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The river Ticino ( , ; ; French language and ; ) is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.
It is one of the four major rivers taking their source in the Gotthard Massif region, along with the Rhône, Reuss and Rhine.John Murray, A Handbook for Travellers in Switzerland, and the Alps of Savoy and Piedmont, Outlook, 2002 ISBN 3752586109 pp 119
The river rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland at the frontier between the cantons of Valais and Ticino right below the Nufenen Pass, is fed by the glaciers of the Alps and later flows through Lake Maggiore, which traverses the border to Italy. The Ticino joins the Po a few kilometres downstream (along the Ticino) from Pavia. (2025). 9780080551425, Elsevier Science. ISBN 9780080551425 It is about long. The stretch of river between Lake Maggiore and the confluence in the Po is included in the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino, a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
Before the Ticino passes west of the canton's capital, Bellinzona, the river converges with its second larger left tributary, the Moesa, originating below the Passo del San Bernardino and flowing through the Valle Mesolcina. The Valle Mesolcina (and the Val Calanca) belongs geographically and culturally to the Ticino, but politically it is part of the canton of the Grisons. This part of the river valley between Biasca and Bellinzona is called the Riviera. The river is after Bellinzona. Now the Ticino turns almost westwards and flows through the perfectly flat Piano di Magadino, an important cultivation and nature reserve area the river generated itself by its own sediments over ten thousands of years, before it enters the Lake Maggiore at the lowest point of Switzerland at .
Only about the first sixth of the lake lies in Switzerland. Four major tributaries join the Ticino in Lago Maggiore. The Verzasca and the Maggia enter the lake in Switzerland in Tenero and in Locarno/Ascona, respectively. The Tresa drains the Lake Lugano and flows in Luino into Lago Maggiore. The Toce drains many valleys to the northwest of Lago Maggiore and joins the lake near Feriolo. It surpasses the Ticino in average discharge volume and contains the highest peak of the catchment area of the Ticino river system, the Grenzgipfel () in the Monte Rosa massif.
In Sesto Calende the river, now called Fiume Ticino, exits Lake Maggiore and meanders southwards, passing the Milano-Malpensa Airport in the east. Now slowly turning to the southeast, the river circumvents Milano at a distance of about in the east. Shortly before it converges with the Po in the south of Milano, it passes Pavia on its northern shore.
In the Middle Ages Pavia (first capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards and then of the kingdom of Italy) was, thanks to the waters of the Ticino, a fundamental hub for communications and trade between Venice and the Po Valley. Furthermore, still in Pavia, there was the only brick bridge (ponte Coperto) which until the 19th century crossed the Ticino from Lake Maggiore to the Po.
A wooden bridge was built by the Visconti in Vigevano in the early fourteenth century, but it was set on fire by the Pavia fleet in 1315, rebuilt by Luchino Visconti, it was destroyed again by the Pavia in 1356 and never rebuilt.
The Ticino was in the territory of the Duchy of Milan during much of the later medieval and early modern period, although its upper portion as far as Bellinzona in 1500 and as far as the shores of Lago Maggiore in 1513, fell to the Old Swiss Confederacy as a result of the Swiss campaigns in the Italian Wars.
The Ticino originates on both sides, north and south, of the Nufenenstock: A smaller tributary originates from a small mountain lake south of the Nufenenstock and north of the Piccolo Corno Gries () below the Passo del Corno at in the short valley of the same name. Until the beginning of the 20th century the Valaisinne Gries Glacier was still flowing over the Corno Pass into the Val Corno!
Both spring areas converges about where the hairpins of the eastern pass road begins to circumvent about in altitude. Through the passes and over the Nufenenstock runs the border between the cantons of Valais and Ticino.
A paved road constructed in 1964 goes over the Passo della Novena and after some ten hairpins down about in altitude on its western side and then through the Ägenental in northeasten direction ultimately leading to the Obergoms, the upper half of the valley of the uppermost part the Rhône course. While the lower part of the Valais speaks French language, the upper part speaks its particular Highest Alemannic dialect, the Walliser German, the population of Ticino speaks Italian language.
Subsequently, the Ticino becomes a mountain brook flowing straight down the valley to the hamlet of All'Acqua or All'Acqua Ospizio at , named for the Hostel for travellers located there near the previous end of a drivable road in former centuries. Currently, it is a base for skiing and hiking. Further down eastwards the small villages of Ronco at and finally Bedretto () and Villa Bedretto appear. Below Bedretto the Ri di Cristallina, "Cristallina stream", a right tributary from the Val Torta, joins the Ticino at Ossasco, and further down the valley, Fontana is the lowest village in Val Bedretto. The entire area is laced with hiking trails and mountain huts. The valley is subject to avalanches and snow can remain on the ground as late as September.
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