The name Morcote stems from the combination of two Latin terms, Mora, which stands for “rocky terrain,” and kaput, “head” or “end”—its original name Morae Caput referring to the village’s location at the “tip of the crag/rocky slopes.” The first written documents to mention Morcote’s inhabitants date from the year 926 A.D., but according to Papal records, the family of Aniceto, the Pope from 157–168, came from Vico Morcote, an even tinier village about a kilometer above Morcote and a matter still debated among historicists.
Whatever Morcote‘s true temporal beginnings, what remains uncontested is its subsequent role as a major center of commerce and trade and the Lake of Lugano‘s biggest port, a status it maintained until a dam was built in the nearby town of Melide in 1847. The village also experienced—and survived—the various struggles for power and changes of regime so typical of the Ticino region. Thus, receiving a special set of statutes from the Duchy of Milan, a privilege that allowed it to enjoy many of the rights characteristic of a democratic republic, with a small parliamentary body determining most of its governmental and judicial positions and appointees. Throughout the Medieval age, Morcote was subject to Visconti, Sforza, Rusca, Sanseverino, then Spanish, French, Austrian and finally Swiss magistrate rule. A plague outbreak in 1432 wiped out all but seven families of the village‘s population, perhaps the darkest moment in Morcote‘s history. But the year following the catastrophe also marked the beginning of a period that produced some of the town‘s most prominent figures, a list of architects, engineers, sculptors, doctors, scientists and men of letters who would go on to make great contributions to Western civilazation, including the famous architect Giuseppe Fossati.
Today, one can find much remain of Morcote‘s history in an array of churches and historical edifices, the most famous of which include the Renaissance-Baroque church of Santa Maria del Sasso, originally built between 1470 and 1478, and the Tower of the Captain, built in 1249. All in all, you don‘t really have to do anything to enjoy Morcote. Ticinese cuisine is exquisite and there are a number of restaurants that serve excellent traditional dishes such as risotto and polenta, all washed down with the region‘s vinicultural speciality, Merlot. With its photogenic arcaded Patrician homes strung along the shoreline road, it is a great place for just plain strolling around, but it is also a great place for walking and hiking. A web of tranquil, stepped lanes lead up its steep hills to the beautiful Chiesa di Santa Maria del Sasso, a church featuring well-preserved 16th-century frescoes inside, and boasts views from its terrace over the lake and hills beyond that are stunning. Several other walks will take you to the nearby woodlands, including a long trail back up to San Salvatore.
Morcote’s reputation as a tourist destination has grown rapidly and if it was once a well-kept secret, it certainly isn’t anymore. The hillside town of Vico Morcote is a good, if hard-to-reach, alternative, with tiny piazzas lined with old stone-built houses, carnelias and fountains which are every bit as beautiful as those in Morcote, but with fewer visitors. Either way, this lakeside gem truly lives up to its name: the “Pearl of Ceresio.”


Aus den Buch „Morcote Die Perle des Luganersees“ von Adriano Antonini – Carlo Meazza, Macchione editore.