
important place of pilgrimage in Italianspeaking Switzerland.
Museo civico e
archeologico. The town’s archeological museum, housed in the 13th-century
Castello Visconti, is internationally known for its collection of Roman glass
drinking vessels and receptacles.
Pinacoteca Casa Rusca.
Includes works given by the Dadaist Jean Arp, as well as the
Rudolf Mumprecht and Filippo Franzoni collections.
Museo comunale d’arte
moderna, Ascona. The museum is home to the municipal art collection.
Casa Serodine, Ascona.
The façade of the house is decorated with stucco work by the
Serodine brothers.
Art, architecture,
design.
From Borromini to
Botta
Ticino’s architectural
tradition dates back to the early Middle Ages. One of the most impressive
legacies of Locarno’s rich history is the imposing Castello Visconti: a castle
fortress built by the Dukes of Milan as one of the most magnificent of the
Lombard region. The archaeological collection housed there includes numerous
prehistoric finds from the region, as well as rare glass drinking vessels and
receptacles from the Roman period.
A fine collection of
churches
Locarno, and its region,
boasts a number of beautiful and important sacred buildings. These include the
convent church of San Francesco, with its illusionistic frescoes; the church of
San Antonio, with its magnificent marble altars; the Chiesa Nuova, with its
impressive statue of St Christopher and its early Baroque stucco work; and the
Romanesque church of San Vittore in Muralto.
Still something of a
secret is the church of San Giovanni Battista, designed by the celebrated Ticino
architect Mario Botta, in the village of Mogno in the Maggia valley (40km from
Locarno). Built in 1996 to replace an earlier building destroyed by an
avalanche, the church has a wonderfully elegant interior of white marble from
the village of Peccia, and black granite from the Maggia valley.
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