Bern

The de facto capital of Switzerland, called the federal city, wrapped in a loop of the Aare. Fortified settlements stood here in antiquity, but the medieval city proper was founded by the Zähringer family, probably in 1191 by Berthold V. It became a free imperial city in 1218 and joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1353 as one of its eight early cantons, after which it grew into a large city-state pursuing steady territorial expansion. Rebuilding from the fifteenth century gave it the form it still has. UNESCO listed the old town in 1983.