In Ticino amidst rare plants and dam climbs

The outdoor season in the Italian-speaking southern canton of Switzerland is a wide range of proposals that turn the area into an authentic adventure park, perfect for hiking, trail running, rock climbing and cycling. Among the most spectacular places and views in Ticino is the Bosco Sacro di Mergugno, above Brissago, a forest reserve at an altitude of over a thousand metres where a rare and fascinating plant grows: the Alpine laburnum. Its yellow flowers blossom between May and June (the best time to visit this place) and act as a backdrop to the centuries-old trees that populate the entire Alpe Arolgia: from the Capanna al Legn, the more experienced can continue up to the peak of Ghiridone (2,188 metres), the highest on the shores of Lake Maggiore with a spectacular 360 degree panorama.

Quite a different kind of experience can be had at the Luzzone dam, on whose vertical concrete wall is the longest artificial climbing route in the world: 165 metres in total length, with around 650 hooks and holds.