Locarno

Romans settled at Muralto, beside today's town, and Locarno grew into a medieval market town on the north shore of Lake Maggiore. The emperor Frederick Barbarossa granted it a monthly market in 1164 and in 1186 placed it directly under imperial rule. It was governed by local noble families of capitanei, among them the Orelli and the Muralto; the Orelli castle, first recorded in 1210, was taken by the Visconti of Milan in 1342 and enlarged, and the Rusca counts later held the town as a fief.

The Swiss Confederates occupied Locarno in 1503 but could not take the castle until the French king handed it over after the battle of Novara in 1513, and in 1516 all of Locarno passed to them. They demolished much of the castle in 1531. During the Reformation in the 16th century Protestant families, including branches of the Muralto and Orelli, left for Zurich and Bern, and with the plague of 1576–77 the town's population fell.

After 1803 Locarno joined the new canton of Ticino, and under the constitution of 1814 it shared the role of capital with Lugano and Bellinzona. Emigration to California thinned the population between 1860 and 1880, and the town grew more slowly than places directly on the Gotthard railway, but from the 1870s, as connections improved, hotels and tourism developed. In October 1925 the Locarno Treaties were negotiated here, and in 1946 the first film festival was held.

Film defines Locarno's place in the world. The Locarno International Film Festival, founded in 1946, screens features, documentaries, shorts and retrospectives each August, and its evening shows on the Piazza Grande turn the town's main square into an open-air cinema. In July the same square hosts Moon & Stars, a series of concerts by international acts.

The town is largely Catholic and Italian-speaking, with German the second language of its residents. Madonna del Sasso, the sanctuary above the town founded after a friar's vision of the Virgin in 1480, remains the principal place of pilgrimage, and the church of San Francesco recalls the meetings of nobles and citizens held there for centuries. The town's art collection, with works by Jean Arp and the Locarno painter Filippo Franzoni, is kept in the Casorella beside the Casa Rusca.

Locarno shares a wider area with Ascona, its partner town across the Maggia delta, with the hill of Monte Verità, a cultural-historical site, and a jazz festival held every year. The 1925 treaties gave the town's name a lasting place in European diplomacy.

Locarno had about 15,700 residents at the end of 2020, and about 56,000 people live in its wider agglomeration, which includes Ascona, Muralto, Minusio and other neighbouring municipalities. It is the third largest town in Ticino, after Lugano and Bellinzona. In 2008 about a third of its residents were foreign nationals.

The town is divided into the old town, the new quarter toward the lake and the Campagna district toward Solduno, and its territory climbs from the lake at 209 metres to mountain land above Cardada. Tourism, helped by the mild climate, is the backbone of its economy, and visitors arrive in the greatest numbers for the film festival in August.

Daily life centres on the Piazza Grande and its arcades, where much of the town's shopping is done, and on the lake promenade. Buses connect Locarno with the valleys behind it, and the Centovallina carries passengers to Domodossola in Italy. In 2011 Locarno voted to merge with Muralto, Minusio, Orselina and other neighbours, but most of them rejected the plan and the canton did not pursue it.

Locarno eats the food of Ticino. Polenta and risotto are the popular dishes, often served with luganighe and luganighetta, artisan sausages. Polenta was regarded for centuries as food for the poor: maize arrived in the south of Ticino at the start of the 17th century, but it took another 200 years before polenta, made at first from mixed flour and later from pure cornmeal, became the staple dish of the area.

The chestnut is a historical staple of southern Switzerland, and the chestnut tree, introduced around 2,000 years ago, was known as the bread tree. Bruscitti, finely chopped beef cooked for a long time, are popular in southern Ticino and come with polenta or risotto. The typical place to eat them all is the grotto, a rustic eatery often set in an old wine cave, popular with locals and visitors in the hot summer months.

Merlot is the leading red grape of Italian-speaking Switzerland. In town, the lanes of the old town hold osterie, pizzerias and restaurants serving fish, and the town's bars serve aperitifs.