As of: 11 August 2026

Wild camping at the Gradicciòli: three communes, and none of them gets a say

Three communes meet within 200 metres of this summit. On most Swiss ridges that would be the whole article, because in most of Switzerland the commune is the one that decides whether you may sleep outside. Here it is a piece of trivia, because Ticino took the decision away from all three and wrote the answer into cantonal law.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in August 2026 · Published 11 August 2026
What do these mean?

Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.

Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.

It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.

Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.

Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.

What "wild camping" means here: one night. A small tent or a bivvy bag, up towards evening, gone in the morning. Not a base camp, not a camper van. Most Swiss bans are written against camping; whether a single night also falls under them depends on the exact wording, so this article checks that wording. The full difference: wild camping vs bivouacking.

Ticino wrote the yes into the statute

Wild camping at the Gradicciòli is one of the shortest legal questions in this whole series, because Ticino is the canton that legislated the exception instead of leaving it to be argued about. The cantonal camping act sets out the prohibition and the permission in the same article, one paragraph apart.1

"È possibile campeggiare unicamente nelle aree autorizzate destinate a campeggio."Art. 2 cpv. 1, Legge sui campeggi del 26 gennaio 2004: camping is possible only in authorised areas designated for camping.

Read alone, that is a hard commune-wide, canton-wide ban, and it has real teeth: art. 27 lets the Municipio punish infringements with a fine from CHF 50 to CHF 10'000. Plenty of articles on this site end there. This one does not, because of the sentence immediately underneath.1

"Fa eccezione al principio di cui al cpv. 1 l'attendamento a scopo di bivacco in montagna."Art. 2 cpv. 2: an exception to the principle in paragraph 1 is pitching a tent for the purpose of a mountain bivouac.

That is the whole answer. Not a tolerance, not an administrative practice, not something a ranger might overlook: an exception written into the same article as the ban, by the cantonal parliament, in a law that has been in force since 2004 and was last consolidated on 1 January 2024.

At 1'936 m on a named summit on a marked ridge traverse, "bivacco in montagna" is not a phrase anyone has to stretch. If the exception does not cover the Gradicciòli, it covers nothing.

The tent is allowed, and that is the part people get wrong

The most useful detail in the statute is the noun it chose, and it is worth slowing down for, because the common assumption across Switzerland is exactly backwards here.

The exempted act is attendamento. That is not "sleeping out", not "bivouacking" in the sense of lying under the stars in a bag. Attendamento is the pitching of a tent, from tenda. Ticino did not write an exception for people without a tent. It wrote an exception for people with one.

So the line the statute draws is not equipment. It is purpose and duration: the difference between a bivacco in montagna and a campeggio. Up in the evening, down in the morning, because you are crossing a mountain, is a bivouac. Driving somewhere, setting up for the weekend, digging in, is camping, and camping needs an authorised area.

This matters because most Swiss rules run the other way. In canton after canton the communal text says "Zelt" and the interesting question becomes whether a bivvy bag slips underneath it. We have written that gap up honestly at plenty of spots. In Ticino you do not need the gap, and reaching for it would actually make your position worse, because it would suggest the tent is the problem when the statute says it is not.

What would still get you fined

  • Staying on. A second and third night in the same spot stops looking like a bivouac and starts looking like a camp, and art. 27 is the consequence.
  • Doing it at the trailhead. The exception says in montagna. A car park at the bottom of the valley is not.
  • Running a camp. Art. 13 makes opening and operating a campsite subject to a Municipio authorisation. A group turning a summit into a base camp is not what cpv. 2 protects.

Three communes in 200 metres, and why it is only trivia

Now the geography, which on any other Swiss ridge would be the entire problem.

The Gradicciòli is a tri-point. Sampling the commune at 200 m and again at 600 m in eight directions from the summit returns three different answers: Mezzovico-Vira at the summit itself and to the north and east, Alto Malcantone to the south-east, south and south-west, and Gambarogno to the west and north-west. The junction sits essentially at the cairn, so which commune you sleep in depends on which side of it you lie down.4

Compare what that geometry does one canton to the north-east. At the Lägh dal Lunghin three communes also meet within about a kilometre, and there it decides everything, because in Graubünden the canton is silent and each commune writes its own camping ban. Getting the commune wrong there means getting the answer wrong.

Here it is a curiosity. The permission is cantonal, so it does not stop at a commune boundary, and a commune would need its own instrument to narrow it. None of the three has one. Their published legal collections were read: Mezzovico-Vira lists 15 documents, Alto Malcantone 6, Gambarogno 10, and across all of them there is not a single occurrence of campeggio, attendamento, bivacco or tenda. They regulate water, waste, dogs, cemeteries, parking and staff.2

Nothing above the communes closes it either. Every federal inventory comes back empty at the point: no landscape inventory object, no federal game reserve, no wildlife rest zone, no bog, no floodplain, no dry grassland, no park of national importance.3

The law is the easy part. The ground is not.

Having said all that clearly, here is the sentence that actually decides your evening: the Gradicciòli is steep, and the summit is not a pitch.

Measured on the national elevation model, the summit itself sits at 18.3 degrees. That is not a place to lie down. Sampling outwards in eight directions at 80, 150 and 300 m returns 19.6 degrees to the north-west, 28.6 to the west, 30.3 to the south, 33.6 to the south-west, and on the north and east flanks 48 to 51 degrees, which is mountainside rather than ground.5

There is exactly one usable spot in the whole sample: the shoulder about 80 m south-west of the summit at 8.8 degrees, 1'921.7 m. That is the only reading anywhere within 300 m that comes in under ten degrees. It is genuinely sleepable, it is on the Alto Malcantone side, and it is what to aim for if you want to wake up on this summit.

Even so, be realistic about what 8.8 degrees means: you will want your head uphill, you will slide, and a windless night is not a given on a ridge that catches everything from the Magadino plain. If comfort matters more than the summit does, the saddles along the ridge are better ground, and the law follows you to them, because the cantonal exception does not care which point of the traverse you are on.

This is the honest shape of this spot: a very clear yes from the statute, and a mediocre bed. Most articles here are the reverse.

Getting there, and the ordinary answers

The Gradicciòli sits on the Monte Lema to Monte Tamaro traverse, one of Ticino's best known ridge walks, which is how most people arrive at it. Monte Tamaro is 2.2 km away and Monte Lema 5.4 km, both with a lift from the valley, so the classic plan is to ride up one end, walk the ridge, and ride down the other. Alpe Foppa, the Tamaro lift station, is 4.3 km off.5

If you would rather not sleep out at all, the ordinary answers are close: Mezzovico-Vira in the valley is 4.0 km away, Miglieglia at the Lema end 6.7 km, and there are staffed huts on this side of Ticino, with the Capanna Monte Bar the best known at 11.6 km along the chain.

Ground rules, which here are manners rather than prohibitions

  • One night. That is what the exception is for. Arrive late, leave early, and the statute is on your side.
  • No fire. A gas stove. This is a dry, grassy, wind-exposed southern ridge and there is nothing up here worth burning.
  • Carry water. There is no reliable source on the ridge itself, which is the practical reason most people do the traverse in a day.
  • Carry everything out. The reason this exception has survived in the statute since 2004 is that people using it have not made it a problem.
  • Watch the weather. A 1'936 m ridge above the Sottoceneri gets thunderstorms fast in summer, and there is no shelter on the crest.

If you are working through Ticino, the answer is the same at the other end of the canton: the Lago di Leit at 2'260 m rests on this identical article, and it is worth knowing that this is a cantonal rule and not a local favour. In Ticino the bivouac is not something you get away with. It is something the law provides for.

General rules for wild camping

The bivouac is lawful here, so these are mountain manners rather than prohibitions: one night only, gas stove and never an open fire on this dry southern ridge, carry your water because the crest has none, and carry everything out again.

  • No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
  • Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
  • Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
  • At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
  • Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of August 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.

The cantonal exception is a statutory provision and can be amended, and a commune can enact new instruments, so check the current position before relying on this and follow instructions on site. The exception covers a mountain bivouac, and stretching it into a multi-night camp is exactly the case article 27 is written for. The terrain figures describe the ground and are not a safety assessment of your route; this is an exposed ridge with no shelter and steep flanks, and a bivouac on a slope of nearly nine degrees demands a considered choice of spot. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.

Frequently asked questions

Can you wild camp at the Gradicciòli?
Yes, as a mountain bivouac, and the cantonal statute says so directly. Ticino's Legge sui campeggi of 26 January 2004 provides in article 2 paragraph 1 that camping is possible only in authorised camping areas, and then in paragraph 2 that pitching a tent for the purpose of a mountain bivouac is an exception to that principle. At 1936 m on a named summit that exception plainly applies. None of the three communes meeting at the summit adds a rule of its own, and no federal inventory reaches the point.
Am I allowed a tent, or only a bivvy bag?
A tent. This is the detail people get backwards. The act that the statute exempts is attendamento, which means the pitching of a tent, from tenda. Ticino did not write an exception for people without a tent, it wrote one for people with a tent. The line the law draws is between a bivacco and a campeggio, so it is about the purpose and the duration of your stay rather than about your equipment. One night on a mountain is a bivouac whether you sleep in a tent or a bag; a weekend base camp is camping and needs an authorised area.
Three communes meet at this summit. Does it matter which one I am in?
No, and that is the unusual part. Sampling at 200 m and 600 m returns Mezzovico-Vira at the summit and to the north and east, Alto Malcantone to the south, and Gambarogno to the west, so the junction is essentially at the cairn. But the permission is cantonal, so it does not stop at a commune boundary, and a commune would need its own instrument to narrow it. None of the three has one: their published collections run to 15, 6 and 10 documents respectively and contain no occurrence of campeggio, attendamento, bivacco or tenda.
What is the fine if I get it wrong?
Between CHF 50 and CHF 10000, imposed by the Municipio, under article 27 of the camping act. That is the sanction for camping outside an authorised area, and it is the reason the exception in article 2 paragraph 2 matters so much. You would fall outside the exception by staying multiple nights in the same spot, by pitching somewhere that is not in montagna such as a valley car park, or by running what amounts to a camp, since article 13 makes operating a campsite subject to a municipal authorisation.
Where exactly should I pitch?
Not on the summit. Aim for the shoulder about 80 m south-west of it. The summit itself measures 18.3 degrees, which is not somewhere to lie down, and the flanks to the north and east run between 48 and 51 degrees. In the whole sample within 300 m there is exactly one reading under ten degrees: that south-western shoulder at 8.8 degrees and 1921.7 m, on the Alto Malcantone side. It is sleepable but it is still a slope, so sleep with your head uphill, and if comfort matters more than the summit does, the saddles along the ridge are better ground and the cantonal exception follows you to them.
Is this the same rule everywhere in Ticino?
Yes, it is cantonal. The exception for a mountain bivouac lives in the cantonal camping act, not in a communal regulation or a local tolerance, so it applies across the canton rather than spot by spot. The Lago di Leit at 2260 m in the Leventina rests on the identical article. What can still vary locally is everything the camping act does not govern: a commune could regulate access or fires, and federal protection layers such as game reserves or wildlife rest zones apply where they exist. Neither of those touches the Gradicciòli.
Leon Helg

Leon Helg

Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.

Swiss Guide Wildcamping Checker Color Grading

Sources

  1. Legge sui campeggi del 26 gennaio 2004, canton Ticino, consolidated version "stato 1° gennaio 2024", read on 11 August 2026 in the cantonal collection of laws. Art. 1 "Scopo": "La presente legge disciplina l'utilizzazione delle aree destinate a campeggio." Art. 2 "Principio" cpv. 1: "È possibile campeggiare unicamente nelle aree autorizzate destinate a campeggio." Art. 2 cpv. 2: "Fa eccezione al principio di cui al cpv. 1 l'attendamento a scopo di bivacco in montagna." Art. 13 makes the opening and operation of a campsite subject to an authorisation issued by the Municipio. Art. 27 "Multa": "Le infrazioni alla presente legge ed al suo regolamento sono punite dal Municipio con una multa da un minimo di fr. 50.-- ad un massimo di fr. 10'000.--". The exempted act is described as "attendamento", the pitching of a tent, so the exception is not limited to sleeping without a tent; the distinction the statute draws is between a "bivacco in montagna" and a "campeggio", that is between purpose and duration rather than equipment. ti.ch, Raccolta delle leggi. ↩
  2. Communal legislation of the three communes meeting at the summit, published collections read on 11 August 2026. Mezzovico-Vira publishes 15 regolamenti and ordinanze, covering drinking water, sewerage, cemeteries, dog keeping, communal taxes, the communal regulation of 2014 and staff rules. Alto Malcantone publishes 6, covering the communal regulation, waste management, cemeteries, administrative assets and the dog tax. Gambarogno publishes 10, covering the communal and staff regulations, public parking, dog keeping, chancery fees, winter service, the Porto Gambarogno tariffs and support for residents. Across all three collections there is no occurrence of campeggio, attendamento, bivacco or tenda, and none of the three publishes a camping regulation or a police regulation governing camping. Nothing communal therefore displaces the cantonal exception at this summit. mezzovico-vira.ch, altomalcantone.ch, gambarogno.ch. ↩
  3. Official federal geodata, queried 11 August 2026 at the summit LV95 2'710'393 / 1'104'644, terrain surface 1'936.2 m via the federal height service, commune Mezzovico-Vira at the point. Identify returns empty results for the federal landscape inventory, federal game reserves, wildlife rest zones, raised bogs, fens, mire landscapes, floodplains, dry grasslands and pastures, parks of national importance and Emerald sites. Every query ran alongside a deliberately invalid layer id as a control: that control returns HTTP 400 while all real layers return HTTP 200, and a positive control point inside federal game reserve no. 3 Kiental correctly returns that polygon, so the empty results are genuine negatives rather than a mistyped layer name. The cadastre of public-law restrictions is introduced for the commune and served at crdpp.geo.ti.ch; given that every federal layer is empty and none of the three communes regulates camping, it is corroboration here rather than load-bearing. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  4. Commune boundaries at the summit, sampled 11 August 2026 on the federal boundary layer filtered to the current year, because that layer also serves historical years and a merged-away commune would otherwise win. From the summit, at both 200 m and 600 m in eight directions: north, north-east and east return Mezzovico-Vira, which is also the commune at the point itself; south-east, south and south-west return Alto Malcantone; west and north-west return Gambarogno. The three-commune junction therefore sits essentially at the summit, and the identical result at both radii shows this is a genuine tri-point rather than an artefact of one sampling distance. geo.admin.ch. ↩
  5. Terrain and reference points, queried 11 August 2026 through the federal height service and the swisstopo gazetteer. Slope from a five-point stencil with a 25 m arm: the summit itself reads 18.3 degrees at 1'936.2 m. Samples at 80, 150 and 300 m in eight directions return 8.8 degrees south-west at 80 m and 1'921.7 m, 19.6 degrees north-west at 80 m, 23.7 north-west at 300 m, 28.6 west at 80 m, 29.7 west at 150 m, 30.3 south at 300 m, 33.6 south-west at 150 m, and on the steep flanks 48.1 degrees north at 80 m, 50.4 east at 150 m and 50.8 north-east at 150 m. The south-western shoulder is the only reading under ten degrees anywhere in the sample. Distances from the summit: Monte Tamaro 2'179 m, Mezzovico-Vira 3'981 m, Alpe Foppa 4'251 m, Monte Lema 5'373 m, Miglieglia 6'650 m, Capanna Monte Bar 11'593 m. geo.admin.ch. ↩