One of my locql Italian restaurants has a connect the dots map of Italy on their children's menu. Whenever my daughter completes it, i always add dots for San Marino, Vatican City, and Campione d'Italia because I am an obnoxious pedant.

Well this video is not what I thought it was going to be about!!! Last year, a new 3-s cable car linking Italy to Switzerland by the Matterhorn and Plateau Rosa Glacier opened. The valley station is technically in Swiss territory, but is declared to be in Italy as the entrance door for pedestrians is on the border, the entrance for skiers on the floor below where it is definitely on Swiss ground, while the upper station is most definitely in Switzerland. The border change is therefore declared as the cable car leaves the valley station.

That casino is from what Bill Bryson described as the “F**k You!” School of architecture.

And casinos are usually such understated, tasteful retreats.

While it is true that Campione can be translated to champion, like many words it also has a second meaning which is very apropos here: Campione also means "sample". So this town's name also means "Sample of Italy".

Using the little eifel tower in Vegas to represent france is such a funny detail

Was that a sneaky little "We are the Campioni" at the end? Nice!

There's a little bit of Italy inside of me. I crashed a scooter in the 90's near Florence and there's still a bit of grit from the road in my leg.

The b roll of Vegas was brilliant. Thank you.

Germany also has an enclave in Switzerland as well. It's called Büsingen am Hochrhein.

every time i see the locomotive toot in the intro i think "ah, this is the bit where he should have pulled the lever slower." don't know why my mind remembers this but it does

Funfact: While the straight line distance from Campione to the rest of Italy is only ~720 m on a 2D plane, because the Italian border is on the top the mountain above the 3D distance is actually around ~1000 m due to the elevation change. If you were insane enough to try and walk the shortest direct path.

Had a girl from there in my German class when I was studying abroad. She’s was from Switzerland, spoke Italian first, spoke some French second, and was trying to learn German

I think it's most interesting what you can do with a bit of Italy inside Switzerland - not only simply a Casino but during WWII it was a perfect spot for "pirate" radio stations broadcasting towards Italy. The Swiss could wash their hands in innocence since "that's Italy" but the Italians couldn't do much about it because they couldn't actually physically get there to to shut down the radio stations because it's surrounded by Switzerland...(or so I remember having read about it). Yes, tax haven as well, since the Casino pays the bills.

Fun fact: the french came back pretty quickly and managed to beat the swiss so badly in 1515 that the swiss signed an eternal pact of friendship and it is also why swiss became neutral aside from sending some swiss guard to the pope and the french king...

Using the Venetian and Paris resorts in Las Vegas to represent Venice and France respectively in a video about a casino...well played. After Italian unification, besides the Swiss rejecting Campione's wish for annexation, Italy gave all land west of Lake Lugano and half of the lake to Switzerland so that Swiss trade and transport would not have to pass through Italy. During World War II, besides Mussolini building that ornamental arch and adding "d'Italia" that you mentioned, the US Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA) maintained a unit in Campione for operations in Italy as the Italian regime didn't have control over the enclave and the Swiss ignored it as long as the Americans kept a low profile! Here are two other interesting exclaves/enclaves: The Omani exclave of Madha inside the UAE, which surrounds the UAE counter-enclave of Nahwa! Nahwa's counter-enclave was formed as a result of Madha's decision to declare allegiance to Oman instead of Al Qawasim of Sharjah, Al Qawasim of Ras Al Khaimah, or Al Sharqi of Fujairah which today all form part of the United Arab Emirates. In the late 1930s or early 1940s the leaders of the four rival clans who ruled the Musandam Peninsula (Al Qassimi of Ras Al Khaimah, Al Qassimi of Sharjah, Al Sharqi of Fujairah, and the Bu Said of Oman) gathered a group of village elders of Madha and posed the question as to which sheikhdom the Madhanis would declare allegiance. While Madha chose Oman, Nahwa chose to stay loyal to Al Qawasim of Sharjah, effectively making them a counter enclave within the exclave of Madha! So while the whole Baarle-Hertog/Nassau situation is well known, it's not the only place where counter-enclaves are a thing! The India-Bangladesh border used to have a bunch of counter-enclaves too, but they resolved the enclaves and counter-enclaves in 2015, and since the exchange of territory took place, the only remaining enclave is Dahagram-Angarpota, an exclave of Bangladesh.

love that you made your own cover of 'we are the champions' specifically for this video. One of the many reasons why your video's are such a joy to watch!

Not to be a pedant about your content but in my recollection from the 90s there were italian Carabinieri standing around the casino during working hours, they went back to Italy in the evenings. If anything actually happened like burgularies or traffic accidents, the Swiss police showed up. That was however fairly rare because Campione had the social structure of a small italian village. Half of the apartments there were empty because used as tax write-off investments by rich Milanese, others were inhabited by “frontalieri” who worked in Lugano and the rest were locals who all seemed to be related to each other.. My mom lived there for several years while working as a language teacher in Lugano and pretty quickly got to know everyone. I would play woth the children at the Lido beach in the far end when I came to visit in the summer. I remember life there being incredibly quaint. Thanks for taking me down memory lane ❤

That casino, unbelievable.

A cup of tea and a Tim Traveller Video. Saved my day.

Interesting facts about that Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower you showed, it consists of 5,000 tons of welded steel and is 540 feet or 164.5 meters tall, while the actual Eiffel Tower is 330 meters or 1,083 feet tall! It was initially meant to be a full-size replica but due to flight path concerns from the international airport, the tower had to be scaled down! Another interesting enclave/exclave is Marble Hill, a pene-exclave of the NYC borough of Manhattan. It's a part of Manhattan despite it being attached to the Bronx! Marble Hill was once Manhattan Island's northernmost tip but became an island in its own right in 1817, when two small streams were dug up to form a canal. The waterway ran from the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River, cutting off Marble Hill from Manhattan Island. The mill canal was expanded in 1895 to become the Harlem River Ship Canal. The new channel, constructed at the direction of the federal government, was 400 feet wide and at least 15 feet deep at its competition. Marble Hill remained an island for years until it was physically connected to the Bronx in 1913, when the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in. Two more are Sokh and Shohimardon districts, parts of Uzbekistan completely surrounded by Kyrgyzstan. Sokh was created in 1955. Local legend holds that the territory was lost by a Kyrgyz Communist Party official in a card game with his Uzbek counterpart. Others say it made sense to assign the area to Uzbekistan because the roads running along the Sokh river connected to Uzbekistan to the north rather than going through the rugged Kyrgyz territory to the east and west of the area in question. Chon-Qora (Qalacha) and Jani-Ayil are two other Uzbek exclaves in Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan also has exclaves in Kyrgyzstan, Vorukh and Kayragach (they have another in Uzbekistan called Sarvan), which led to border conflict, and these exclaves exist because of the Soviets. The Soviets aimed to create ethnically homogeneous republics, but many areas were ethnically mixed (like the Ferghana Valley), and they experienced difficulties in assigning an ethnic label to some peoples. In spite of this, regional elites strongly argued in favor of strict delineation, and was further complicated by a lack of expert knowledge and paucity of accurate or up-to-date ethnographic data on the region. They also aimed to create 'viable' entities, with economic, geographical, agricultural and infrastructural matters unrelated to (and sometimes trumping those of) ethnicity

Love the Time Team background music during the history section.

Wanted to go to this exact region on vacation this year, but money dried up after an unfortunate death in the family. At least I can see the region vicariously through one of my favourite content creators! Cheers Tim!

Tim, next time you are in Austria, visit the Zwentendorf. Back in the 70's, politicians decided to spend a huge amount of money and build a nuclear reactor there. And then, only after completing it, they asked the public in a referendum if it should be turned on. And as you can probably guess, the answer was "no", which is why Austria ended up with the worlds only nuclear reactor you can rent for shooting films or hosting a rave party. (As a side note, Zwentendorf power plant now actually produces a small amount of electricity, after the new owners decided to put in a solar installation).

"Did I come all the way up here just for that one scene?" Your sacrifice is appreciated, Tim. The views were stunning!

I'm Italian, and needless to say I'm very happy you, one of my favorite KZfaqrs, made a video about Campione d'Italia! It's a really interesting topic that I never see covered a lot, especially outside of Italy. It's something you really can't see on maps usually, mostly because of just how small it is, which doesn't really help on making more people know about it I'm really happy you're bringing some attention to this amazing unknown piece of Italy! 🇮🇹

It's good to know that the Italians have stayed so true to their traditions over the centuries: switching sides in war and bungling it up for their allies.

Speaking of weird borders between Switzerland and Italy: Lago di Lei (literally lake of the lake...) is worth investigating. A bit of Italy is carved out to put the dam inside Switzerland who operate the power station. But most of the reservoir lies in the Italian valley.

I can't believe Mr. Super Mario was the one behind building the biggest casino in Italy and all of Europe. I knew he was up to something.

Great video, thanks! 🙂 I visited this place 30+ years ago on my first great European bicycle tour because I saw it in the Times Atlas and was curious. It was quite a backwater then, and in the post office I did pay Lira for stamps and stuck them in my journal, and they franked them. I did this in all countries I visited. Amazing how it has changed.

By the way Campione translates not only as “champion” but also as “sample” for example a “statistical sample” is called “campione statistico”, the little vials of perfume that are sometimes offered as free samples are sometimes called “campioncini” (little samples)

Thank you - I just love all these unique & interesting facts you find throughout Europe. I never knew this place existed and now, I can’t help but love it - the fact that it is stunningly beautiful doesn’t hurt too..

Wow, I love quirky stories like this. Thanks Tim!

4:52 hillarious 'no-Switzerland' flag. Brilliant!

You mentioned that casinos are "banned" in Italy. Not really. There are 4 casinos in Italy, they are just very strictly regulated and all of them are state-run. In other words, a private individual or corporation cannot establish a new casino and the state controls them all, but nothing prohibits the state from setting up some more casinos, should it decide to do so (hopefully not)

Opening shot, amazing views

That casino reminds me of the MI6 building in Vauxhall in London.

Brilliant as ever, Tim. Thanks

So cool to see you wandering in the places where I live, I hope you had fun here despite the heavy rainfalls we had lately

Brilliant! I love these quirky geographical borders whose origins go back beyond the middle ages. The people of Campione d'Italia lived, until very recently, outside of the EU Customs zone and were very happy with this informal arrangement. The powers that be in the EU weren't so happy about it though and so the town was forced to leave the Swiss customs zone in 2020 against the wishes of the residents. It will be interesting to see what border arrangements are put in place, if any.

Thank you for another superb video, Tim.👍

Another super video. Tim never fails to deliver!

lovely video, again! thanks for sharing them!

Always entertaining, Mr. Traveller.

Was waiting for this one. Thanks!

Lmao, my moms dream for a long time is to live there so she can live in switzerland without the hassle to figure out the papers to actually live in switzerland (shes italian)

Love your videos so much! It's always fascinating learning the crazy histories these places have!

I just noticed Campione d'Italia on a map the other day! Such a serendipitous Saturday surprise. Thanks Tim!

This is your best one yet from a production values POV. Well done.

Thanks for the video and the historic details. Really good

Another fascinating geographic oddity. Love the animated history lesson, replete with SFX and nice musical touches. Bravo Tim!

This entire region , the southern alps of italy , is heaven on earth 😍 nice video btw 😁

Photos of Paris and The Venetian in Las Vegas were a funny Easter egg. Also, We Are the Champions by Queen at the end, fitting. Well done.

Brilliant, like always!

You're just the best. Such good work.

Never heard of this enclave. Fascinating. Thank you so much Tim. However nothing will ever beat Baarle Hertog, where there are enclaves within enclaves

I came from Italy but I’m learning a lot of interesting things in this channel about Italy! Thanks! Ciao 😊

The Tim Traveller, This video is fantastic! I liked it a lot!

I love the carefully chosen pieces of music you use in these videos. It's such a small detail in the end product and one could have just used some standard same music for every video, but I really appreciate the way you do it. It always puts a smile on my face.

Using an image of Vegas’ Venetian for the was on Venice won you a subscriber. Priceless

Very nice segue from We Are The Champions into Bohemian Rhapsody at the end there. Very smooth!

Fun fact Tim, Campione has a Swiss prefix for telephone lines 🎉 And until 2020, it was also excluded from the EU common taxes area.... Thank you for the video 👍

5:55 It makes perfect sense that he would be Julius II, as Julius Cæsar actually was pope too. Before an untimely series of knife wounds robbed him of it, Julius Cæsar held the office of Pontifex Maximus for a number of years. This was Rome's supreme religious leader, the head of the Roman pantheon, and the precursor to what would, after a centuries long ordeal of christenings and unchristenings, eventually become the head of the Roman Catholic Church, i.e. the Pope.

A lovely addition to the quirky collection…great stuff

Top notch sound editing again, very subtle :)

I truly love your videos!

Love how you use “we are the champions” at the end. Clever

Great video thanks!

Really interesting! Thank you! 👍

I love Queen, thanks for playing them.

I loved the choice of music. Thank you for another highly enjoyable video!

As my computer eventually seems to know best what not to miss on youtube, it finally decided to present me with your Campione d'Italia clip. Wow! Grüezi-wohl und grazie mille! It made me binge on your channel! You combine the highly entertaining skills of excellent narration, knowledge of many languages, pronunciations, historical and cultural backgrounds and a deep love of travel experiences! Finally, there is your clever use of musical accompaniments and puns! Bravo! Although living retired in the South Australian Adelaide Hills, my youth in the Netherlands and once upon a time extensive travels through Europe still allow me to appreciate the many aspects of your presentations and the humour behind them! Yes, I did climb mount Urk and de Vaalserberg. I once walked along the Canal du Midi and melted in Death Valley. Now, you re-invite me to armchair traveling at its best! Continuons!

Thanks. I was looking for something to bring my mood up. Like "Maybe Tim has a new episode", ... And that he had!

At the north end of CD is a lone house only accessible through Switzerland. It looks like Italy paved the last metre of the road in front of the home property, the pavement being lighter than the Swiss side.

Using "We are the Champions" to close it off is amazing

Another great video, thinks Tim!

When I realised the background music was the Time Team theme at 5:20 I was _so_ thrilled, I love TT! Their new episodes on KZfaq have been so cool to see

*There is an almost equally strange bit of Switzerland & Italy - called the 'Lago di Lei'* It involves a Dam constructed inside an Northern Italian Alpine valley that's neatly cut out of Italy. The dam contains the waters of several Italian streams - that eventually join the Rhine to flow into the North Sea.

Thank you Tim I love your videos

Brilliant video. I went there in about 2014, got the train to Lugano from Milan. A fairly ordinary Italian train on the way there and a modern tilty Swiss train going back. Lovely region to visit. Also went on the funicular from the lake to Lugano station.

I was in Campione in the mid-1980s and the old casino was much easier on the eyes. Fun video, Tim... well done!

Was always curious about this ever since I visited Lugano a few years ago. Never bothered to do the research! Thanks Tim :)

Tbf they were basically obligated to make the casino look like a Bond villain could live in it with that history.

By far my favourite Channel for Strange travel destinations

tim, your videos are always such a joy to watch. i live on the other side of the planet, but i can't wait to visit europe one day and maybe check out one of these places :D

Tim loved the grand designs music as you talked about the casino architecture

Great story! Thanks for telling it so well.

Very nice video, informative with a good sense of humor. Didn't know that before, but it is good to know ^^

Hooray. More Tim Traveller. ❤🎉 Tuning fork in front of the casino 😮.

great video as always

Thank you very much for this brilliant Piece of Discovery and its History!😃🧡👍

Tim, thank you

Brilliant use of that piano piece in the outro, truly a champion :)

Finally, something about this oddity! Always wondered!

I will be hiking over the Gotthard this summer and my tour will end in Lugano. I have also been to Campione before. So this video was just what I needed to prepare for my trip. Thank you ever so much for this jolly good explanation.

Thank you because, since I found out your KZfaq channle, I feel more understood when it comes my passion about weird borders.

Great find, Rob. Another "must visit" place.

This is brilliant, Tim. I love Switzerland but have never been to the Italian speaking bit or the Italian bit in Switzerland - I’m going to have to visit!

On the northern edge of Switzerland there's also a one-village German enclave/exclave, Büsingen.

Amazing trip to the beautiful Lake Lugano area.