Article: THE SUNNY SIDE OF SWITZERLAND // To get an idea of Italian-speaking Ticino, imagine Heidi in a bikini among the palms

LUGANO, Switzerland Giorgio Washington never slept here. But a bust of our founding father - his first name blithely converted to Italian on the inscription - graces a small Greek rotunda along the palm-fringed lakefront promenade of Lugano, in the Swiss deep south.

The palm trees may be as much of a surprise as the presidential bust, if your mental image of Switzerland features glaciers, Alpine skiers, yodelers and cuckoo clocks.

Imagine Heidi in a bikini, packing down the pasta with a cheerful "ciao," and you'll have a more accurate picture of Ticino, the Italian-speaking Swiss canton on the sunny side of the Alps.

I spent four days at the end of October in Lugano, Ticino's ...

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