Sensual surprise

A slice of Italy in Switzerland, Lugano bubbles with Italian ebullience. GUSTASP and JEROO IRANI

Photo: Gustasp and Jeroo Irani

Idyllic setting: Morcote, once fishing village, now resort. In India, the ineffable charm of Lugano remains unsung. Located in the southern, Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland, only one Bollywood movie has been shot in this sylvan lakeshore resort while the honey pots of Zurich, Interlaken, Luce rne et al draw Indian movie moguls in droves.

These very Swiss getaways are swathed in beauty tempered with a touch of Swiss reserve; Lugano, however, bubbles with Italian ebullience. As soon as we stepped into our hotel on our first evening, we were greeted by olive-skinned beauties at the reception and a flurry of buon giornos. Swarthy-complexioned men spoke with passion, gesticulating with typical Italian verve as we sat at a café, on top of Monte San Salvatore (912 m) which rises steeply from the lake shore. (The hilltop is reached by a glass-topped funicular.) Fragments of Italian love songs wafted on the crisp evening air while around us, in the distance, rose the blinding white fastness of the Swiss and Savoy Alps.

Not typically Swiss

Below us, Lake Lugano, on whose northern edge the resort sprawls, shimmered like a jewel. Hills rose from its edge and the lower slopes were studded with sleepy villages that seemed to tumble down to the lake’s edge. Just beyond the mountains lies Italy (Milan is about 40 minutes away) which is perhaps why Lugano has an aura of sensual surprise. Here, Italian style pizzas and gelato stalls and flowering piazzas where portly mamas and babies relax under soaring palm trees meld with the sense of order and safety of a typical Swiss town.

While it is Switzerland’s third most important financial centre, there is something very Italian and languid about its chic cafes, sultry night clubs and yawning squares. We strolled in the web of lanes behind the Piazza della Riforma where in a local market, brimming with sun-fresh vegetables and fruits, spicy salami, cheese, products of local farms etc, we felt the frisson of local life lived on Lugano time. Christa Branchi, our guide, told us about how much of the market is owned by the Gabbani family who started business from a small stall in the area. As was the custom then, they would hang large chunks of salami and sausages outside their store to advise their wares. One night a hungry miscreant stole their entire display. Twenty-five years later, a man turned up and confessed his crime to the patriarch. The Swiss-Italian gent rose to his full height and pumped the man’s hand effusively. “Thank you, thank you,” he boomed with Italian-style effervescence. “You can take anything you want from my store …choicest wine, cheese, salami … Thanks to you, I got free publicity on TV and in the papers, and my business flourished as a result.”

Yes, Lugano springs surprises like these with a certain insouciance.

We did not stumble on Swiss chalets here, nor mooing cows, yoddlers and alp horns in its rural heart; instead there were lush vineyards that produce the region’s famous red and white Merlot wine. In Lugano’s historic town centre, the tangle of cobblestone streets are lined with buildings in Italianate style while in parks blazing with colour, camellias and magnolias nod next to sub-tropical plants. There is the Via Nassa, a street lined with high-end stores, museums and churches galore.

Another surprise

The next day, we took in one of the more uncomplicated pleasures of the town — a cruise on its amoeba-shaped lake. The cruise boat tooted past the car-free fishing village of Gandria and as it cleaved the water languorously, we stumbled on another charming anomaly — Campione d’Italia, a village that is a part of Italy but surrounded by Switzerland which sprawls on an arm of the lake. Its casino with unlimited stakes draws people from Lugano after dark while Italian police drive around in Swiss registered cars, use Swiss currency and there is very little passport control. Opposite this swash-buckling gaming paradise is a promontory, Capo San Martino, where Italian convicts used to be hanged. Now a restaurant stands on the blood-spattered spot!

We disembarked at Morcote, a former fishing village that has morphed into a lakeshore resort. It sprawls sensuously by the lake and is studded with cafes and shops under stone arcades and colourful Mediterranean style homes with slatted windows. As we sat at a café and sipped coffee, birds flew by, wing beats slicing the silence of the village which had just woken up. We climbed up a series of steps which meandered around red-tiled roof homes that snoozed under tall cypress trees. The path led to the church of Santa Maria del Sasso, enveloped in silence and the serene spirituality that comes from an isolated location. From a terrace, we gazed at the lake, changing colour under a mercurial sun, and the purple-blue hills beyond, which made us wish we were poets or painters.

Delectable cuisine

Back in Lugano, the sun had set in a soft lingering manner as though reluctant to call it a day. We drove into the rural heart of the region to a rustic restaurant called the Grotto del Cavicc, a yellow cottage in a green forested area. We dined al fresco and sat at a wooden table with benches. Within, it was all wood-beamed with stuffed stag heads and copper pots and pans adorning the walls. We were served by the owners — the smiling mother, father and son were on duty, offering us choice wines, with a platter of delectable cold cuts and cheese. We drank the wine from a tazzino, a small bowl, like the locals do; slurped some thick minestrone soup, enjoyed a risotto, a brazzato which is a kind of stew, a typical Italian style polenta with locally picked mushrooms and rounded it off with a delectable chocolate cake.

Watching the locals and fellow tourists was part of the fun — folks holding hands, couples whispering sweet nothings to each other, a group of tourists reminiscing about the day… the atmosphere was dreamlike and the air perfumed with wild flowers. It was an unforgettable escape, pure and simple.

Fact file

Getting there: Swiss International Airlines has direct connections between India and Zurich. Lugano, a year round resort, is a three-hour train ride from Zurich. The panoramic Bernina Express connects Lugano with St. Moritz.

Lugano is a great place to explore on foot while the funiculars up to Monte Bre and to Monte San Salvatore command spectacular views.

A fun attraction is the Swiss Miniature Village in Melide close by. There are great opportunities here for trekking, hiking, mountain biking and relaxing.

For more information contact Switzerland Tourism, Mumbai Tel: 022-22828251, 22851698.

Email: info.bom@switzerland.com

Web: www.MySwitzerland.com