Melide railway station

Melide is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The village lies very close to the mountain Monte San Salvatore and is directly on the Lake of Lugano. The Melide causeway to the east was built to make it possible to cross to Bissone and to allow a north-south highway to be built. Melide is known worldwide for the famous Swissminiatur, a museum that shows famous buildings in Switzerland presented in miniature form.

The Melide causeway crosses across Lake Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino, connecting the communities of Melide and Bissone, and provides the only domestic land connection between the southern section of Ticino, around Mendrisio and Chiasso, and the rest of Switzerland.Today the causeway carries the Gotthard railway, the A2 motorway, and a main road. A bridge within the causeway permits water flow and navigation between the two halves of Lake Lugano. The causeway makes use of a submerged glacial moraine, which stretches across the lake reducing its depth to around 10 metres (33 ft), as opposed to the lake's maximum depth of 288 metres (945 ft).The causeway was designed by Pasquale Lucchini, a self-taught Ticinese civil engineer, who arranged for large quantities of rock to be dumped on top of the moraine to create the causeway. The causeway was built between 1841 and 1847, and opened for road traffic in 1848. The railway was added to the causeway in 1872, and the motorway in 1980.

Carona is a former municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 14 April 2013 the former municipalities of Bogno, Cadro, Carona, Certara, Cimadera, Valcolla and Sonvico merged into the municipality of Lugano.

Grancia is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Bissone is a municipality in the district of Lugano, in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Campione d'Italia (Comasco: Campiùn, pronounced [kãˈp(j)ũː]) is a comune of the Province of Como in the Lombardy region of Italy and an enclave surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino (it is also an exclave). At its closest, the enclave is less than one kilometre (0.6 mi) from the rest of Italy, but the intervening mountainous terrain requires a journey by road through the Swiss village of Bissone of over 14 km (9 mi) to reach the nearest Italian town, Lanzo d'Intelvi, and over 28 km (17 mi) to reach the city of Como.

The Monte San Salvatore (912 m) is a mountain in the Lepontine Alps above Lake Lugano and the city of Lugano in Switzerland. The Monte San Salvatore funicular links the city with the summit of the mountain. The village on top of its peaks, Carona, is a popular destination to enjoy views over Lake Lugano and to walk through the exotic plants and flowers of Parco San Grato.

The San Nicolao Tunnel is a motorway tunnel in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The tunnel is situated on the eastern bank of Lake Lugano, between Bissone and Maroggia, and forms part of the A2 motorway that links Lugano and the north of Switzerland with Chiasso and Italy. It was completed in 1968, and is around 680 metres (2,230 ft) in length.The San Nicolao Tunnel is paralleled by the 569 metres (1,867 ft) long Maroggia Tunnel, carrying the Swiss Federal Railways Gotthard line through the same lakeside promontory.

The Maroggia Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The tunnel is situated on the eastern bank of Lake Lugano, between Bissone and Maroggia. It forms part of the Swiss Federal Railways Gotthard line, which links Lugano and the north of Switzerland with Chiasso and Italy, between the Melide causeway and Maroggia-Melano station. It is 569 metres (1,867 ft) in length, and carries standard gauge (1,435 mm or 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) track electrified at 15 kV AC 16 2/3 Hz using overhead contact line.The Maroggia Tunnel is paralleled by the San Nicolao Tunnel, carrying the A2 motorway through the same lakeside promontory.

The Sottoceneri ('Under the Ceneri'; Ticinese: Sotascender) is the part of the Swiss canton of Ticino that lies to the south of the Monte Ceneri Pass through the Lugano Prealps. It includes the Swiss shore of Lake Lugano, and the cities and towns of Lugano, Mendrisio and Chiasso.The Sottoceneri is not a half-canton with formally defined boundaries, but roughly maps to the districts of Lugano and Mendrisio. The remainder of the canton is described as the Sopraceneri ('Above the Ceneri'), and includes the valley of the Ticino river and the towns of Bellinzona, Biasca, Riviera and Locarno.Whilst the Sottoceneri comprises 432 square kilometres (167 sq mi), or only about 15% of the land area of the canton, it contains 189,123 people, or 57% of the cantonal population (2008). It is therefore characterised by a markedly higher population density and level of economic activity, when compared to the Sopraceneri.

The Monte San Salvatore funicular, or Funicolare Monte San Salvatore, is a funicular railway in the city of Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The line links a lower station in the Lugano suburb of Paradiso with an upper station at the summit of the Monte San Salvatore. The top yields a 360° panorama with views of the city, Lake Lugano, Monte Generoso and the Italian enclave of Campione.The line was built in 1890, and originally used an Abt rack rail for braking. It was rebuilt in 1926, when the two-axle cars were replaced by four-axle cars capable of carrying 70 passengers each, and the Abt rail removed. The cars were again replaced in 1957. In 2001, the line was extensively modernised, with new engine, gearbox, brakes and control system, and the 1957-built cars were given a new modern style body. The line has an unusual configuration of two separate single-track sections, with passengers transferring between cars at an intermediate station in Pazzallo. Each section has a single car, but there is only one engine and machine room which is located at Pazzallo, and the two cars counterbalance each other. The two cars are similar in design, but are not identical, being adapted to the different gradients of the two sections.Just after leaving its lower terminal, the funicular crosses above Lugano-Paradiso railway station on a bridge. This station is some 350 metres (1,150 ft) walk to the south of the lower terminal. Urban bus routes 1 and 2 of the Trasporti Pubblici Luganesi (TPL) serve a stop some 150 metres (490 ft) to the north of the terminal at Paradiso Gerreta. The funicular is owned and operated by Funicolare Lugano-Paradiso-Monte San Salvatore SA. The Monte San Salvatore funicular is one of three operational funiculars within the Lugano area. The other two are the Monte Brè funicular, which ascends Monte Brè on the opposite side of the city, and the Lugano Città–Stazione funicular, which links the city centre with the railway station.

Paradiso is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It lies on the shore of Lake Lugano and, although administratively independent of the city of Lugano, it is surrounded on all other sides by that city.