8 Budget-friendly Things to do in Mendrisiotto That You Shouldn't Miss

Monte Generoso is situated in the heart of a nature park known beyond Switzerland’s borders. Standing majestically on the mountain’s rugged plateau is the new “Fiore di pietra“ (stone flower). The building was created by the famous architect Mario Botta and features picture windows that frame the breathtaking panorama. Two restaurants flooded with light and a conference room with magnificent mountain views provide the ideal setting for fine dining, unforgettable family celebrations and exceptional corporate events. The “Fiore di pietra” is designed so that a partition wall can section off a separate room for up to thirty guests. Since 1890, a rack railway has provided transport along a picturesque nine-kilometre stretch of mountain scenery carrying passengers from Capolago on Lake Lugano to the mountain summit at 1704 m altitude. Monte Generoso offers visitors plenty of opportunities for relaxing strolls, more demanding hikes and for delving into history.

The Vincenzo Vela Museum is one of the most important artists' house-museums to have been erected in nineteenth-century Europe. Conceived by the great realist sculptor Vincenzo Vela from Ticino (1820-91) at the height of his career, and transformed into a public museum after it was donated to the Swiss state, in addition to Vincenzo Vela's gallery of monumental plaster casts it includes the bequests of the sculptor Lorenzo Vela (1812-97) and painter Spartaco Vela (1854-95), a remarkable collection of nineteenth-century Lombard and Piedmontese paintings, hundreds of autograph drawings and one of the earliest private collections of photographs in Switzerland.

Remodeled and expanded by the Ticinese architect Mario Botta, the Museum of fossils from Monte San Giorgio was inaugurated the 13th of october of 2012. The structure exhibits a selection of fossilized animals and plants from the unique UNESCO World Heritage Site of Monte San Giorgio.

With its rich permanent collection exhibited on a rotating basis, the Zust Gallery is today the primary centre for studying art of the period from the Renaissance to the 19th century in the Canton Ticino. A former parish house renovated and enlarged by the architect Tita Carloni (1967) and refurbished by the architect Claudio Cavadini (1990) provides a splendid setting for paintings by the major artists of Lombardy and Ticino from the 17th century to the 19th, including Giovanni Serodine, Giuseppe Antonio Petrini, Antonio Rinaldi, Luigi Rossi, Adolfo Feragutti Visconti and Gioachimo Galbusera among many others. The gallery also presents two temporary exhibitions a year curated by outstanding figures in the world of art.

Life in the middle ages. On the southern slope of Monte San Giorgio is the village of Tremona. On the hill behind, covered by woods, archaeologists have unearthed an entire medieval village. Would you like to enjoy a different kind of visitor experience? At Tremona - Castello Archaeological Park you can, thanks to augmented reality. Put on a pair of the awesome 3D glasses and take a trip back in time. Here's how to get your kids excited about history! Inside the Park you will find no less than ten augmented reality sections. Enter the medieval houses, visit the blacksmith's workshop and take part in the daily life of the village. An incredible form of modern storytelling that manages to capture everyone’s attention. The duration of the complete augmented reality experience is about 120 minutes, which includes transfer times from Tremona InfoPoint to the Park and back.