The focus of town is Piazza Grande, an attractive arcaded square just off the lakefront that is lined with pavement cafés and serves as the town's meeting point, social club and public catwalk. Warm summer nights serve up some great people-watching, as exquisitely groomed locals parade to and fro beneath the street lights neck high in nonchalance, all the cafés a-buzz and fragrant breezes bringing in the scent of flowers from the lakeside gardens. The palm-fringed lakefront promenade runs south from the east edge of the Piazza to the Bosco Isolino park,five minutes away, but most interest lies in the narrow streets of Locarno's Old Town, ranged on gently rising ground behind the piazza: spending an afternoon wandering through the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century alleys with an ice cream is the best way to blend in with Locarno life.

From the west end of Piazza Grande, lanes run up to Via Cittadella and the richly Baroque Chiesa Nuova , decorated with a huge statue of St Christopher outside. Its sumptuously stuccoed ceiling is crawling with detail, featuring gilded scallops and scrollwork, and hosts of fleshy cherubs. The tiny arcaded courtyard, reached through a side door, is a charming, tranquil spot entirely removed from the bustle of the alleys.