Locarno - Geography

Geography

Locarno has an area, as of 1997, of 19.27 square kilometers (7.44 sq mi). Of this area, 8.39 km2 (3.24 sq mi) or 43.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.97 km2 (2.31 sq mi) or 31.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.92 km2 (1.90 sq mi) or 25.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.25 km2 (0.48 sq mi) or 6.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.91 km2 (0.35 sq mi) or 4.7% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 10.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.6% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, 28.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 31.2% is used for growing crops, while 2.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.8% is in lakes and 5.7% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 4.6% is unproductive vegetation.

The municipality is the capital of its district. Locarno is located on the left shore of Lake Maggiore. The city is made up of the old town (historic settlement center), the new town (Nuovo quartiere) toward the lake and the land district (quartiere Campagna) toward Solduno. The area of the municipality extends from the lake (elevation 209 m (686 ft)) to the mountains above the city (Monti della SS Trinità, Bre, Cardada and Cimetta, highest point at 1,474 m (4,836 ft)). It includes a large part of the Magadino valley along with the right side of the Ticino river, and stretches from the Bolle di Magadino to Monda Contone.