Why Is There A Tiny Bit Of Italy Inside Switzerland?

[@gregoryferraro7379]

One of my locql Italian restaurants has a connect the dots map of Italy on their children's menu. Whenever my daughter completes it, i always add dots for San Marino, Vatican City, and Campione d'Italia because I am an obnoxious pedant.

[@nicolanobili2113]

Wait a sec... Campione d'Italia is part of Italy, but San Marino and the Vatican Ciy are not, at least theoretically/legally

[@FlushGorgon]

@@nicolanobili2113 Indeed, the Italian village is part of Italy, and the 2 foreign enclaves are not. Hence the dots.

[@roadie3124]

No no no. You're not an obnoxious pedant. You just like to get things right, even if that does annoy some people who deserve to be annoyed. Just imagine that you were an engineer designing the latest passenger jet and you weren't fanatical about getting things right. Planes would fall from the skies and lots of people would die. That's not normally a good thing. 😉😉😁

[@Tom_Hadler]

You're not pedantic enough sir. Putting dots instead of rings is surely obnoxious though.

[@Evemeister12]

Do you also draw a little dot for the isle of lampedusa too? If not then your efforts are in vain.

[@jonathancook4022]

Well this video is not what I thought it was going to be about!!! Last year, a new 3-s cable car linking Italy to Switzerland by the Matterhorn and Plateau Rosa Glacier opened. The valley station is technically in Swiss territory, but is declared to be in Italy as the entrance door for pedestrians is on the border, the entrance for skiers on the floor below where it is definitely on Swiss ground, while the upper station is most definitely in Switzerland. The border change is therefore declared as the cable car leaves the valley station.

[@TheTimTraveller]

🧐 sounds like I may need to go back to the area...

[@jonathancook4022]

@@TheTimTraveller I’ll see if I can find you the forum thread about this - it’s in German, but it’s a good starting point if you wish to research it. I hope the information there is correct, but I’ve been following the construction of this lift for years now and it is certainly and interesting situation.

[@100dampf]

There is an other cable car with a border dispute around there. Errosion changed the water shed, wich defined the border. This resulted in the upper station of the cable car and the restaurant to change borders. They wanted to replace the restaurant, but couldn't as it was not clear if italy or Switzerland was responsible for the permits and had to wait multiple years until it was solved

[@georgobergfell]

As we are at the topic of cable cars and borders, there is a chair lift in Switzerland, that crosses not a real border, but a border between cantons and therefore a language border. It is the chairlift Chalberhöni - Les Gouilles. You enter the chair lift in the canton of Berne, which speaks german, at this place, but when you exit the lift you are in the canton of Vaud, wich speaks french. Pretty interesting, if you ask me 😅

[@TreasaLynch]

@@TheTimTravelleryou do. I did the trip last autumn. It is a lovely trip and the new cable cars are lovely.

[@CaptHollister]

While it is true that Campione can be translated to champion, like many words it also has a second meaning which is very apropos here: Campione also means "sample". So this town's name also means "Sample of Italy".

[@rolfs2165]

Considering it started as a Roman garrison, I'm wondering if Campione also shares etymological roots with camp/encampment. I had Latin in school, but it's been too long.

[@petertaylor4980]

​@@rolfs2165Although "camp" means "field" rather than garrison. Roman garrisons tended to be named "castro", as in the Spanish Castro-Urdiales or the many -Chesters in England.

[@MatthewMakesAU]

Just a taster then

[@snudge88]

Came here to say exactly the same thing. Darn you Captain Hollister!

[@thesteelrodent1796]

"It's just a demo"

[@bryana8357]

And casinos are usually such understated, tasteful retreats.

[@DaveWraptastic]

I mean the ones in Monaco look nice.

[@ge48421]

You could probably hear me snicker all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada, the capital of tastefully understated architecture. /s

[@Skawagon]

​@@ge48421 "Las Vegas, the capital of tastefully understated architecture???" Exclaimed the sheik of Dubai. "Hold my Karak!"

[@llewellynjones1115]

Nice

[@ironhell813]

There’s a very good reason casinos aren’t liked, and adherents will never make em out to be anything else

[@ajpbradley]

That casino is from what Bill Bryson described as the “F**k You!” School of architecture.

[@XMarkxyz]

Bottan honestly manages to fuck up pretty much everything

[@JohnnyAngel8]

It's sort of like Gambling Meets Brutalism.

[@jeanpaulfelix4095]

WEF world headquarters.

[@Spermwhales93]

Bill Bryson, the man who manages to be both an American national treasure and a British national treasure at the exact same time. You can't NOT love him.

[@Vinemaple]

It's an excellent example of why OSP Blue dislikes Brutalism.

[@emmiannon1266]

Using the little eifel tower in Vegas to represent france is such a funny detail

[@stephengraham1153]

There is a third in Tianducheng, China.

[@christ2381]

@@stephengraham1153 And in Tokyo and in Brasilia. There are Sonne videos of a geoguesser who always finds one of these.

[@eyeq1451]

Not just the Eifel tower, but the Venetian as well (06:01), and the picture of the Gondola at 6:17 has been cut out from the picture of the Venetian in Vegas as well (6:29). 😉

[@counterfit5]

I'm surprised Cesar's Palace didn't make an appearance

[@RobWVideo]

Fun fact: The builders wanted to build a full-sized Eiffel Tower in Vegas, but the local airport height restrictions limited them to half-sized.

[@RootoFrance]

Was that a sneaky little "We are the Campioni" at the end? Nice!

[@robertkirchner7981]

I caught the "Time Team" theme during the history bit.

[@telebubba5527]

"Campione!" used to be a very popular football/soccer yell here in the Netherlands. I think it was in the late 60-s/early 70s if I remember well. People were just yelling it in the streets with no real reason, just because it sounded good.

[@Vinemaple]

@@telebubba5527 Funny, this video made me wonder if Campione d'Italia inspired a lovely little short story about a tiny European country called Champiune, whose entire population is on the national football team, which gets flattened every year by the Liechtenstein, Nauru, and San Marino teams, in the tiny-country football league. I can't find that story with Google.

[@johanneswerner1140]

I think it was the "any way the wind blows" (Bohemian Rhapsody", but I might be mistaken...

[@davordoronjga6720]

@@johanneswerner1140 yes, at the tail end but most of the piano bit was WATC

[@fjell6543]

There's a little bit of Italy inside of me. I crashed a scooter in the 90's near Florence and there's still a bit of grit from the road in my leg.

[@razordrive3238]

Its all fun and games until Italy demands the return of its sovereign grit

[@bostonrailfan2427]

so if you were bleeding, does that mean you left a piece of you behind? 😉😎

[@ZGryphon]

@@bostonrailfan2427 "If I should crash my scooter, think only this of me: that there's some corner of a Florentine street that is forever @fjell6543."

[@bostonrailfan2427]

@@ZGryphon nice!

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Using the Venetian and Paris resorts in Las Vegas to represent Venice and France respectively in a video about a casino...well played. After Italian unification, besides the Swiss rejecting Campione's wish for annexation, Italy gave all land west of Lake Lugano and half of the lake to Switzerland so that Swiss trade and transport would not have to pass through Italy. During World War II, besides Mussolini building that ornamental arch and adding "d'Italia" that you mentioned, the US Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA) maintained a unit in Campione for operations in Italy as the Italian regime didn't have control over the enclave and the Swiss ignored it as long as the Americans kept a low profile! Here are two other interesting exclaves/enclaves: The Omani exclave of Madha inside the UAE, which surrounds the UAE counter-enclave of Nahwa! Nahwa's counter-enclave was formed as a result of Madha's decision to declare allegiance to Oman instead of Al Qawasim of Sharjah, Al Qawasim of Ras Al Khaimah, or Al Sharqi of Fujairah which today all form part of the United Arab Emirates. In the late 1930s or early 1940s the leaders of the four rival clans who ruled the Musandam Peninsula (Al Qassimi of Ras Al Khaimah, Al Qassimi of Sharjah, Al Sharqi of Fujairah, and the Bu Said of Oman) gathered a group of village elders of Madha and posed the question as to which sheikhdom the Madhanis would declare allegiance. While Madha chose Oman, Nahwa chose to stay loyal to Al Qawasim of Sharjah, effectively making them a counter enclave within the exclave of Madha! So while the whole Baarle-Hertog/Nassau situation is well known, it's not the only place where counter-enclaves are a thing! The India-Bangladesh border used to have a bunch of counter-enclaves too, but they resolved the enclaves and counter-enclaves in 2015, and since the exchange of territory took place, the only remaining enclave is Dahagram-Angarpota, an exclave of Bangladesh.

[@sarahprunierlaw9147]

great details!

[@boxalox]

The b roll of Vegas was brilliant. Thank you.

[@hotpastrami]

Not to be a pedant about your content but in my recollection from the 90s there were italian Carabinieri standing around the casino during working hours, they went back to Italy in the evenings. If anything actually happened like burgularies or traffic accidents, the Swiss police showed up. That was however fairly rare because Campione had the social structure of a small italian village. Half of the apartments there were empty because used as tax write-off investments by rich Milanese, others were inhabited by “frontalieri” who worked in Lugano and the rest were locals who all seemed to be related to each other.. My mom lived there for several years while working as a language teacher in Lugano and pretty quickly got to know everyone. I would play woth the children at the Lido beach in the far end when I came to visit in the summer. I remember life there being incredibly quaint. Thanks for taking me down memory lane ❤

[@ZGryphon]

From what I have read, that's about all the Carabinieri do _anywhere._ That and harass the Polizia di Stato. :)

[@FelixvonMontfort]

A cup of tea and a Tim Traveller Video. Saved my day.

[@walterclements7968]

love that you made your own cover of 'we are the champions' specifically for this video. One of the many reasons why your video's are such a joy to watch!

[@richtiff]

That, and the use of the TV series grand designs music whilst talking about a very not-so grand design! As you say, they really do make his videos even more joyous to watch!

[@AJGeeTV]

Great video, thanks! 🙂 I visited this place 30+ years ago on my first great European bicycle tour because I saw it in the Times Atlas and was curious. It was quite a backwater then, and in the post office I did pay Lira for stamps and stuck them in my journal, and they franked them. I did this in all countries I visited. Amazing how it has changed.

[@Vinemaple]

Gotta love finding stuff like this in an atlas and wondering about it for years.

[@ZGryphon]

@@Vinemaple I did that with the small French-Canadian village of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec, and when I finally got there, it was everything I'd hoped for.

[@atraindriver]

@@ZGryphon Worth going to just so you can say that you have visited one of the two places in the world which has a name including exclamation marks. The other is Westward Ho! in England, and now I find myself wondering if they've ever considered renaming themselves Westward! Ho! just so as not to be outdone in the number of exclamation marks they have.

[@philipfoster7269]

Love the Time Team background music during the history section.

[@TheTimmynatoRex]

Germany also has an enclave in Switzerland as well. It's called Büsingen am Hochrhein.

[@gymnasiast90]

Tim also made a video about that.

[@ZGryphon]

(And also that one bank that has all the Nazi gold.)

[@charliekahn4205]

​@@ZGryphontechnically that's Swiss gold now because the original owner defaulted

[@tielessin]

Can you guys please stop leaving territory all over Switzerland and just keep them to yourselves? smh

[@dliessmgg]

every time i see the locomotive toot in the intro i think "ah, this is the bit where he should have pulled the lever slower." don't know why my mind remembers this but it does

[@baskruitnl]

Same here

[@WaechterDerNacht]

Ypu're definitely not alone with that one.

[@peterpesch]

I think it is part of a video in which he explained that it should *not* be done slower ...

[@thesteelrodent1796]

you're supposed to pull and hold it for a bit. The speed isn't the important bit, it's a valve after all, but you need to give the steam time to flow through it

[@th60of]

That casino, unbelievable.

[@JohnnyAngel8]

I chuckled when he said the quote was by the builder, himself.😄

[@aarona.aaronson9621]

@@JohnnyAngel8 Absolutely! 😄Still I don't get it - from what I gather, they told him to make it big. Did they also tell him to make it an eyesore?

[@stephengraham1153]

A true monster casino.

[@XMarkxyz]

more like unberable

[@JohnnyAngel8]

@@aarona.aaronson9621 Well, casinos are built with few to no windows, making them unattractive structures. This design is to keep people gambling and unaware of the time of day. You'll not find clocks in casinos for the same reason.

[@ursulcx299]

Fun fact: the french came back pretty quickly and managed to beat the swiss so badly in 1515 that the swiss signed an eternal pact of friendship and it is also why swiss became neutral aside from sending some swiss guard to the pope and the french king...

[@Ezullof]

1515 Marignan used to be one of the main dates that french kids would learn at school

[@francoislescour7179]

By the way , this swiss guard of the french king was very unpopular at the eve of the french revolution (being foreigners and having a lot of privileges like not depending from french justice ). They defended the king but were butchered during a riot .

[@siamesevodka]

@@francoislescour7179 Isn't this particular massacre of France's Swiss Guards the reason for the commemorative Lion Monument just outside Lucerne?

[@francoislescour7179]

@@siamesevodka You are right , thank you , I had never heard of this monument . Those Swiss gards were heroic in their duty , but it is strange to see Switzerland commemorating people who gave their life for an other country !

[@siamesevodka]

@@francoislescour7179 Good point - maybe they were simply mourning their sons who had died. If you visit Lucerne, though, you should visit the Lion Monument as well as the beautiful old bridge on Lac Lucerne and the city's Cathedral.

[@cultofsingularity]

Wanted to go to this exact region on vacation this year, but money dried up after an unfortunate death in the family. At least I can see the region vicariously through one of my favourite content creators! Cheers Tim!

[@markdickson3820]

Thank you - I just love all these unique & interesting facts you find throughout Europe. I never knew this place existed and now, I can’t help but love it - the fact that it is stunningly beautiful doesn’t hurt too..

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Interesting facts about that Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower you showed, it consists of 5,000 tons of welded steel and is 540 feet or 164.5 meters tall, while the actual Eiffel Tower is 330 meters or 1,083 feet tall! It was initially meant to be a full-size replica but due to flight path concerns from the international airport, the tower had to be scaled down! Another interesting enclave/exclave is Marble Hill, a pene-exclave of the NYC borough of Manhattan. It's a part of Manhattan despite it being attached to the Bronx! Marble Hill was once Manhattan Island's northernmost tip but became an island in its own right in 1817, when two small streams were dug up to form a canal. The waterway ran from the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River, cutting off Marble Hill from Manhattan Island. The mill canal was expanded in 1895 to become the Harlem River Ship Canal. The new channel, constructed at the direction of the federal government, was 400 feet wide and at least 15 feet deep at its competition. Marble Hill remained an island for years until it was physically connected to the Bronx in 1913, when the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in. Two more are Sokh and Shohimardon districts, parts of Uzbekistan completely surrounded by Kyrgyzstan. Sokh was created in 1955. Local legend holds that the territory was lost by a Kyrgyz Communist Party official in a card game with his Uzbek counterpart. Others say it made sense to assign the area to Uzbekistan because the roads running along the Sokh river connected to Uzbekistan to the north rather than going through the rugged Kyrgyz territory to the east and west of the area in question. Chon-Qora (Qalacha) and Jani-Ayil are two other Uzbek exclaves in Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan also has exclaves in Kyrgyzstan, Vorukh and Kayragach (they have another in Uzbekistan called Sarvan), which led to border conflict, and these exclaves exist because of the Soviets. The Soviets aimed to create ethnically homogeneous republics, but many areas were ethnically mixed (like the Ferghana Valley), and they experienced difficulties in assigning an ethnic label to some peoples. In spite of this, regional elites strongly argued in favor of strict delineation, and was further complicated by a lack of expert knowledge and paucity of accurate or up-to-date ethnographic data on the region. They also aimed to create 'viable' entities, with economic, geographical, agricultural and infrastructural matters unrelated to (and sometimes trumping those of) ethnicity

[@sarahprunierlaw9147]

cool !

[@jimj4583]

And Marble Hill still has single-family houses!

[@isashax]

Wow, I love quirky stories like this. Thanks Tim!

[@HotelPapa100]

Speaking of weird borders between Switzerland and Italy: Lago di Lei (literally lake of the lake...) is worth investigating. A bit of Italy is carved out to put the dam inside Switzerland who operate the power station. But most of the reservoir lies in the Italian valley.

[@cheapercharlie]

Opening shot, amazing views

[@sarc9807]

This entire region , the southern alps of italy , is heaven on earth 😍 nice video btw 😁

[@eekee6034]

"Did I come all the way up here just for that one scene?" Your sacrifice is appreciated, Tim. The views were stunning!

[@malcolmabram2957]

Never heard of this enclave. Fascinating. Thank you so much Tim. However nothing will ever beat Baarle Hertog, where there are enclaves within enclaves

[@KhakiCap]

I can't believe Mr. Super Mario was the one behind building the biggest casino in Italy and all of Europe. I knew he was up to something.

[@andyjay729]

He apparently used Minecraft to draw the blueprints.

[@notactuallymyrealname]

I just noticed Campione d'Italia on a map the other day! Such a serendipitous Saturday surprise. Thanks Tim!

[@diegotorresgiovanettoni9015]

So cool to see you wandering in the places where I live, I hope you had fun here despite the heavy rainfalls we had lately

[@timsudmeier6482]

I love the carefully chosen pieces of music you use in these videos. It's such a small detail in the end product and one could have just used some standard same music for every video, but I really appreciate the way you do it. It always puts a smile on my face.

[@franz-peterkayser722]

4:52 hillarious 'no-Switzerland' flag. Brilliant!

[@user-zw6pn3ql7y]

I think it's most interesting what you can do with a bit of Italy inside Switzerland - not only simply a Casino but during WWII it was a perfect spot for "pirate" radio stations broadcasting towards Italy. The Swiss could wash their hands in innocence since "that's Italy" but the Italians couldn't do much about it because they couldn't actually physically get there to to shut down the radio stations because it's surrounded by Switzerland...(or so I remember having read about it). Yes, tax haven as well, since the Casino pays the bills.

[@mokisan]

How is it a tax heaven ? Sorry I am too dumb to understand it

[@user-zw6pn3ql7y]

@@mokisan if a small municipality has a tax payer that pays a lot of local taxes (say a casino, or an atomic power plant or something like that) that municipality doesn't need to tax its residents as much as other municipalities in order to provide municipal services. Also that there IS a casino in Campione d'Italia but not really anywhere else in the vicinity might indicate that the local laws differ slightly from the rest of Italy implying that there might be other aspects of the (tax) law that might add to the tax haven status. Campione is famous for having rich residents, which might not only be because of the fantastic lake views ;)

[@Izib954]

Funfact: While the straight line distance from Campione to the rest of Italy is only ~720 m on a 2D plane, because the Italian border is on the top the mountain above the 3D distance is actually around ~1000 m due to the elevation change. If you were insane enough to try and walk the shortest direct path.

[@skimmenthal]

I came from Italy but I’m learning a lot of interesting things in this channel about Italy! Thanks! Ciao 😊

[@davekirwin]

Another fascinating geographic oddity. Love the animated history lesson, replete with SFX and nice musical touches. Bravo Tim!

[@Daijyobanai]

Another super video. Tim never fails to deliver!

[@aesculetum]

I loved the choice of music. Thank you for another highly enjoyable video!

[@WuhanMan2013]

One of my Swiss German friends described Ticino as “Italy but with order”. I thought the statement was a joke until I visited. So true!

[@snudge88]

Very nice segue from We Are The Champions into Bohemian Rhapsody at the end there. Very smooth!

[@gmora2010]

Love how you use “we are the champions” at the end. Clever

[@TalesOfWar]

That casino reminds me of the MI6 building in Vauxhall in London.

[@MrMaxemme]

It’s much worse.

[@Daijyobanai]

Maybe it was inspired by that building, given that Tim says the original was created to obtain intelligence during WWI ! That would be an interesting detail if it were true.

[@charliekahn4205]

You'd think MI6 would drive at least a Skoda, but I guess they're patriotic

[@sarowie]

@@charliekahn4205 Vauxhall is Groupe PSA and the vehicles are rebranded opels. Oh, I see: Vauxhall is the house of windsor of cars.

[@charliekahn4205]

@@sarowie maybe they'll upgrade to Morris JEs

[@indoora]

I love Queen, thanks for playing them.

[@IOSARBX]

The Tim Traveller, This video is fantastic! I liked it a lot!

[@Hermann_Victor_Echo]

As my computer eventually seems to know best what not to miss on youtube, it finally decided to present me with your Campione d'Italia clip. Wow! Grüezi-wohl und grazie mille! It made me binge on your channel! You combine the highly entertaining skills of excellent narration, knowledge of many languages, pronunciations, historical and cultural backgrounds and a deep love of travel experiences! Finally, there is your clever use of musical accompaniments and puns! Bravo! Although living retired in the South Australian Adelaide Hills, my youth in the Netherlands and once upon a time extensive travels through Europe still allow me to appreciate the many aspects of your presentations and the humour behind them! Yes, I did climb mount Urk and de Vaalserberg. I once walked along the Canal du Midi and melted in Death Valley. Now, you re-invite me to armchair traveling at its best! Continuons!

[@onlythehutch6559]

Tim loved the grand designs music as you talked about the casino architecture

[@G_Alamia]

By the way Campione translates not only as “champion” but also as “sample” for example a “statistical sample” is called “campione statistico”, the little vials of perfume that are sometimes offered as free samples are sometimes called “campioncini” (little samples)

[@mattjwayad9639]

Photos of Paris and The Venetian in Las Vegas were a funny Easter egg. Also, We Are the Champions by Queen at the end, fitting. Well done.

[@tonyb8066]

Always entertaining, Mr. Traveller.

[@NickCBax]

Love the Unsolved Mysteries theme music. Brings me back to my childhood.

[@ArchiePieplow]

I was in Campione in the mid-1980s and the old casino was much easier on the eyes. Fun video, Tim... well done!

[@nearly-blindbrian8372]

this is one of my favors places on earth.. the beauty of the Italian Lakes with the cleanliness and organization of Switzerland.. There s a great little museum that you can reach via Swiss Post/ Boart that talks about border security.. Truly a wonderful place..

[@Hannah_Em]

When I realised the background music was the Time Team theme at 5:20 I was _so_ thrilled, I love TT! Their new episodes on KZbin have been so cool to see

[@Martijnvdputten]

I just visited Campione two weeks ago. We could almost have met, that would have been very funny. Great video as always!

[@OlafOpossum]

By far my favourite Channel for Strange travel destinations

[@hugolafhugolaf]

Using an image of Vegas’ Venetian for the was on Venice won you a subscriber. Priceless

[@lizhutchinson6978]

Fun mix of travel and history. Love the We Are the Champions at the end

[@adityapradeep4020]

Was always curious about this ever since I visited Lugano a few years ago. Never bothered to do the research! Thanks Tim :)

[@leiflundgren]

Thanks. I was looking for something to bring my mood up. Like "Maybe Tim has a new episode", ... And that he had!

[@LoveStallion]

You are my spirit animal, Tim. I looked this one up once on Wikipedia after meandering around Google Maps and finding this curious enclave, but didn't remember any of the details.

[@poutramos4826]

Brilliant video. I went there in about 2014, got the train to Lugano from Milan. A fairly ordinary Italian train on the way there and a modern tilty Swiss train going back. Lovely region to visit. Also went on the funicular from the lake to Lugano station.

[@MrGreatplum]

This is brilliant, Tim. I love Switzerland but have never been to the Italian speaking bit or the Italian bit in Switzerland - I’m going to have to visit!

[@Giles4200]

Sir, you are painfully funny. I love the interesting and informative videos you make, but holy hell you really catch me off guard with some truly genius punch lines. Cheers Tim!

[@headforthehillsuk]

This answered the inevitable question that I had about Campione D'Italia since learning about it in the Travelling Turtle video St Pancras to Bova Marina.

[@paulthiel5145]

Traveling turtle is a legend as well.

[@j2ster891219]

tim, your videos are always such a joy to watch. i live on the other side of the planet, but i can't wait to visit europe one day and maybe check out one of these places :D

[@gardengeek3041]

No hesitation in subscribing. A little history, geography, good cinematography & editing, plus a few corny jokes; all fits my brain just fine.

[@BeanoMark]

Thank you for another superb video, Tim.👍

[@ReneSchickbauer]

Tim, next time you are in Austria, visit the Zwentendorf. Back in the 70's, politicians decided to spend a huge amount of money and build a nuclear reactor there. And then, only after completing it, they asked the public in a referendum if it should be turned on. And as you can probably guess, the answer was "no", which is why Austria ended up with the worlds only nuclear reactor you can rent for shooting films or hosting a rave party. (As a side note, Zwentendorf power plant now actually produces a small amount of electricity, after the new owners decided to put in a solar installation).

[@michaelcolin9887]

This is your best one yet from a production values POV. Well done.

[@snowboarderdude123]

We have a similar thing in Minnesota. Just a little chunk of the state on the Canadian side of a giant lake. I think everyone got stuck for a bit at the start of Covid lockdowns.

[@ThatCoalSoul]

Loved the Grand Designs music in t' background whilst the casino's looks were being discussed.

[@timtranslates]

I assume you've noticed Swissminiatur just round the corner. Looking forward to the next video, especially the enclave within Swissminiatur!

[@timtranslates]

Oh. I should have watched the video to the end before commenting!

[@KelGhu]

Finally, something about this oddity! Always wondered!

[@folcobanfi4370]

Great video. Campione in italian can also mean "sample", but I have no idea whether this is related to how the village is named.

[@AlexTube2006]

Thanks for the video and the historic details. Really good

[@Locosuisse]

Thanks ! If you are a border nerd, there is the Swiss Customs Museum just a couple of kilometers away (accessible by boat or by hiking). Nice to see you came back to Switzerland. I was yesterday searching the border marks on L'Arbézie 😅

[@andrewrobinson2565]

Hooray. More Tim Traveller. ❤🎉 Tuning fork in front of the casino 😮.

[@michaelXXLF]

On the northern edge of Switzerland there's also a one-village German enclave/exclave, Büsingen.

[@CallMeGeppetto]

I've been looking for a video about that place for some time and have finally found it. Thank you! :)

[@nicolanobili2113]

You mentioned that casinos are "banned" in Italy. Not really. There are 4 casinos in Italy, they are just very strictly regulated and all of them are state-run. In other words, a private individual or corporation cannot establish a new casino and the state controls them all, but nothing prohibits the state from setting up some more casinos, should it decide to do so (hopefully not)

[@94leandro]

Is this a European thing? Portugal is the same...

[@ronik24]

Great! 🙂 4:45 nice Time Team reference! 🙂 The Las Vegas photos were especially funny ;-)

[@detleflaub6706]

I will be hiking over the Gotthard this summer and my tour will end in Lugano. I have also been to Campione before. So this video was just what I needed to prepare for my trip. Thank you ever so much for this jolly good explanation.

[@myrrito]

Been there. Done that. I found the village a bit boring years ago but the nature around is fantastic. Also I'd recommend visiting the nearby Balcone d'Italia which offers an amazing view of Lugano city, lake Lugano and of some of the highest peaks of the Alps

[@francistaylor5097]

Brilliant as ever, Tim. Thanks

[@aspen9102]

Lmao, my moms dream for a long time is to live there so she can live in switzerland without the hassle to figure out the papers to actually live in switzerland (shes italian)

[@jarrettreckseidler]

A lovely addition to the quirky collection…great stuff

[@Ben-sh1dl]

Brilliant use of that piano piece in the outro, truly a champion :)

[@nataliab5669]

Love these border videos! Look up Baarle-Hertog….that would be the perfect Tim Traveler video

[@Gerryjournal]

The 'original' casino was replaced, probably, in the 60s. The one there now is a replacement of that one

[@TheTimTraveller]

Ah interesting - I hadn't picked up that there was another building between the original one and the current one. None of the sources I found mentioned this. Thanks for the correction!

[@Football__Junkie]

Had a girl from there in my German class when I was studying abroad. She’s was from Switzerland, spoke Italian first, spoke some French second, and was trying to learn German

[@TheUglyPrimadonna]

Malcantone in Ticino, Lugano in particular, is one of my fave places in the world, it’s just so beautiful there. My grandparents lived there, so I came here often. Swissminiatur is such a pear too.

[@testman9541]

Fun fact Tim, Campione has a Swiss prefix for telephone lines 🎉 And until 2020, it was also excluded from the EU common taxes area.... Thank you for the video 👍

[@sigriddjernaes]

Interesting video. Would have loved to know more about why some things are Swiss and some things Italian 😊

[@TheTimTraveller]

Long story short: almost all services (rubbish collection, mail delivery, public transport, ambulances & fire engines) are provided by Switzerland, simply because the vehicles can get there much quicker! However, the police are Italian, because it's Italian territory, and they need to apply Italian law.

[@sigriddjernaes]

@@TheTimTraveller Thank you for clarifying! Love your videos 😊

[@barnstormer322]

This is an appreciation post for the Grand Designs cover playing while you're talking about the casino's architecture

[@RobSchofield]

The background music choices to these videos are superb, and always manage to put a smile on my face 😀 As ever, a superb video.

[@Nokkiwow]

Love your videos so much! It's always fascinating learning the crazy histories these places have!

[@Gerryjournal]

In my new book From the Top. My story about an Australian travelling cabaret show which ran for 33 years I talk about our first time at the Casino of Campione in 1971 and how, except for the expansion of the Casino, nothing had changed in more than 30 years. Whst a strange little place. We always loved it. T L W Robb

[@LostsTVandRadio]

Brilliant! I love these quirky geographical borders whose origins go back beyond the middle ages. The people of Campione d'Italia lived, until very recently, outside of the EU Customs zone and were very happy with this informal arrangement. The powers that be in the EU weren't so happy about it though and so the town was forced to leave the Swiss customs zone in 2020 against the wishes of the residents. It will be interesting to see what border arrangements are put in place, if any.

[@urbanfile3861]

There are no border controls and never have been. The 'true' border is at Como-Chiasso

[@LostsTVandRadio]

@@urbanfile3861 Ahhh, thank you!

[@timbrust9739]

Top notch sound editing again, very subtle :)