Lugano - Geography

Geography

Lugano lies at the edge of Lake Lugano (Italian: Lago di Lugano or Ceresio), which is situated between the lakes Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como, south of the Alps. It lies at the heart of the Sottoceneri, that part of the canton of Ticino that lies south of the Monte Ceneri Pass.

The city centre is located on the lake shore just to the west of where the River Cassarate enters the lake. The city's waterfront forms a crescent around the bay between the Brè (925m) and the San Salvatore (912m) mountains.

Because of the historical development of the city, incorporating some relatively distant suburbs but leaving other, nearer, suburbs as independent municipalities, the borders of the city are disparate. The city includes two exclaves, with Villa Luganese separated from the rest of the city by the municipality of Cadro, whilst a large and sparsely populated section of the city is on the east bank of Lake Lugano and separated from the city by that lake. Similarly, the inner-urban but independent municipality of Paradiso is a near-enclave, totally surrounded as it is by the city and the lake of Lugano.

Lugano has an area, as of 1997, of 32.09 square kilometers (12.39 sq mi). Of this area, 3.25 km2 (1.25 sq mi) or 10.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.73 km2 (2.60 sq mi) or 21.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.48 km2 (1.73 sq mi) or 14.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km2 (9.9 acres) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.12 km2 (30 acres) or 0.4% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 9.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 0.5% is used for growing crops and 9.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.