By Max Pfister
In German. 1977 first edition Ringier & Co., AG (Zurich, Switzerland), 8 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches tall blue cloth hardbound in publisher's unclipped dust jacket, gilt lettering to spine, map endpapers, filled with full-color photographs, 240 pp. Slight bumping to fore edge of front board. Mild soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a like dust jacket, nicely preserved in a clear archival sleeve.
The Republic and Canton of Ticino or Ticino (In German, Tessin) is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Ticino borders the Canton of Uri to the north, Valais to the west (through the Novena Pass), Graubunden to the northeast, Italy's regions of Piedmont and Lombardy to the south and it surrounds the small Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton where Italian is the sole official language and represents the bulk of the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland along with the southern sections of Graubunden. The climate of Ticino, while remaining alpine, is noticeably milder than the rest of Switzerland's, enjoying a higher number of sunshine hours and generally warmer temperatures. In German-speaking Switzerland, Ticino is nicknamed Sonnenstube, owing to the more than 2,300 sunshine hours the canton receives every year, compared to 1,700 for Zurich.