Capo San Martino

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.

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.

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.

Lake Lugano (Italian: Lago di Lugano or Ceresio, from Latin: Ceresius lacus; Lombard: Lagh de Lugan) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore. It was cited for the first time by Gregory of Tours in 590 with the name Ceresio, a name which is said to have derived from the Latin word cerasus, meaning cherry, and refers to the abundance of cherry trees which at one time adorned the shores of the lake. The lake appears in documents in 804 under the name Laco Luanasco. There are various mountains and tourist destinations on the shores of the lake including Monte Brè to the east, Monte San Salvatore west of Lugano, and Monte Generoso on the south-eastern shore. The World Heritage Site Monte San Giorgio is situated south of the lake. Also located to the south is the Cinque Vette Park. The lake is drained by the Tresa, which empties into Lake Maggiore, the latter being drained by the Ticino and the Po.

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.

Lugano-Paradiso railway station (Italian: Stazione di Lugano-Paradiso) is a railway station in the municipality of Paradiso in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The station is on the Gotthard railway of the Swiss Federal Railways, between Lugano and Chiasso. The station opened in 1945 and was renovated in 2018.

Pazzallo is a quarter of the city of Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Pazzallo was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Lugano in 2004. Pazzallo lies on the slopes of Monte San Salvatore, uphill of the independent municipality of Paradiso that forms an exclave within the city of Lugano. Whilst the original nucleus lies on the higher slopes, the lower western slopes, towards the Lugano-Sud junction on the A2 motorway, are now more populous. To the south-east of Paradiso, Pazzallo has a shore on Lake Lugano.

Loreto is a quarter of the city of Lugano, in the Swiss canton of Ticino. It forms the part of the city which surrounds the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto to the south of the city center, and includes the Lake Lugano waterfront south of the city centre but north of Paradiso. In 2011, it had a population of 3,221.

Lugano was the name of a canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, with its capital at Lugano. The canton unified the former Landvogteien of Lugano, Mendrisio, Locarno and Valmaggia. As with the other cantons of the Helvetic Republic, the autonomy of Lugano was very limited, the republic having been founded by Napoleon in order to further centralise power in Switzerland. The canton was led by a Directory of five members, who appointed a "national préfet", the first of whom was Giacomo Buonvicini. The canton was riven with dispute between "patriots", supporting the Cisalpine Republic, and traditionalist "aristocrats". The politics of the central government — the seizure of church property, the introduction of direct taxation, mandatory military service, an amnesty favouring Cisalpine patriots and a law regarding municipalities that rejected the secular tradition of communal autonomy — as well as the military occupation by the French Revolutionary Armies, with its associated violence and requisitions, all combined to maintain a level of hostility to the new régime within the local population, which eventually rose up against the régime. In Lugano, during anti-French protests of 28 April and 29 April 1799, the printer Agnelli's was looted and the abbot Giuseppe Lodovico Maria Vanelli and other Cisalpine patriots were killed; the préfet Francesco Capra, who succeeded Buonvicini earlier that year, fled and power passed to a provisional government sympathetic to the Habsburgs. Similar protests erupted in Mendrisio and Locarno. The arrival of Austro-Russian troops led to further requisition and pillage, leading to further shortages amongst the local population. French occupation was restored in 1800, with further consequences for the Luganese. Commissioner Heinrich Zschokke re-established the authority of the Helvetic Republic on his arrival; a new préfet was appointed, Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Franzoni. After two abortive attempts to unite Lugano with Bellinzona in the first two years of the 19th century, popular discontent, combined with fiscal pressure and a disastrous economic situation, led to a revolt in Capriasca early in 1802, which led to the autumn pronunciamento of Pian Povrò, named for the location of a district general congress, between Massagno and Breganzona, which declared the independence of Lugano from the Helvetic client republic. With the Act of Mediation, the following year, political agitation was finally quelled, as were the struggles between unionists and federalists; merger with Bellinzona was at last completed, creating the Ticino, which endures to the present day.

The Diocese of Lugano (Latin: Dioecesis Luganensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Switzerland covering the canton of Ticino. The diocese immediately exempt to the Holy See. In 2004, there were 233,017 baptised of 306,846 inhabitants. It is currently ruled by the Bishop Pier Giacomo Grampa and has as its principal patron St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, and as a secondary patron Saint Abundius, Bishop of Como.

The Lugano District (Italian: Distretto di Lugano also called Luganese) is a district of Canton of Ticino, southern Switzerland. The capital is the city of Lugano. It has a population of 150,556 (as of 31 December 2020).

The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI). The contest, originally titled the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1956 (Italian: Gran Premio Eurovisione 1956 della Canzone Europea, English: Grand Prix of the Eurovision Song Competition), was held on Thursday 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland, and hosted by Swiss television presenter Lohengrin Filipello, which remains the only time that the contest has been hosted by a solo male presenter. Inspired principally by the Italian Sanremo Music Festival, held annually since 1951, the concept of a televised European song contest, initially proposed by Italian broadcaster RAI, was formulated by an EBU committee led by Swiss broadcaster and executive Marcel Bezençon. Following approval at the EBU's General Assembly in 1955, the rules and structure of the contest were agreed upon. Several of the rules utilised in this first contest would subsequently be altered for future editions, and it remains the only edition in which each country was represented by two songs, with only solo performers allowed to compete, and a voting process which was held in secret and where juries could vote for the entries from their own country. Seven countries participated in the inaugural edition of the contest, and the first winner was the host country Switzerland, with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia. The result was determined by an assembled jury composed of two jurors from each country, with each juror ranking each song between 1 and 10 points. Only the winning country and song were announced at the conclusion of the event, with the results of the remaining participants unknown. Even though it was broadcast on television and radio via the Eurovision network in ten countries, no video footage of the event is known to exist, with the only video available being of the reprise performance from an independent archiver; the majority of the broadcast is, however, available in audio.