Lugano, Switzerland - The southern Swiss city of Lugano, on the shores of Lake Lugano in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, blends grandezza and la dolce vita with Swiss precision. In spring, snow-capped Alpine peaks and Mediterranean palms are mirrored side by side in the lake. So, too, do the city's languages, cultures and mentalities merge in a way that is truly unique.

"Signora" Lugano is, in short, a study in contrasts: modern and narrow-minded, industrious and indolent, effervescent and drowsy, and, despite some architectural eyesores, still beautiful.

The city's Mediterranean climate, lakeside location between the peaks of Monte Bre and Monte San Salvatore, and Italian flair coupled with Swiss order and tidiness make it a magnet for visitors, especially from the north side of the Alps. Despite Lugano's business efficiency, life there seems easier, cheerier and more colourful than in northern Switzerland.

On Via Nassa, the main shopping street in Lugano's "centro storico" or historic centre, fashion designers' and jewellers' pricey boutiques are lined up like pearls on a string. Some pieces of jewellery and watches in the displays cost hundreds of thousands of euros.

The items find buyers. Lugano is a wealthy city - the beneficiary of decades of flourishing tourism and Switzerland's third most important financial centre. Wealthy Italians, mainly, stash their millions in the city's banks.

A Ferrari or Maserati is nothing special, hardly drawing a glance in front of the five-star Grand Hotel Villa Castagnola. At the foot of Monte Bre facing Monte San Salvatore, the venerable establishment seems to have sprung from a story by German writer Hermann Hesse, who lived in Ticino near Lugano.

The hotel, with many historic salons and a luxuriant palm garden, was once the summer residence of a noble Russian family. Today it is a meeting place for Lugano's high society.

You can also come across the city's well-to-do in the gourmet lakeside restaurants and posh piano clubs. After supper, they as well as people of more modest means, stroll through the lakeshore Parco Civico, a municipal park featuring illuminated water fountains and old-fashioned pedal boats, to the plaza that is Lugano's "salotto," or parlour.

"The Piazza della Riforma is our living room," remarked Gianfranco, a waiter.

There, in front of the Renaissance facade of the town hall and its meticulously-tended geranium beds, people get together in a cafe over an espresso or aperetivo in the afternoon, and over a glass of Ticino's own red Merlot in the evening. The locals discuss games played by their beloved ice-hockey club, seven-time Swiss champion HC Lugano, while tourists make plans for the next day.

Funicular rides up Monte Bre and Monte San Salvatore are popular, as are lake cruises on the old-fashioned boats of the Societa Navigazione del Lago di Lugano or Lake Lugano Navigation Company.

You can sail from the main landing place to the picturesque Ticino village of Morcote, which clings to the slopes of Monte Arbostora. Even on hot days, the rather strenuous climb to the church of Santa Maria del Sasso is worthwhile.

Other rewarding destinations are the former fishing village of Gandria; the casino in the town of Campione d'Italia, on the Italian side of the lake; and the markets in Porlezza and Ponte Tresa.

Internet: www. myswitzerland. com, www. lugano-tourism. ch. (dpa)