Christian Constantin wants to breathe new life into the spectacularly situated Cape San Martino on Lake Lugano.
Image: Keystone
A hotel complex is to be built here from 2027.
Image: Keystone
The FC Sion president has reportedly fallen in love with Capo San Martino between Paradiso and Melide.
Image: Keystone
Christian Constantin.
Image: Keystone
Christian Constantin wants to breathe new life into the spectacularly situated Cape San Martino on Lake Lugano.
Image: Keystone
A hotel complex is to be built here from 2027.
Image: Keystone
The FC Sion president has reportedly fallen in love with Capo San Martino between Paradiso and Melide.
Image: Keystone
Christian Constantin.
Image: Keystone
The owner and president of football club FC Sion, Christian Constantin, is planning to build a hotel with a restaurant and spa on a spectacular cape on Lake Lugano. The project is intended to give the south of Lugano a "new face".
19.11.2025, 17:55
19.11.2025, 18:08
SDA
Constantin confirmed a corresponding report in the Ticino daily newspaper "Corriere del Ticino" at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
He is planning to build a hotel complex with panoramic rooms, restaurants, a wellness area and a spa with a view of the lake on the now abandoned Capo San Martino in the south of Paradiso.
The architectural firm Mino Caggiula Architets in Lugano is responsible for the project between the municipalities of Paradiso and Melide. It is not just about building a hotel, but also about "bringing a piece of landscape and history back to life", as the "Corriere del Ticino" quotes architect Mino Caggiula.
Cape with an eventful history
The spectacularly situated headland of San Martino is to become a new meeting point, a place "to walk, linger and breathe". The villa, which first housed a restaurant and later a nightclub, has been abandoned for many years. Constantin hopes to start construction work at the beginning of 2027. Ideally, the opening could be celebrated in spring 2030.
Until 1863, San Martino - once part of the municipality of Pazzallo - belonged to Italy, and until 1861 it was part of Campione d'Italia, as the city of Lugano states on its website.
San Martino was also called "Forca di San Martino", according to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HLS). The reason: in early modern times, there was a gallows (forca in Italian) in the San Martino area. According to the HLS, the last execution took place in 1804.
