The Fishing Museum in Caslano, Lugano, Switzerland | Museum

Welcome to The Fishing Museum, Switzerland. The Fishing Museum, which was inaugurated in 1993, proposes several authentic “pearls”, starting with several photographs mounted on panels and applied to the windows. Some of these are really extraordinary pieces that bear witness to lake and river life of the beginning of the century. They bring to life the people, the traditions that have contributed to making the tiny, but meaningful, history of fishing in Ticino, an activity, which in the past often represented for many families an important income for survival, although for others, fishing was, and still remains, simply a hobby, a pleasant pastime in the midst of nature.

In The Fishing Museum it’s possible to view seven large window displays that not only have the aim of decorating the several exhibition halls, but also that of protecting these authentic pieces of the past. Thus, several showcases are devoted to various instruments and objects used for fishing on Lugano lake (fishing rods, reels, etc.); the Ticinese painter Emilio Rissone, who had already worked for the Caslano Museum in several initiatives rendered available a glass showcase for nets; another one has been set up to display objects that have to do with fish farming; in the fl y-fishing room a crystal showcase houses various types of fishing rods (refendu) that are used in this kind of fishing; another showcase illustrates the hatching of eggs; finally another showcase contains provision nets and trout nets.

The Museum moreover houses the Riccardo Allisi from Ascona donation (a now retired, professional fisherman), which comprises many tools for the hand production of wooden and metal baits; there is also a sector devoted to fish farming that has been completely refurbished to make what the Museum has to offer much more educational, illustrating the various phases of the trout’s embryonal development to its last stage; practically every object has a short caption in Italian, German and French. In the hall reserved to the Tresa fisheries, several objects have been restored. Last but not least, we’d like to remark that among the stuffed fish there is a magnificent 9.5 kg pike-perch.