Why Switzerland’s ‘little Italy’ is a must-see town for your travel bucket list

Cuckoo clocks, precision watches and fondue are just some of the things you might associate with Switzerland. Lizards, pizza and neoclassical buildings not so much.

Yet Ticino, an Italian-speaking canton in the south of the country, known for its balmy climate and subtropical gardens, as well as – naturally – breathtaking Alpine scenery, has them all.

Just over an hour's drive from Milan or a panoramic train and ferry journey south from Lucerne, Ticino is Switzerland's very own little Italy.

Here are some of the best spots to visit when you’re there.

Situated on the northern shores of the glacial Lake Lugano, Lugano is unashamedly Italian, with a culture closely related to Italy’s Lombardy region.

The historic city of 70,000, an important banking centre, is packed full of Italianate buildings, Mediterranean-style squares and beautiful parks, like Parco Ciani, which sits right by the lake and contains a jetty and a library, as well as plants and trees from all over the world.

It’s all overlooked by the soaring Monte Brè and San Salvatore mountains. Sit and watch the world go by over a cappuccino at Vanini Dolce e Caffè in Piazza Riforma. Or try a slice of ‘bread cake’, a local speciality made from amaretto, grappa and stale bread (it’s far tastier than it sounds) from Gabbani salumeria on Via Pessina.

An hour’s ferry ride from Lugano and just a 20-minute drive to the Italian border, Morcote is one of Ticino’s loveliest villages, a lakeside idyll flanked by multi-million dollar villas that cling to the lower slopes of Monte Arbostora.

Ristorante della Torre has created the perfect lunch spot with an open-air covered terrace overhanging the lake and serves gourmet pizza and other Italian cuisine.

Work off the calories with a climb