Second homes: who declares their stay and who just shows up

Half full or half empty. It depends on the point of view. It is a fact that the appeals to the four winds over the last few days to forego the Easter holidays in Ticino have only been heard in part. This is testified by the announcements that have been forwarded to the various municipal chancelleries of the canton (to report the use of second homes) in relation to the number of holiday homes in the various municipal areas and to the impressions of the local authorities. Let’s be clear, declaring yourself is mandatory, but it is not necessarily the case that all those who decide to come to their holiday homes do so. It is also clear that it is not only the faithful lovers of our lakes and mountains who have a second home south of the Alps, but also many from Ticino. So, we don’t want to point the finger at anyone, but try to capture a situation. To do so, we asked the administrations of some of the Ticino municipalities with a higher number of holiday homes if they have received many declarations.

Ascona, lakefront closed?

In Ascona - where, according to data on the federal government’s website, 53,1% of the approximately 5.600 homes are second homes - until yesterday 22 declarations had been submitted for as many holiday homes. “The impression,“ the administration points out, however, “is that there are a few more tourists around.” Also, for this reason the mayor said he was ready to close the square and the lakefront. On the other hand, there are 63 - according to data produced yesterday - second homes currently “open” in Gambarogno, for a total of 117 people. In the town there are about 6.600 existing houses and 64,1% are second homes.

Less and less water in Brusino

We move south to photograph the situation on Lake Lugano. In Brusino, explains the secretary, there were only 3 declarations submitted to the municipality “all for last week.” That the second houses in Brusino, many of which are owned by Swiss, are more used than what has been officially communicated, however: more than an impression: “We can see that they are occupied both by the fact that they are open, by people around, and by the use of drinking water, for example. Here when the holiday homes are full the population doubles and water use also increases. Our basin is not yet at warning level, but reserves are decreasing. Tomorrow (today, ed.) we will send a circular letter to everyone asking for a sparing use of water and inviting not to fill swimming pools.” According to federal data, 55% of the 511 houses in Brusino are second homes.

Same lake, but other shores. In Lugano, which has 2.618 second homes, 13,7% of the total, the City wrote two letters. One was delivered to the holiday home and one to the main residence of the owners, the vast majority of whom are Swiss. In the first, the authority recalled the obligation to declare, in the second, it invited those directly concerned to stay at home. And there were 118 declarations after the first message and another 63 after the second, a sign that many had already arrived. Also, in this case, the proportion between presence declarations (181) and the number of second homes (2.618, so about 7%) is puzzling about the actual number of holidaymakers locally, but the municipal authority cannot do more than that: “It would be impossible for us to carry out checks on all the second homes,“ explains the commander of the Municipal Police, Roberto Torrente, “We trust them.”

Northern appeal

However, it doesn’t seem to be just the Swiss who have decided to spend a few days in the second homes. Various cottages in the mountain resorts are in fact open, and many of them have owners from Ticino. “A total of 300 people have declared themselves so far, some have already left but there are still 270,“ they explained in Faido. “We are aware that there are also those who don’t declare themselves, especially those from German-speaking Switzerland who tend to know less about the obligation.” In Faido there are 3.836 houses, 64,5% of which are second homes.

In Blenio (where there are 2.422 houses, 65,7% of which are second homes) the number of people who have declared themselves is close to 450: “To date (yesterday, ed.) 152 households have been declared, with an average of about 3 people per household this means 450 people. They are mainly Ticino owners of a holiday home who stay for 3 to 5 days during the Easter period,“ the Municipality explains.

In Serravalle, on the other hand, many declarations - about fifty - were made immediately after the introduction of the obligation to report the use of holiday homes. “A good part of these people should have already left, the Municipality emphasizes, “even if you notice the Swiss plates that are around, the impression is that more than one cottage is open and we imagine that during the weekend also many Ticino people will spend some days in their second homes.”