All of Switzerland in miniature. Delightfully odd and somehow moving.
Monte Brè
Fifteen minutes by funicular, and Lugano's lake spreads out in full sun.
The funicular from Lugano-Cassarate has climbed Monte Brè since 1908, its cars covering 620 meters of elevation in about fifteen minutes. At the summit, 933 meters above sea level, the view opens onto Lake Lugano, the Bernese and Valais Alps, and on clear days the Monte Rosa massif. Locals call it the sunniest mountain in Switzerland, and the light here holds even in winter.
Below the panorama terrace lies the village of Brè, home to about 300 residents and a history reaching back to the 13th century. Stone lanes lead past the parish church of Saints Fidele and Simone, its frescoes dated to the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Wilhelm Schmid Museum, dedicated to the only Swiss painter of northern Magic Realism. A trail through the village links sculptures by local artists, easy to follow in an unhurried afternoon.
More in Lugano
A village with no road in, held between water and mountain.
Old terraces of olive trees, planted back after the frost that took them.
A red funicular climbs through chestnut woods to a summit where the lake opens in every direction.