It would have made Quinto in Ticino a top address: the ice sports academy of Kazakh oligarch Timur Azimov in the Sanatorio del Gottardo. That was the plan of his consortium based in Lugano. However, the Ice Sport International Academy SA is now bankrupt.
08.08.2025, 13:29
08.08.2025, 15:42
SDA
The Kazakh's consortium has been in liquidation since July 22, as the debt enforcement and bankruptcy office in Lugano (Ufficio fallimenti di Lugano) confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday. This was reported by the "Corriere del Ticino". According to the newspaper, an auction of the vacant building complex is now being examined.
The municipality of Quinto Azimov had already granted the conversion permit in 2016 after the Sanatorio del Gottardo was transferred from the canton to the Kazakh for 750,000 francs. The building permit was even renewed in 2021.
According to the "Corriere del Ticino", Azimov wanted to convert the former clinic into a training center for winter sports for around 40 million francs. Up to 320 students were to be taught here.
In addition to the renovation of the old building, the project also envisaged a new seven-storey building on an adjacent plot of land, which would house student rooms, a canteen as well as gyms and swimming pools, as the "Baublatt" wrote. These were the lofty announcements. But nothing happened for years.
Around one hundred jobs
Finally, in the summer of 2023, the project got moving again. However, the costs had tripled: instead of the originally estimated 40 million, the construction project would now cost 120 to 150 million francs, it was said. In addition, a new school campus was to be built with space for 500 pupils.
According to "Corriere del Ticino", further infrastructure was planned in the surrounding area in addition to the academy. The sports campus was also intended to create around one hundred jobs in the region. The project is therefore of historical significance and would complete the sports facilities in the upper valley following the inauguration of the Gottardo Arena.
"Magic mountain" in Ticino
Like the Schatzalp in Davos, the Sanatorio del Gottardo above Quinto, which was opened in 1905 by the public limited company of the same name, was for a long time a refuge for tuberculosis patients - the "Magic Mountain", so to speak, in reference to Thomas Mann's novel of the same name.
The Sanatorio del Gottardo was used as a hospital for around 57 years. In its heyday, the clinic consisted of a main building, a medical center and a wash house. During the First World War, it served as a military hospital from 1918 and took in wounded soldiers and those in need of care. It remained in operation even after the end of the war.
In 1920, the five-storey building was transferred to the canton of Ticino and was used for tuberculosis patients until the early 1960s under the name Sanatorio Popolare Cantonale di Piotta. According to the "Baublatt", operations were discontinued in 1962 for economic reasons. The Art Nouveau building has been empty ever since.
