Spring in Lugano
The days grow longer, the temperatures become milder. An invitation to step outside for exhibitions, markets, or to stroll through the city’s parks and gardens.
With spring, the city parks awaken with the revived colours of the flora and the songs of birds. It is the ideal time to walk along the flower-lined avenues of Parco Ciani or admire the landscape from above at Parco Tassino. And for those who want to venture beyond the better-known routes, Lugano offers parks and gardens of historic villas open to everyone.
Second in size only to Parco Ciani, with its 27,500 m² of surface area, Parco Viarno in Pregassona offers a natural setting of great tranquillity, with tree-lined avenues, wide lawns and more secluded corners beneath the foliage.
A few hundred metres away, in the Viganello district, Parco di Villa Costanza is another enchanted place, known for its large play areas, the richness and variety of its vegetation, as well as its beautiful nineteenth-century villa. It was commissioned by an Emilian count, Giovanni Grilenzoni, who took refuge there after the Risorgimento uprisings of 1821 to escape a death sentence for involvement with the Carbonari.
Moving towards the foot of Monte Brè, in the Castagnola district, we find Parco di Villa Heleneum, a sumptuous garden of Mediterranean and subtropical plants laid out on terraces sloping down towards the lake. The villa inside it, in eighteenth-century style, was built in the 1930s for Hélène Bieber, a Parisian dancer and patron who aspired to recreate a place of cultural and social exchange between the north and south of the Alps.
Following the shores of the lake southwards, beyond the city centre, we arrive at Parco di Villa Florida, in the Loreto district, with its meticulously tended geometries and rare trees. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the elegant Art Nouveau villa, but some period elements do survive, such as the pergola, the iron railings, the grotto and the caretaker’s house.
Finally, back in the city centre, a must-stop is Parco di Villa Saroli, with its centuries-old plants and its shaded corners that invite rest and reading.
Cultural activities and events for the warmer season and for Easter 2026
On display at Palazzo Civico until 31 August, the exhibition Lugano Belle Époque presents around eighty photographs taken by the Dutch amateur photographer Hermann Albrecht Insinger during his travels to Lugano between 1892 and 1901. The photographs offer a previously unseen view of Lugano during the Belle Époque, differing from the tourist image conveyed by local photographers and companies from north of the Alps. At the LAC venue, the Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana is hosting K-NOW! Korean Video Art Today, a group exhibition exploring the artistic landscape of South Korea through the language of video art (until 19 July), as well as a solo exhibition by one of the leading figures of the contemporary Swiss art scene, Jean-Frédéric Schnyder (until 9 August). Palazzo Reali, meanwhile, is presenting until 21 June Self-portraits from the collection 1928-2021, a selection of more than twenty works by contemporary women and men artists from the MASI collections. At MUSEC, the exhibition Painting and poetry. Men and gods in Japanese art of the modern age continues until 17 May, an itinerary dedicated to Japan’s visual culture between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries.
Cinema in tasca continues until 13 May, while from 17 to 25 April OtherMovie Lugano Film Festival returns, this year dedicated to “Change”. At the Foce, meanwhile, Club cult awaits you, a film series organised by Agorateca.
The programme of the Casa della letteratura della Svizzera italiana is rich: under the title “Fuori (n)orma”, the 2026 season welcomes writers, translators, editors and performers to Villa Saroli from 21 March to 21 November. From 27 to 29 March, Biblioweekend takes place throughout Switzerland, a weekend dedicated to reading, and more besides, with initiatives at the Foce, in libraries and in other spaces across the city. From 4 to 6 June, Poestate returns, the city festival dedicated to poetry, this year in its thirtieth edition.
At the Foce, the series Raclette, Random and Jazz me up continue, while the Music Season at the LAC continues to offer symphonic concerts, chamber music, jazz and world music, electronic music and in-depth talks.
In the spaces of the Foce, in addition to the already ongoing Rassegna Home, from 11 to 17 May the Il Maggiolino Festival takes place, dedicated to the very young. For dance enthusiasts, from 6 to 10 May the Festa danzante returns, a national event celebrating dance in all its facets.
Among the sporting events of the season, we highlight Walking Lugano, a walk through the city centre on 29 March; Lugano Bike Emotions, a cycling event from 24 to 26 April, and the Ladies Run, an all-female running race taking place on 9 May.
On the last weekend of March, Villa Ciani hosts YouNique, a fair dedicated to art, while at the Centro Esposizioni the Ticino Tourmarket takes place, a second-hand and vintage market. On 25 April, Parco Ciani hosts ProSpecieRara’s Seedling Market, with seeds and seedlings of rare varieties to plant in the vegetable garden or on the balcony at home. Finally, on the occasion of the 1 May celebration, Rivetta Tell and the lakeside promenade host the Spring Market, with gastronomic products and handcrafted items.
There are numerous activities for the whole family at Easter: it is Pasqua in Città, from 3 to 6 April in the city centre. The Parco San Grato di Carona provides the setting for numerous events organised by the Associazione Amici del Parco San Grato, including family activities and guided tours during the park’s flowering season. On 21 May, Lugano Marittima opens, with its lakeside chalets offering a wide choice of food and drinks. Added to this, from 1 June, is Lugano Riviera, a series of bar stations between Riva Albertolli and Rivetta Tell.
The English version of this page was created with the aid of automatic translation tools and may contain errors and omissions.
The original version is the page in Italian.