Locarno–Madonna del Sasso Funicular

Cardada cable car Orselina – Cardada
1952
Construction of the first cable car connecting Orselina and Cardada; a collaboration between the Boldini company in Locarno and the Von Roll company in Thun.
First commissioning on December 26th with 7 employees. Fare at that time: CHF 5.-
Text / Source: Cardada impianti turistici SA, Via Santuario 5, 6644 Orselina, Switzerland
cardada.ch/de/cardada-cimetta/geschichte

Funicular Locarno – Orselina
The funicular and Giovanni Pedrazzini, the beginning of a story.
In 1896, Francesco Muscheletti, Giuseppe Varenna and Domenico Rigola had submitted an application for a concession to build a funicular railway leading to the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso.
They had received it the following year and renewed it in 1900; but as soon as one died, the other of the initiators emigrated, the matter did not follow until a new committee was formed on the initiative of Giovanni Pedrazzini (and composed of Domenico Rigola, the only survivor of the three first initiators, Luciano and Francesco Balli), The funicular company was founded on June 19, 1903.
Text / Source: Società Funicolare Locarno – Madonna del Sasso SA, Viale Balli 2, 6600 Locarno
funicolarelocarno.ch

Construction of the line towards the end of 1904 to 1906
The construction of the line, which began towards the end of 1904, was completed in just over a year; on February 16, 1906, the federal delegates were able to carry out the test.
The technical work was carried out parallel to the work on the route; The "Cronaca ticinese" carefully reported the progress and the news: on November 7, 1905, it announced the arrival of the cars.
The operation of the funicular began on March 1, 1906, without flags or speeches, as the "Cronaca Ticinese" noted: "The funicular began its regular operations without even a Festicciola Augurale": suggesting that at least one glass had been there could be.
In the first year of full operation of the funicular, i.e. 1907, 116,529 people and 611 dogs were transported; Shareholders received a 2 percent dividend; Two years later, the number of travelers rose to 146,999, the dividend to 3.5 percent and so on, with a crescendo that only the two wars interrupted for a moment.
Over the past decade, the funicular has transported an average of 350,000 people per year.
Text / Source: Società Funicolare Locarno – Madonna del Sasso SA, Viale Balli 2, 6600 Locarno
funicolarelocarno.ch