Exclaves can be very strange. Perhaps the weirdest example of a mish-mash of enclaves and exclaves is the dual towns of Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog of The Netherlands and Belgium. Another notable exclave in Europe is Campione d'Italia. Campione d'Italia is a piece of Italy inside of Switzerland.
The exclave is tiny and yet one of those interesting oddities from history that are worth visiting. Another unique and interesting northern region in the Italian Alps to visit is South Tyrol - a German-speaking region of Italy that was once part of Austria. South Tyrol and Campione d'Italia are just a couple of the great places visitors can explore in the Italian Alps.
Campione d'Italia is part of the Province of Como in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. It is surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino. While most of Switzerland is German-speaking or French-speaking, Ticino is the canton of Switzerland that is Italian speaking (around 8% of Switzerland speaks Italian).
Campione d'Italia is only around 1 kilometer or 0.6 miles from the main part of Italy as the crow flies. But there are mountain ranges there, and so the road from Italy through Switzerland to the exclave is over 14 kilometers or 9 miles (and 28 kilometers or 17 miles to reach the main town of Como). The exclave is only a few hundred meters wide and a couple of kilometers long.
The Como is idyllically set overlooking Lake Lugano and is a small settlement with only around 2,000 residents living there. The most notable landmark in the tiny exclave is Casino d'Campione which is the oldest and largest casino in Europe.
Related: Must-Know Tips For Visiting Switzerland For The First Time
The exclave is an ancient one. Campione was first founded by the Romans in the first century BC as a garrison town called Campilonum. But its special status came in medieval times.
The status goes back long before the establishment of Italy in the 1800s - it dates all the way back to the Middle Ages. The local Lombard lord decided to leave his inheritance to the archbishopric of Milan. Most of the surrounding land was transferred to Switzerland in 1512 by the Pope - except for the abbey and its lands that are now the exclave of Campione d'Italia.
It became the possession of the archbishop of Milan in the year 777. Over time, it was famous for its skilled artists and masons. At one point, Campione was transferred to Switzerland during the late 18th century. The land was given to Switzerland so that Swiss trade transport could be moved without crossing over the Italian territory.
But Campione remain a Papal state and, as such eventually became part of Italy when Italy unified in 1861 (today only the Vatican City remains Papal land and is now the smallest country in the world).
Another strange set of borders to discover in Italy is San Marino. San Marino is another enclave micro-country completely surrounded by Italy dating back to the late Roman period.
Related: Supposedly, The Tomb Of St. Peter Is In A Necropolis Underneath the Vatican (And You Can Visit)
Campione d'Italia has enjoyed a special status during its history. During World War Two, Italy was an Axis power, but Switzerland was neutral. Campione played a strange role during the war with captivating stories of intrigue and espionage as Italy did not have control over the exclave at that time. The US Office of Strategic Services even operated there during the war (it was the precursor to the CIA).
For a long time, the main economy of Campione has been its casino, called Casino di Campione. The casino was first opened in 1917.
The main economy there is the massive casino, and the casino was forced into bankruptcy in 2018. A couple of years later, the advent of Covid-19 greatly impacted the exclave. It devastated the local economy and forced the exclave to rejoin the Italian economy and the EU in 2020 (it was previously joined to the Swiss economy as part of the Swiss customs territory - and Switzerland is not in the EU).
Casino di Campione Opening Hours:
Casino di Campione reopened in 2022 and is once again open to visitors. It is the main attraction of the place and is worth visiting (it is certainly impossible to miss while in Como). Learn more about visiting the famous casino on its official website.