Lugano

The largest city in Ticino and in Italian-speaking Switzerland, on the widest part of its lake, filling the whole bay with the adjacent town of Paradiso, though the municipality reaches much further, taking in isolated villages on both shores. The Lugano Prealps rise around it, and both the western and eastern parts of the municipality share a border with Italy. It has been described as a market town since 984, was fought over by the sovereigns of Como and Milan, and joined the Old Swiss Confederation in 1513. It has been a stop on the Gotthard railway since 1882.