Finding a berth in Ticino today is a lot. Ports are not lacking on our lakes, but supply is significantly lower than demand. Only in Brissago there are about fifty people, including residents and tourists, on the waiting list. A phenomenon that affects all Swiss lakes a bit, because in recent years the private navigation market has significantly increased, with a surge in the period of the pandemic.

La Resiga port is considered to be relatively large, with over 160 berths, to which are added 6 temporary berths for ‘passers’. But, as mentioned, to meet the demands would take many more. From here, the question: Is it conceivable to expand Brissago’s port capacity, also considering the important tourist value – and this is generally high-level tourism – that ports have?

In this case, between saying and doing there is not the sea but the lake. The municipality of Ivo Storelli, which is responsible, inter alia, for the Dicastery of Municipal Ports, is the first to wish to be able to answer yes. But...

“First – he explains – we need to understand where a new infrastructure could be built, given that we no longer have space at Resiga. There is a possibility of creating a port with about thirty berths in front of the Dannemann Centre, but we do not yet know what the fate of that area will be. Therefore, it remains a hypothesis. In any case, a port also requires parking spaces, access for carts carrying boats and other infrastructure for users. Not only: we have a fast sinking lake shore, which poses a problem for the anchorage of the piers. It is clear that, for all these reasons, even if we had a concrete logistical solution, the costs would be huge.”

According to architect Ivano Bondietti, who is responsible for the private construction sector at the municipal technical office, the master plan provides for an area for the expansion of port facilities. "But the obstacles are logistical and financial - he adds -. The investment made by the municipality in the last 7/8 years at the La Resiga port amounts to around CHF 800 000 for the main works, including the replacement of the piers and the ‘finger’, i.e. the access walkways, ruined by extraordinary weather events that have hit Ticino for some years now. Substitution and modernisation work is still ongoing...”.

A port also costs maintenance and you have to avoid taking the longest step of the leg. Ivo Storelli again: “Now we need to slow down investment for a moment: we have replaced the two docks damaged by the wind, we have built the new port building, we will have to redo the dock where the Gandria is moored, which is old, so we must proceed step by step. The port is already 31 years old and maintenance costs as well.”

It is true that, in addition to costs, there are also revenues: There are five price categories, depending on the size of the vessel and the position of the berth, ranging from CHF 1 000 to CHF 7 000 per year for larger vessels. While in the Old Port the annual rates are lower: between 400 and 500 francs. But those who think that ports are for the municipalities of golden-egged hens are mistaken.

On the Old Port it is impossible to intervene with extensions, adds Storelli: “The wall is built on stilts and no one trusts to touch it. If the lake remains at a ‘normal’ level, it can accommodate some small boats, theoretically having 16 berths, but if the level falls too low, they must be moved, with the related logistical problems”.

The Old Port is part of the history of the village and is a structure of indisputable value for the entire community, also from an architectural point of view, concludes Bondietti: ‘Its structure on poles makes it both unique and very delicate. In any case, measures aimed at safeguarding it are not excluded in the future”.

In conclusion, a look at the management organisation of municipal ports: on an administrative level, Mr Bondietti has the role of director – responsible for projects relating to the maintenance and construction of new works, in collaboration with the City Hall – and Mr Davide Perazzi as secretary; while Geo Gallotti deals with accounting; the operational part is instead entrusted to Simone Gambetta who, as manager, is responsible for the regular technical control of the port facilities and the execution of the general maintenance works relating to the building.