Funiculaire, Monte San Salvatore

I took the funicular up Monte San Salvatore, the mountain to the southwest of Lugano, upon the suggestion of one of the staff at the tourist office. The length and steepness of the ride made it difficult for me to stomach! The funicular takes you up about 1,970 feet, over a length of 5,344 feet, with maximum grades of 61% (about 31 degrees). I'm not sure that this photo does justice to the steep grade-- I had the impression I was getting on a huge roller coaster, which luckily crawled along quite slowly.



At the top are several viewing platforms, along the trail are several signs with reproductions of old Swiss posters advertising funiculars and ski lifts around the country.



Besides the views, there is not much to the experience of being at the top of the mountain, the way that it is designed. You stand on the platforms and look out-- I think I spent about an hour doing this, and that was a stretch. There was nowhere to hike and see more of the mountain, unless I planned on walking all the way down-- a 2.5 hour trip.



When I arrived home, I looked at a book of the Ticino landscape architect Paolo Burgi (who designed the oak bosque in Mendrisio). I learned about his projects at Cardada in Ticino, for a mountaintop like San Salvatore. For this project, he sought to remedy the design problems at such places, where you remain quite separate from the landscape you are there to see. These interventions are much more elegant, light, and sensitively-related to the landscape. I wish I had known to go there, although perhaps I would appreciate it more now, having seen, in a way, the "before."