Locarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore (Lago Maggiore) in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000 (60,000 for the urban area including Ascona). The official language of Locarno is Italian. It is the 74th biggest city in Switzerland by population and the 3rd biggest of the canton Ticino, after Lugano and Bellinzona.
The Locarno International Film Festival takes place every year in August in the Piazza Grande.
The Locarno Treaties were negotiated here in 1925.
In January 2004, the Italian historian Marino Vigano speculated that Locarno's castle may have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci
