A red funicular climbs through chestnut woods to a summit where the lake opens in every direction.
Olive trail Gandria
Old terraces of olive trees, planted back after the frost that took them.
The Sentiero dell'Olivo runs 3.3 kilometres between Castagnola and Gandria, tracing the same shoreline as the older Sentiero di Gandria but climbing briefly onto the terraces above it. Olive growing here goes back to the 8th century. The frost of 1709 destroyed most of Ticino's trees; what stands today on these south-facing slopes was replanted later, protected by the same rock and exposure that made the original groves possible. Eighteen panels along the way explain the botany and history in four languages, without turning the walk into a lecture.
The path passes through cypress, myrtle and laurel before dropping into Gandria, where the old olive press still sits in front of the town hall. Return by boat, or by the number 2 bus from Castagnola. Either way, an hour covers it, less if the panels go unread.
