Fusio - Lake Mognola

Sonja Foraboschi - Malcantone & 4 zampe con Ciak e Cupido (10.09.21):

The supposedly most beautiful lake in Ticino lies far away, in the middle of a rugged mountain world. Only a few people know the Lago di Mognola. It is precisely this grandiose solitude that makes it so appealing.

Lago di Mognola is said to be the most beautiful lake in Ticino. Whether this is actually the case is a matter of taste. But one thing can be said with a clear conscience: it is a magnificent sight, lying at a proud 2,003 metres in its quiet moraine high valley, overlooked by majestic mountains that are among the highest in the canton, and the sky reflected in the emerald-green water.

It sounds surprising, but of all things, the circular route to this lonely body of water has a lot to offer culturally. The starting point, the village of Fusio, which clings picturesquely to the slope above a gorge at the end of the Lavizzara Valley, offers photo motifs in abundance. An example of technical achievement, the approximately three-kilometre-long storage basin of the Sambuco reservoir, becomes visible a little later. A curious monument to peasant inventiveness, unique in Ticino, is encountered on Alp Canaa: an 18th-century stone canal that channels mountain water downhill to dry pastures, thus making them usable. If you end your hike in Mogno instead of Fusio, you can also visit the little church of San Giovanni Battista, the famous building by Ticino's star architect Mario Botta.

Other highlights of the tour include a waterfall, magnificent panoramas, an alp where cheese is still made, dreamy forests and Alpine meadows. And there is something else that attracts you to Lago di Mognola: the rare feeling of discovering an almost untouched, beautiful spot in the middle of Europe.

(Pictures: Sonja Foraboschi - Malcantone & 4 zampe con Ciak e Cupido / Text source: ticinoweekend.ch)