Lugano is a city in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy. The population of the city proper was 55,151 as of December 2011, and the population of the urban agglomeration was over 145,000. It is the 9th largest city of Switzerland by population and the largest Italian-speaking city outside of Italy.
The city lies on Lake Lugano, and its warm summers and the fact that in recent years it has attracted an ever growing number of celebrities, entertainers and successful athletes have given it the nickname of the "Monte Carlo of Switzerland".
The origin of the name is possibly the Latin word Lucus, meaning wood or sacred wood, or Gaulish locovanno "lake dweller".
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a cross throughout argent, between the upper case serif letters "L", "V", "G" and "A" (respectively in the I, II, III and IV quarters)
