Lake Lugano

The Lake Lugano, otherwise called Ceresio, is one of the many pre-alpine lakes of glacial origin. Its sinuous shape is due to the mountain ranges that hindered the advancing of the glacier that dug the basin. Its effluent, the Tresa River, flows into the Lake Maggiore nearby Luino. It has a surface of about 50 sq. km. and a 288 mt. maximum depth. Only one third of the lake is on Italian territory.

In the Triassic period (245 - 230 million years ago) all the zone was submerged by the Tethys Ocean. As a result of slow sedimentation rates and oxygen-poor conditions, extremely well preserved fossils have survived in five successive strata, making it possible to study the evolution of various groups of marine creatures. To the south of Lake Lugano in Canton Ticino there is a unique locality, Monte San Giorgio that offers abundant and well-preserved fossil finds. Monte San Giorgio was added to Unesco's World Heritage List in 2003.

The fossiliferous strata of Monte San Giorgio extends into Italian territory, in the Valceresio area.

On the Italian side of the lake, there are the towns of Porto Ceresio, Brusimpiano, Lavena Ponte Tresa.