Lugano
Piazza dell´Indipendenza (1)The Independence Square recalls a historical event of 1798. At the time, Ticino was divided into two cantons (Bellinzona and Lugano) and integrated into the Helvetic Republic, the Switzerland occupied by Napoleon. Threatened with integration into Napoleon's short-lived Cisalpine Republic, the city of Lugano declared its independence, which led in 1803 to the Act of Mediation giving birth to the unified canton of Ticino.
