Why Is There A Tiny Bit Of Italy Inside Switzerland? 

One of my locql Italian restaurants has a connect the dots map of Italy on their children's menu. Whenever my daughter completes it, i always add dots for San Marino, Vatican City, and Campione d'Italia because I am an obnoxious pedant.

Well this video is not what I thought it was going to be about!!! Last year, a new 3-s cable car linking Italy to Switzerland by the Matterhorn and Plateau Rosa Glacier opened. The valley station is technically in Swiss territory, but is declared to be in Italy as the entrance door for pedestrians is on the border, the entrance for skiers on the floor below where it is definitely on Swiss ground, while the upper station is most definitely in Switzerland. The border change is therefore declared as the cable car leaves the valley station.

While it is true that Campione can be translated to champion, like many words it also has a second meaning which is very apropos here: Campione also means "sample". So this town's name also means "Sample of Italy".

Using the little eifel tower in Vegas to represent france is such a funny detail

And casinos are usually such understated, tasteful retreats.

That casino is from what Bill Bryson described as the “F**k You!” School of architecture.

Was that a sneaky little "We are the Campioni" at the end? Nice!

There's a little bit of Italy inside of me. I crashed a scooter in the 90's near Florence and there's still a bit of grit from the road in my leg.

The b roll of Vegas was brilliant. Thank you.

Fun fact: the french came back pretty quickly and managed to beat the swiss so badly in 1515 that the swiss signed an eternal pact of friendship and it is also why swiss became neutral aside from sending some swiss guard to the pope and the french king...

Germany also has an enclave in Switzerland as well. It's called Büsingen am Hochrhein.

every time i see the locomotive toot in the intro i think "ah, this is the bit where he should have pulled the lever slower." don't know why my mind remembers this but it does

love that you made your own cover of 'we are the champions' specifically for this video. One of the many reasons why your video's are such a joy to watch!

Using the Venetian and Paris resorts in Las Vegas to represent Venice and France respectively in a video about a casino...well played. After Italian unification, besides the Swiss rejecting Campione's wish for annexation, Italy gave all land west of Lake Lugano and half of the lake to Switzerland so that Swiss trade and transport would not have to pass through Italy. During World War II, besides Mussolini building that ornamental arch and adding "d'Italia" that you mentioned, the US Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA) maintained a unit in Campione for operations in Italy as the Italian regime didn't have control over the enclave and the Swiss ignored it as long as the Americans kept a low profile! Here are two other interesting exclaves/enclaves: The Omani exclave of Madha inside the UAE, which surrounds the UAE counter-enclave of Nahwa! Nahwa's counter-enclave was formed as a result of Madha's decision to declare allegiance to Oman instead of Al Qawasim of Sharjah, Al Qawasim of Ras Al Khaimah, or Al Sharqi of Fujairah which today all form part of the United Arab Emirates. In the late 1930s or early 1940s the leaders of the four rival clans who ruled the Musandam Peninsula (Al Qassimi of Ras Al Khaimah, Al Qassimi of Sharjah, Al Sharqi of Fujairah, and the Bu Said of Oman) gathered a group of village elders of Madha and posed the question as to which sheikhdom the Madhanis would declare allegiance. While Madha chose Oman, Nahwa chose to stay loyal to Al Qawasim of Sharjah, effectively making them a counter enclave within the exclave of Madha! So while the whole Baarle-Hertog/Nassau situation is well known, it's not the only place where counter-enclaves are a thing! The India-Bangladesh border used to have a bunch of counter-enclaves too, but they resolved the enclaves and counter-enclaves in 2015, and since the exchange of territory took place, the only remaining enclave is Dahagram-Angarpota, an exclave of Bangladesh.

That casino, unbelievable.

Love the Time Team background music during the history section.

A cup of tea and a Tim Traveller Video. Saved my day.

Speaking of weird borders between Switzerland and Italy: Lago di Lei (literally lake of the lake...) is worth investigating. A bit of Italy is carved out to put the dam inside Switzerland who operate the power station. But most of the reservoir lies in the Italian valley.

Not to be a pedant about your content but in my recollection from the 90s there were italian Carabinieri standing around the casino during working hours, they went back to Italy in the evenings. If anything actually happened like burgularies or traffic accidents, the Swiss police showed up. That was however fairly rare because Campione had the social structure of a small italian village. Half of the apartments there were empty because used as tax write-off investments by rich Milanese, others were inhabited by “frontalieri” who worked in Lugano and the rest were locals who all seemed to be related to each other.. My mom lived there for several years while working as a language teacher in Lugano and pretty quickly got to know everyone. I would play woth the children at the Lido beach in the far end when I came to visit in the summer. I remember life there being incredibly quaint. Thanks for taking me down memory lane ❤

Great video, thanks! 🙂 I visited this place 30+ years ago on my first great European bicycle tour because I saw it in the Times Atlas and was curious. It was quite a backwater then, and in the post office I did pay Lira for stamps and stuck them in my journal, and they franked them. I did this in all countries I visited. Amazing how it has changed.

One of my Swiss German friends described Ticino as “Italy but with order”. I thought the statement was a joke until I visited. So true!

I can't believe Mr. Super Mario was the one behind building the biggest casino in Italy and all of Europe. I knew he was up to something.

Wanted to go to this exact region on vacation this year, but money dried up after an unfortunate death in the family. At least I can see the region vicariously through one of my favourite content creators! Cheers Tim!

Thank you - I just love all these unique & interesting facts you find throughout Europe. I never knew this place existed and now, I can’t help but love it - the fact that it is stunningly beautiful doesn’t hurt too..

Interesting facts about that Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower you showed, it consists of 5,000 tons of welded steel and is 540 feet or 164.5 meters tall, while the actual Eiffel Tower is 330 meters or 1,083 feet tall! It was initially meant to be a full-size replica but due to flight path concerns from the international airport, the tower had to be scaled down! Another interesting enclave/exclave is Marble Hill, a pene-exclave of the NYC borough of Manhattan. It's a part of Manhattan despite it being attached to the Bronx! Marble Hill was once Manhattan Island's northernmost tip but became an island in its own right in 1817, when two small streams were dug up to form a canal. The waterway ran from the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River, cutting off Marble Hill from Manhattan Island. The mill canal was expanded in 1895 to become the Harlem River Ship Canal. The new channel, constructed at the direction of the federal government, was 400 feet wide and at least 15 feet deep at its competition. Marble Hill remained an island for years until it was physically connected to the Bronx in 1913, when the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in. Two more are Sokh and Shohimardon districts, parts of Uzbekistan completely surrounded by Kyrgyzstan. Sokh was created in 1955. Local legend holds that the territory was lost by a Kyrgyz Communist Party official in a card game with his Uzbek counterpart. Others say it made sense to assign the area to Uzbekistan because the roads running along the Sokh river connected to Uzbekistan to the north rather than going through the rugged Kyrgyz territory to the east and west of the area in question. Chon-Qora (Qalacha) and Jani-Ayil are two other Uzbek exclaves in Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan also has exclaves in Kyrgyzstan, Vorukh and Kayragach (they have another in Uzbekistan called Sarvan), which led to border conflict, and these exclaves exist because of the Soviets. The Soviets aimed to create ethnically homogeneous republics, but many areas were ethnically mixed (like the Ferghana Valley), and they experienced difficulties in assigning an ethnic label to some peoples. In spite of this, regional elites strongly argued in favor of strict delineation, and was further complicated by a lack of expert knowledge and paucity of accurate or up-to-date ethnographic data on the region. They also aimed to create 'viable' entities, with economic, geographical, agricultural and infrastructural matters unrelated to (and sometimes trumping those of) ethnicity

"Did I come all the way up here just for that one scene?" Your sacrifice is appreciated, Tim. The views were stunning!

Wow, I love quirky stories like this. Thanks Tim!

Tim, next time you are in Austria, visit the Zwentendorf. Back in the 70's, politicians decided to spend a huge amount of money and build a nuclear reactor there. And then, only after completing it, they asked the public in a referendum if it should be turned on. And as you can probably guess, the answer was "no", which is why Austria ended up with the worlds only nuclear reactor you can rent for shooting films or hosting a rave party. (As a side note, Zwentendorf power plant now actually produces a small amount of electricity, after the new owners decided to put in a solar installation).

Opening shot, amazing views

Funfact: While the straight line distance from Campione to the rest of Italy is only ~720 m on a 2D plane, because the Italian border is on the top the mountain above the 3D distance is actually around ~1000 m due to the elevation change. If you were insane enough to try and walk the shortest direct path.

By the way Campione translates not only as “champion” but also as “sample” for example a “statistical sample” is called “campione statistico”, the little vials of perfume that are sometimes offered as free samples are sometimes called “campioncini” (little samples)

This entire region , the southern alps of italy , is heaven on earth 😍 nice video btw 😁

4:52 hillarious 'no-Switzerland' flag. Brilliant!

You mentioned that casinos are "banned" in Italy. Not really. There are 4 casinos in Italy, they are just very strictly regulated and all of them are state-run. In other words, a private individual or corporation cannot establish a new casino and the state controls them all, but nothing prohibits the state from setting up some more casinos, should it decide to do so (hopefully not)

It's good to know that the Italians have stayed so true to their traditions over the centuries: switching sides in war and bungling it up for their allies.

5:55 It makes perfect sense that he would be Julius II, as Julius Cæsar actually was pope too. Before an untimely series of knife wounds robbed him of it, Julius Cæsar held the office of Pontifex Maximus for a number of years. This was Rome's supreme religious leader, the head of the Roman pantheon, and the precursor to what would, after a centuries long ordeal of christenings and unchristenings, eventually become the head of the Roman Catholic Church, i.e. the Pope.

Never heard of this enclave. Fascinating. Thank you so much Tim. However nothing will ever beat Baarle Hertog, where there are enclaves within enclaves

By that, also in NL they have a small part of Belgium! During several Long Distance walks we passed the hardly marked Border to the area. At first I didn't realize that we had been in NL and it was first the second time round, I found it out.

I think it's most interesting what you can do with a bit of Italy inside Switzerland - not only simply a Casino but during WWII it was a perfect spot for "pirate" radio stations broadcasting towards Italy. The Swiss could wash their hands in innocence since "that's Italy" but the Italians couldn't do much about it because they couldn't actually physically get there to to shut down the radio stations because it's surrounded by Switzerland...(or so I remember having read about it). Yes, tax haven as well, since the Casino pays the bills.

Had a girl from there in my German class when I was studying abroad. She’s was from Switzerland, spoke Italian first, spoke some French second, and was trying to learn German

So cool to see you wandering in the places where I live, I hope you had fun here despite the heavy rainfalls we had lately

Brilliant! I love these quirky geographical borders whose origins go back beyond the middle ages. The people of Campione d'Italia lived, until very recently, outside of the EU Customs zone and were very happy with this informal arrangement. The powers that be in the EU weren't so happy about it though and so the town was forced to leave the Swiss customs zone in 2020 against the wishes of the residents. It will be interesting to see what border arrangements are put in place, if any.

I just noticed Campione d'Italia on a map the other day! Such a serendipitous Saturday surprise. Thanks Tim!

The Tim Traveller, This video is fantastic! I liked it a lot!

Love the Unsolved Mysteries theme music. Brings me back to my childhood.

We have a similar thing in Minnesota. Just a little chunk of the state on the Canadian side of a giant lake. I think everyone got stuck for a bit at the start of Covid lockdowns.

Another super video. Tim never fails to deliver!

Very nice segue from We Are The Champions into Bohemian Rhapsody at the end there. Very smooth!

I love the carefully chosen pieces of music you use in these videos. It's such a small detail in the end product and one could have just used some standard same music for every video, but I really appreciate the way you do it. It always puts a smile on my face.

Fun fact Tim, Campione has a Swiss prefix for telephone lines 🎉 And until 2020, it was also excluded from the EU common taxes area.... Thank you for the video 👍

I came from Italy but I’m learning a lot of interesting things in this channel about Italy! Thanks! Ciao 😊

Pedantry corner 2: A croissant as a symbol for France is pretty way off, as it's associated with, oh I'll just copy/paste here: "Croissants are Viennese and were created in celebration of the Habsburgs' defeat of the Ottoman empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The crescent shape is part of the Ottoman flag."

Love how you use “we are the champions” at the end. Clever

That casino reminds me of the MI6 building in Vauxhall in London.

Tim loved the grand designs music as you talked about the casino architecture

Always entertaining, Mr. Traveller.

I love Queen, thanks for playing them.

On the northern edge of Switzerland there's also a one-village German enclave/exclave, Büsingen.

Pedantry corner: 'Big old Toto' is pretty funny, as Totone sounds like a diminutive. And while I'm at it, the lombards, or langobardi (long beards) were a Germanic tribe, who according to some sorces originally were from Scania (Skåne) now in southern Sweden. They were already mentioned by Tacitus 'Germania' which is long before they migrated south.

Another fascinating geographic oddity. Love the animated history lesson, replete with SFX and nice musical touches. Bravo Tim!

This is brilliant, Tim. I love Switzerland but have never been to the Italian speaking bit or the Italian bit in Switzerland - I’m going to have to visit!

Been there. Done that. I found the village a bit boring years ago but the nature around is fantastic. Also I'd recommend visiting the nearby Balcone d'Italia which offers an amazing view of Lugano city, lake Lugano and of some of the highest peaks of the Alps

Using an image of Vegas’ Venetian for the was on Venice won you a subscriber. Priceless

Photos of Paris and The Venetian in Las Vegas were a funny Easter egg. Also, We Are the Champions by Queen at the end, fitting. Well done.

I loved the choice of music. Thank you for another highly enjoyable video!

Brilliant video. I went there in about 2014, got the train to Lugano from Milan. A fairly ordinary Italian train on the way there and a modern tilty Swiss train going back. Lovely region to visit. Also went on the funicular from the lake to Lugano station.

I was in Campione in the mid-1980s and the old casino was much easier on the eyes. Fun video, Tim... well done!

Great video. Campione in italian can also mean "sample", but I have no idea whether this is related to how the village is named.

At the north end of CD is a lone house only accessible through Switzerland. It looks like Italy paved the last metre of the road in front of the home property, the pavement being lighter than the Swiss side.

Finally, something about this oddity! Always wondered!

I'm a Catholic who knows the alps exceptionally well, though I hadn't known about the history of Campione. Thank you very much for teaching me, Tim Traveller.

You are my spirit animal, Tim. I looked this one up once on Wikipedia after meandering around Google Maps and finding this curious enclave, but didn't remember any of the details.

Fun mix of travel and history. Love the We Are the Champions at the end

this is one of my favors places on earth.. the beauty of the Italian Lakes with the cleanliness and organization of Switzerland.. There s a great little museum that you can reach via Swiss Post/ Boart that talks about border security.. Truly a wonderful place..

By far my favourite Channel for Strange travel destinations

I'm Italian, and needless to say I'm very happy you, one of my favorite RU-vidrs, made a video about Campione d'Italia! It's a really interesting topic that I never see covered a lot, especially outside of Italy. It's something you really can't see on maps usually, mostly because of just how small it is, which doesn't really help on making more people know about it I'm really happy you're bringing some attention to this amazing unknown piece of Italy! 🇮🇹

Was always curious about this ever since I visited Lugano a few years ago. Never bothered to do the research! Thanks Tim :)

tim, your videos are always such a joy to watch. i live on the other side of the planet, but i can't wait to visit europe one day and maybe check out one of these places :D

The fight with the croissant had me rolling 😂 Love your sense of humour

This answered the inevitable question that I had about Campione D'Italia since learning about it in the Travelling Turtle video St Pancras to Bova Marina.

When I realised the background music was the Time Team theme at 5:20 I was _so_ thrilled, I love TT! Their new episodes on RU-vid have been so cool to see

Lmao, my moms dream for a long time is to live there so she can live in switzerland without the hassle to figure out the papers to actually live in switzerland (shes italian)

Using "We are the Champions" to close it off is amazing

Thanks. I was looking for something to bring my mood up. Like "Maybe Tim has a new episode", ... And that he had!

"I need to go down there" points off into the distance - immediately walks in the opposite direction! 🤣🤣🤣

Interesting video. Would have loved to know more about why some things are Swiss and some things Italian 😊

Thank you for another superb video, Tim.👍

My husband and I have actually been there in the 1990s, staying in Lugano and having a ticket to take a boat to any of the places around the lake. We were told at the time that the casino being in an exclave avoided some Swiss law about the minimum amount that could be staked. Not that we were 'into Casinos'. There are often large casinos in so called 'tourist magnets'.

Thanks ! If you are a border nerd, there is the Swiss Customs Museum just a couple of kilometers away (accessible by boat or by hiking). Nice to see you came back to Switzerland. I was yesterday searching the border marks on L'Arbézie 😅

Great! 🙂 4:45 nice Time Team reference! 🙂 The Las Vegas photos were especially funny ;-)

As my computer eventually seems to know best what not to miss on youtube, it finally decided to present me with your Campione d'Italia clip. Wow! Grüezi-wohl und grazie mille! It made me binge on your channel! You combine the highly entertaining skills of excellent narration, knowledge of many languages, pronunciations, historical and cultural backgrounds and a deep love of travel experiences! Finally, there is your clever use of musical accompaniments and puns! Bravo! Although living retired in the South Australian Adelaide Hills, my youth in the Netherlands and once upon a time extensive travels through Europe still allow me to appreciate the many aspects of your presentations and the humour behind them! Yes, I did climb mount Urk and de Vaalserberg. I once walked along the Canal du Midi and melted in Death Valley. Now, you re-invite me to armchair traveling at its best! Continuons!

Tbf they were basically obligated to make the casino look like a Bond villain could live in it with that history.

Thanks for the video and the historic details. Really good

Loved the Grand Designs music in t' background whilst the casino's looks were being discussed.

Hooray. More Tim Traveller. ❤🎉 Tuning fork in front of the casino 😮.

'Ticked' that one when we went on a boat trip when staying in Lugano a few years back. Didn't know that Campione was actually part of Italy though.

The 'original' casino was replaced, probably, in the 60s. The one there now is a replacement of that one

No hesitation in subscribing. A little history, geography, good cinematography & editing, plus a few corny jokes; all fits my brain just fine.

Brilliant as ever, Tim. Thanks

Love these border videos! Look up Baarle-Hertog….that would be the perfect Tim Traveler video