Monte Generoso railway

The Italian-speaking south's mountain train, and a different kind of view. The 9-kilometer rack line has run up from Capolago on Lake Lugano since 1890, and the summit at 1,701 meters looks out over the Lombardy Plain rather than over glaciers. At the top is the Fiore di Pietra, a summit building by the architect Mario Botta that opened in 2017, which gives the trip an architectural draw of its own. Trains run daily from spring to early November and on weekends and holidays through the winter, so it suits a spring or fall visit to Ticino when several Alpine lines further north are not yet running or have already closed.