Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin ( ), officiallyIl Ticino in breve, ti.ch (official website of the canton). Retrieved 2021-01-25. ("Ticino is officially called the Republic and Canton of Ticino, its official language is Italian and its capital is Bellinzona") the Republic and Canton of Ticino, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts and its capital city is Bellinzona. It is also traditionally divided into the Sopraceneri and the Sottoceneri, respectively north and south of Monte Ceneri.
Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. It is one of the three large southern Alpine cantons, along with Valais and the Grisons. However, unlike all other cantons, it lies almost entirely south of the Alps and has no natural access to the Swiss Plateau. Through the main crest of the Gotthard Massif and adjacent mountain ranges, it borders the canton of Valais to the northwest, the canton of Uri to the north and the canton of Grisons to the northeast; the latter canton being also the only one to share some borders with Ticino at the level of the plains. The canton shares international borders with Italy as well, including a small Italian enclave.
Named after the Ticino, its longest river, it is the only canton where Italian is the sole official language and represents the bulk of the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland along with the southern parts of the Grisons. In , Ticino had a population of . The largest city is Lugano, and the two other notable centres are Bellinzona and Locarno. While the geography of the Sopraceneri region is marked by the High Alps and Lake Maggiore, that of the Sottoceneri is marked by the Alpine foothills and Lake Lugano. The canton, which has become one of the major tourist destinations of Switzerland, distinguishes itself from the rest of the country by its warm climate, and its culture and gastronomy.
The land now occupied by the canton was annexed from Italian cities in the 15th century by various Swiss forces in the last transalpine campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy. In the Helvetic Republic, established in 1798, it was divided between the two new cantons of Bellinzona and Lugano. The Act of Mediation in 1803 saw these two cantons combine to form the modern canton of Ticino. Because of its unusual position, the canton relies on important infrastructure for connection with the rest of the country. The first major north–south railway link across the Alps, the Gotthard Railway, opened in 1882. In 2016, the Gotthard Base Tunnel was inaugurated, which finally provided a fully flat route through the Alps.
The GDP per capita of Ticino was 83,450 Swiss francs in 2020, above the Swiss average of 80,418 Swiss francs in the same period. It is one of the wealthiest areas in Europe. Ticino had the second highest life expectancy (85.2 years) in Europe in 2018. The Human Development Index of 0.961 in 2021 was one of the highest found anywhere in the world.
Etymology The name Ticino was chosen for the newly established canton in 1803, after the river Ticino which flows through it from the Novena Pass to Lake Maggiore.
Known as Ticinus in Roman times, the river appears on the as Ticenum. Johann Kaspar Zeuss attributed Celtic origins to the name, tracing it to the Celtic tek, itself from an Indo-European root tak, meaning "melting, flowing".
The official name of the canton is Republic and Canton of Ticino (), and the two-letter code is TI. It is one of the four cantons of Switzerland officially referred to as "republics", along with Geneva, Neuchâtel and Jura.
History
During the Bronze and Iron Ages, the area of what is today Ticino was settled by the Lepontii, a Celtic tribe. Later, probably around the rule of Augustus, it became part of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Western Empire, it was ruled by the Ostrogoths, the Lombards and the Franks. Around 1100 it was the centre of a struggle between the free communes of Milan and Como: in the 14th century, it was acquired by the Visconti, Dukes of Milan. In the fifteenth century, the Swiss Confederates conquered the valleys south of the Alps in three separate conquests.
Between 1403 and 1422 some of these lands were already annexed by forces from the canton of Uri, but subsequently lost. Uri conquered the Leventina Valley in 1440. In a second conquest Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden gained the town of Bellinzona and the Riviera in 1500. Some of the land and Bellinzona itself were previously annexed by Uri in 1419 but lost again in 1422. The third conquest was fought by troops from the entire Confederation (at that time constituted by 12 cantons). In 1512 Locarno, the Maggia Valley, Lugano and Mendrisio were annexed. Subsequently, the upper valley of the river Ticino, from the St. Gotthard to the town of Biasca (Leventina Valley) was part of Uri. The remaining territory (Baliaggi Ultramontani, Ennetbergische Vogteien, the Bailiwicks Beyond the Mountains) was administered by the Twelve Cantons. These districts were governed by bailiffs holding office for two years and purchasing it from the members of the League.
The lands of the canton of Ticino are the last lands to be conquered by the Swiss Confederation. The Confederation gave up any further conquests after their defeat at the battle of Marignano in 1515 by Francis I of France. The Valle Leventina revolted unsuccessfully against Uri in 1755. In February 1798 an attempt of annexation by the Cisalpine Republic was repelled by a volunteer militia in Lugano. Between 1798 and 1803, during the Helvetic Republic, two cantons were created (Bellinzona and Lugano) but in 1803 the two were unified to form the canton of Ticino that joined the Swiss Confederation as a full member in the same year under the Act of Mediation. During the Napoleonic Wars, many Ticinesi (as was the case for other Swiss) served in Swiss military units allied with the French. The canton minted its own currency, the Ticinese franco, between 1813 and 1850, when it began the use of the Swiss franc.
As a particularly poor region, Ticino was a land of emigration. Notable examples include the chocolatiers (cioccolatieri) of the Val Blenio, who migrated throughout Europe (see History of Swiss Chocolate).
Until 1878 the three largest cities, Bellinzona, Lugano and Locarno, alternated as capital of the canton. In 1878, however, Bellinzona became the only and permanent capital. The 1870–1891 period saw a surge of political turbulence in Ticino, and the authorities needed the assistance of the federal government to restore order in several instances, in 1870, 1876, 1889 and 1890–1891.
The current cantonal constitution dates from 1997. The previous constitution, heavily modified, was codified in 1830, nearly 20 years before the constitution of the Swiss Confederation.
Geography
Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. With a few exceptions in the extreme north and south of the canton, it lies entirely in the Ticino basin, a tributary of the Po. Along with Valais and the Grisons, it is one of the three cantons whose territory extends into the Po basin (lands to the south of the Alps). However, unlike the other Po basin cantons (and all other cantons), all settlements of Ticino are on the south side of the Alps, therefore separated from the Swiss Plateau (and most of the country) by the great Alpine barrier. The canton also comprehends some small areas in the Rhine basin in the north, at the Gotthard Pass and around lake of Santa Maria. The extreme south of the canton is drained by the Po as well, but through the Breggia, Adda, Gaggiolo, Olona, and Lambro.
The canton is traditionally (but not administratively) split into two regions. The northern region, the Sopraceneri, is formed by the valleys around Lake Maggiore and includes the highest mountains of the canton and the main Alpine watershed. The southern region, the Sottoceneri, is the region around Lake Lugano, and marks the beginning of the southern Alpine foothills. Between the two regions is Monte Ceneri, a moderately elevated mountain pass and important north–south axis. The Sopraceneri is constituted by the districts of Bellinzona, Blenio, Leventina, Locarno, Riviera and Vallemaggia, and makes up about 85% of the territory and 43% of the population. The Sottoceneri is constituted by the districts of Lugano and Mendrisio, and makes up about 15% of the territory and 57% of the population. While Lugano, the largest city, is in the densely populated Sottoceneri, the two other main cities, Bellinzona and Locarno, are in the Sopraceneri.
The Ticino, which gives its name to the canton, is the largest river of Ticino. It flows from the northwest through the Bedretto Valley and the Leventina Valley to enter Lake Maggiore near Locarno. Its main tributaries are the Brenno in the Blenio Valley and the Moesa in the Mesolcina Valley in the Grisons. The lands of most of the canton are shaped by the river, which in its mid portion forms a wide valley, commonly known as the Riviera. The western lands of the canton, however, are drained by the Maggia. The Verzasca Valley is between the Leventina Valley and the Maggia Valley. There is also a smaller area that drains directly into the Lake Lugano. Most of the land is considered within the Alps, but a small area is part of the plain of the Po which drains the north of Italy.
Although it includes the lowest point of Switzerland (Lake Maggiore) as well as its lowest town (Ascona), the topography of Ticino is extremely rugged, as it is the canton with the fourth largest elevation difference. It lies essentially within the Alps, in particular the Lepontine Alps, the Saint-Gotthard Massif and the Lugano Prealps. The longest and deepest valleys are those of the Ticino, Verzasca and Maggia. The two highest mountains are the Rheinwaldhorn and the Basòdino. Other notable mountains are Pizzo Rotondo (highest of the Gotthard Massif), Pizzo Campo Tencia (highest fully within the canton), Monte Generoso (highest south of Lake Lugano) and Monte Tamaro (most prominent of the canton). For an exhaustive list, see list of mountains of Ticino.
The area of the canton is , of which about three-quarters are considered productive to trees or crops. Forests cover about a third of the area, but also the lakes Maggiore (or Verbano) and Lugano (or Ceresio) make up a considerable minority. The canton shares borders with three other cantons across the main ridge of the Alps: Valais to the northwest, to which it is connected by the Nufenen Pass, Uri to the north, to which it is connected by the Gotthard Pass and the Grisons to the northeast, to which it is connected by the Lukmanier Pass and the Mesolcina Valley; the latter valley, a few kilometres north of Bellinzona, being the only (natural) low elevation access to another canton. Ticino shares international borders with Italy as well. To the southwest is the region of Piedmont and to the southeast is the region of Lombardy. The main border crossing between Italy and Switzerland is that of Chiasso, in the extreme south of the canton.
Climate
The climate of Ticino is mostly influenced by the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps protecting it from north European weather. As a consequence, the plains experience warm and moist summers, and mild winters. This climate is noticeably warmer and wetter than the rest of Switzerland's. In German-speaking Switzerland, Ticino is nicknamed Sonnenstube (sun porch), owing to the more than 2,300 sunshine hours the canton receives every year, compared to 1,700 for Zurich. The canton can experience particularly heavy storms and rainfalls in summer. It is the region of Switzerland with the highest level of lightning discharge. Conversely, the canton can experience severe droughts in both summer and winter, making it the region most affected by forest fires in the country.