Sighignola - Campione d'Italia Cable Car
A cable car begun in 1980 to climb from Campione d'Italia to the Sighignola ridge, never finished: wrecked by construction errors, Swiss permissions and the bankruptcy of its builders, with one pylon standing on Swiss soil.
- Region
- Lombardy
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- abandoned (never opened)
- Reason for closure
- Technical errors in construction, difficulties obtaining authorisations from the Swiss government, and the bankruptcy of the undertaking. Work began in 1980 and the installation was never completed.
History
Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave inside Swiss territory on Lake Lugano, and in 1980 work began on a cable car to lift visitors from the lakeside at 273 m to the Sighignola ridge at about 1,300 m - the viewpoint known as the Balcone d'Italia, above the winter sports ground of Lanzo d'Intelvi. It was never completed. The Mountain Wilderness survey gives three causes together: technical errors in the construction, the authorisations required from the Swiss government, and the bankruptcy that followed. The geography explains the second of those - the line crosses the border, and one of its pylons stands on Swiss soil. When the site was surveyed in 2006-07 the cable car, its upper station and its lower station were all still there, the lower one by then converted into a nightclub, under mixed private ownership and the comuni of Lanzo d'Intelvi and Campione. This is recorded here as an access and panoramic installation in a winter sports area rather than a ski lift proper, and like the other never-opened entries in this dataset it has no opening or closing year to give. The coordinates mark the Sighignola summit at the top of the intended line.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Gondola | A funivia begun in 1980 and never finished, designed to climb from 273 m to about 1,300 m. One of its pylons stands on Swiss territory; the lower station later became a nightclub |
Sources and further reading
More in Italy
Location
45.9683, 8.9935