Morcote

What makes it special

Morcote is on Switzerland's federal inventory of heritage sites of national importance for the shape of the village itself. From the water you see it whole: arcaded patrician houses along the shore, narrow alleys running uphill between them, and the Tower of the Captain among the roofs.

In the village, Paleari House is the grandest of the old residences. Its decoration is stucco by the artist Abbondio Paleari.

Santa Maria del Sasso takes its name from a small stone Madonna and Child said to have turned up when the ground was dug, a figure since lost. Inside, the fired-brick Romanesque piers of the first church still carry the big arches between the nave and the aisles.

Lombard frescoes from the early sixteenth century cover parts of the nave and the left aisle. At the far end of the east aisle, look up at the small painted vault, decorated in the 1480s.

The Chapel of the Miraculous Catch holds a sixteenth-century wall painting, one of the most precious of its age in Ticino. Beside the church, the cemetery steps down the hillside in terraces.

Visiting

Morcote's lakefront promenade is where the boat lands and where the visit starts. Walk the arcades and the alleys behind them first, while you are still at lake level.

Then take the monumental stair up to Santa Maria del Sasso. On the way up you pass the Fossati family fountain and a run of wayside shrines painted by Pietro Chiesa.

At the top, see the church, then stand on the churchyard terrace for the lake below and walk down through the terraced cemetery. Back on the shore, finish in the subtropical lakefront garden of Parco Scherrer, or over fish at a lakeside restaurant before the boat home.

Tips

Download the Tesori del Ticino app before you set out, since it offers audioguides for the sights here. Wear shoes with grip for the stair and the stone lanes.

You can also walk in from Monte San Salvatore through Carona. The path off the summit starts steep and rough, and the last stretch into Morcote is long and mostly steps, so skip it if constant downhill wears on your knees.