Locarno is a lakeside town on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore, and it has a different climate from the rest of Switzerland, mild enough that palms and camellias grow along the waterfront. It lies at the foot of the Alps, on the edge of the Ticino delta, where the Maggia river reaches the lake, and the mix of mountains, water and Mediterranean light has drawn visitors for centuries. The town is Italian-speaking, and the feel of it, with its arcades, cafes and piazzas, is unmistakably southern.
The Piazza Grande is the centre of life, a long arcaded square running parallel to the lake. Each August it turns into an open-air cinema, when the Locarno Film Festival fills it with thousands of seats and a huge screen, and the winners of the festival's main prize receive a golden leopard. Above the town, on a rocky spur, stands the Madonna del Sasso, a pilgrimage sanctuary founded in 1480, reached by steps, a funicular or a pleasant walk through shaded chapels, with a view over the lake that justifies the effort.
Locarno also has a place in diplomatic history. In 1925, delegates of several European countries met here and signed a series of treaties, the Locarno Pact, which were meant to guarantee peace in western Europe after the First World War, and for a few years they raised hopes of lasting stability. The treaties collapsed in the 1930s, but the name remains attached to the town.
For a rider, Locarno is a gateway to two very different routes. Behind the town, the Vallemaggia and Verzasca valleys cut into the mountains, with deep gorges, rock pools and stone villages, and the road to the Centovalli leads west toward Italy through a wooded landscape of chestnut and granite. Traffic in the town is dense and the lakefront can be slow, especially on summer weekends, so allow time. The best conditions are in spring and autumn, when the days are clear and warm, and the crowds are thin.
Locarno has everything a rider needs: fuel stations, supermarkets, restaurants, parking and workshops. Eat a plate of risotto or polenta with braised meat, drink a glass of Ticino merlot, and watch the sun slide down behind the mountains. The ferries across the lake are a pleasant way to spend an hour.