page_title: Locarno
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Locarno / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Aussicht auf Locarno von Madonna del Sasso Bild von Steven Utiger, Juli 2005 OTRS 20:34, 28. Jul 2006 Ticket#: 2006072810016318
context_page_description: Locarno is a southern Swiss town and municipality in the district Locarno, located on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore at its northeastern tip in the canton of Ticino at the southern foot of the Swiss Alps. It has a population of about 16,000, and about 56,000 for the agglomeration of the same name including Ascona besides other municipalities.
  The town of Locarno is located on the northeastern part of Maggia's delta; across the river lies the town Ascona on the southwestern part of the delta.
  It is the 74th largest city in Switzerland by population and the third largest in the Ticino canton, after Lugano and Bellinzona.
  The official language of Locarno is Italian.
  The town is known for hosting the Locarno International Film Festival which takes place every year in August and involves open-air screenings at the main square, the Piazza Grande. It is also known for the Locarno Treaties, a series of European territorial agreements negotiated here in October 1925.
  In January 2004, the Italian historian Marino Vigano speculated that Locarno's castle may have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci.
context_section_description: Locarno has an area, as of 1997, of 19.27 square kilometers (7.44 sq mi).  Of this area, 8.39 km² (3.24 sq mi) or 43.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.97 km² (2.31 sq mi) or 31.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.92 km² (1.90 sq mi) or 25.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.25 km² (0.48 sq mi) or 6.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.91 km² (0.35 sq mi) or 4.7% is unproductive land.
  Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 10.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.6%.  Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.6% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.6%.  Out of the forested land, 28.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees.  Of the agricultural land, 31.2% is used for growing crops, while 2.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.3% is used for alpine pastures.  Of the water in the municipality, 0.8% is in lakes and 5.7% is in rivers and streams.  Of the unproductive areas, 4.6% is unproductive vegetation.
  The municipality is the capital of its district.  Locarno is located on the left shore of Lake Maggiore.  The city is made up of the old town (historic settlement center), the new town (Nuovo quartiere) toward the lake and the land district (quartiere Campagna) toward Solduno.  The area of the municipality extends from the lake (elevation 209 m (686 ft)) to the mountains above the city (Monti della SS Trinità, Bre, Cardada and Cimetta, highest point at 1,474 m (4,836 ft)).  It includes a large part of the Magadino valley along with the right side of the Ticino river, and stretches from the Bolle di Magadino to Monda Contone.
caption: Locarno
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