Switzerland Guide
Ticino
Alto Ticino
The most pristine part of the sometimes tiresomely touristic canton of Ticino is Alto Ticino (Upper Ticino) – a region of wild, lonesome valleys cutting deep into the landscape on the approach to the high Alps, dotted with rustic stone-built hamlets teetering on steep slopes. As throughout the rest of the canton – though less obtrusively here – many of the original Ticinese communities, which laboured so long to scrape a living from the land, are now financially enriched (even if culturally challenged) by the presence of many German and Swiss-German second-homeowners seeking refuge from the pressures of city life. The villages and the scenery nonetheless survive unscathed, and if getting off the beaten path is your aim, Alto Ticino is a perfect choice. Biasca is the gateway to the region, a small town at the junction of the scenic Val Blenio – which heads north from Biasca up to Olivone, then cuts over to the Lucomagno Pass – and the main Valle Leventina, which bends northwest up to the foot of the Gottardo Pass and the quiet town of Airolo, where the rural Val Bedretto splits off west to the Novena Pass.