Day Trip to Locarno and Mogno

Photo of Locarno.


Thursday morning we left around 8:15 am to go to Locarno then to Mogno Chapel, by Mario Botta. In Locarno, we went to a very small museum with an exhibit on Max Bill. It was a nice change having a smaller less overwhelming museum to go to after our long tour. We then spent some time wandering around the city and eating the bagged lunches provided for us by the Villa. There was a market going on in the Piazza Grande, where we saw everything from antiques and used items to handmade turned wood and silver jewelry. It was a perfect cool and sunny fall day!

We continued to Mogno with a bus driver who was definitely no Paolo. We were going a little fast up some steep roads with a lot of turns and switch backs; I lost track of the number of cars we passed. Obviously we all made it safely, so there is nothing to worry about now.

The chapel is a beautiful monument to the town that once existed in its location in the valley. There was an avalanche there, in 1986 I think, that destroyed the town; the town had to be rebuilt and the chapel built in its honor. If it had been a little sunnier we would have been able to see more of the amazing shadows it creates, but it was still one of my favorites we've visited.


Photos of Mogno Chapel.