Corpo Volontari Luganesi
Il Corpo Volontari Luganesi, the historical group and Lugano the honor guard of the city of Lugano, represents the oldest-ever partnership with over 208 years of history. Despite his venerable age, the Volunteer Body Lugano is more than ever a vital and dynamic and continues to exist in memory of past epics.
Established in 1797 as a defence system, a year later, in February 1798, the Volunteer Body Lugano became the proponent of the well-known "Moti" in Lugano, managing to bend the Cisalpino and thus starting, after long years of subjection, to conquer longed freedom of Lugano and Ticino.
Since then, the Volunteer Corps is integrated to the guard Switzerland and unfortunately, for too long, remained in anonymity, making only a few sporadic appearance.In 1928, the municipality of Lugano, Bellinzona and federal Shooting thanks to the insistence of the then Commander Emilio Vajda, decided to reconstitute the body, giving it a statute and promote it to the honor guard of the city of Lugano.
Today, thanks to the support of the authorities and of all citizens and the partial restoration of the equipment, the body is subjected to a very intense activity that ranges from historical and patriotic events to cultural ones organized both in Switzerland and abroad on behalf of the city, under the auspices of the municipality of Lugano.
Among the novelties that the body can boast is the creation of a Department of educated specialists to the task of shooting blanks with flintlock rifles. The performance of different exercises is occasionally required to parade on the occasion of events.
This historical Establishment continues to exist in memory of the past and epics, to pass down the tradition, looking for up-and-coming, because, as the Mayor Giorgio Giudici during an Assembly, "men can change but the uniforms remain".