Italy 2008 Campione d'Italia (24 images)

Campione d'Italia is an Italian town and commune in Lombardy, occupying an enclave within the Swiss canton of Ticino, separated from the rest of Italy by Lake Lugano and mountains. The enclave is less than 1 kilometre as the crow flies from the rest of Italy, but the hilly terrain means the journey by road is over 10 kilometres. Its status came about when Ticino chose to become part of the Swiss Confederation in 1798, and Campione's people chose to remain part of Lombardy, which subsequently...
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Campione d'Italia is an Italian town and commune in Lombardy, occupying an enclave within the Swiss canton of Ticino, separated from the rest of Italy by Lake Lugano and mountains. The enclave is less than 1 kilometre as the crow flies from the rest of Italy, but the hilly terrain means the journey by road is over 10 kilometres. Its status came about when Ticino chose to become part of the Swiss Confederation in 1798, and Campione's people chose to remain part of Lombardy, which subsequently became part of Italy in 1859. The d'Italia was added to the appellation under Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, who was keen to showcase Campione to its neighbours. Campione has a considerable amount of economic and administrative integration with Switzerland. The city uses the Swiss franc (the euro is also accepted), and before the opening of borders between EU countries, it benefited from special customs arrangements that allowed Italian citizens to cross Swiss territory. Presently, car plates are not Italian, but Swiss; similarly, the telephone system is almost entirely operated by Swisscom, meaning that calls from Italy (with very few exceptions such as calling the city hall) require the international dialing code for Switzerland and the Ticino area code: 00 41 91. Mail may be sent using either a Swiss postal code or an Italian one using Switzerland or Italy as destination country respectively. During World War II, the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) the predecessor of the CIA, maintained a unit in Campione and used it for operations into Italy. At the time the pro-Nazi Italian regime didn't have control over the enclave.The Swiss turned a blind eye to the situation as long as the Americans kept a low profile. Like Livigno, it is exempt from the EU VAT. Campione takes advantage of its status by operating a famous casino, the Casinò di Campione, as gambling laws are less strict than in both Italy and Switzerland (also a legacy of the pre-World War II era).
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