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Below please find photos and details about Hotel Generoso and the surrounding Environs.
My questions are this:
Let's take a trip up a mountain, shall we?

Climb Aboard! The way is steep!

Where is this mountain? High up in the Italian Mountains that are on the Swiss Perimeter:


source
This is a 1603 Map - Looks like someone important lived there? This would be 200 some odd years before the 1867 Construction of the Hotel Generoso!




The train goes through a rough-hewn tunnel. Presumably made in record time by men on donkeys with pickaxes.

This would have been the view on the way up

You exit the quaint train station at the top of the mountain, a look of wonder as you contemplate the Hotel.

Voila! Hotel Generoso

Same view, two other contemperaneous photos:


Who Built this Beautiful Place?
Dr. Carlos Pasta


"The first inn on Monte Generoso, Hotel du Généroso, was established near the current location of Bellavista Station in 1867, by Dr. Pasta, a physician from Mendrisio. Prior to the establishment of the railway, a bridle-path led from Mendrisio, at the foot of the mountain to the inn, through chestnut and beech-woods. The inn was situated on an open plateau about 2½ hours from Mendrisio, and was large enough for about 100 guests. From the hotel to the summit was a further 1½ across alpine pastures. The hotel was situated below the current station at Bellavista, and access to the hotel was provided by a horse drawn tram which started operation in 1891. By 1938 Bellavista was made accessible by road, and the horse-drawn tram discontinued operation. In 1974 the hotel closed and slowly fell into disrepair. The ruins were eventually demolished. "
The Old Hotels of Mount Generoso
"Mendrisio being situated on the railway between Lugano and Como, both these places are within easy reach. Milan is only a couple of hours off, and Varese a three or four hours’ carriage drive. It lies on the very last slopes of the Alps, so that whether the visitor has a fancy for mountains or for the smiling beauty of the colline, he may be equally gratified. There are excellent roads in every direction, and none of them can be taken without its leading to some new feature of interest; I do not think any English family will regret spending a fortnight at this charming place.
Most visitors to Mendrisio, however, make it a place of passage only, en route for the celebrated hotel on the Monte Generoso, kept by Dr. Pasta, Signora Pasta’s brother-in-law. The Monte Generoso is very fine; I know few places of which I am fonder; whether one looks down at evening upon the lake of Lugano thousands of feet below, and then lets the eye wander upward again and rest upon the ghastly pallor of Monte Rosa, or whether one takes the path to the Colma and saunters over green slopes carpeted with wild-flowers, and studded with the gentlest cattle, all is equally delightful. What a sense of vastness and freedom is there on the broad heaving slopes of these subalpine spurs. They are just p. 230high enough without being too high. The South Downs are very good, and by making believe very much I have sometimes been half able to fancy when upon them that I might be on the Monte Generoso, but they are only good as a quartet is good if one cannot get a symphony."
Alps & Sanctuaries of Piedmont & the Canton Ticino




The New & Improved Tunnels to Allow for Transportation up and into the Italian/Swiss Border:





Other Places of Interest During Late 1800's early 1900's



\



25 Items of Note on the Swiss Perimeter
Hotel Generoso Today:
The Small Worship Grotto has been updated:


The current train station and panorama views:




Panorama of Mount Generoso
My questions are this:
- Who lived there in 1608?
- Why can't I find any pictures of Construction?
- . . . Or the Interior of the Hotel during it's beginnings.
- How did they build the original tunnel?
Let's take a trip up a mountain, shall we?

Climb Aboard! The way is steep!

Where is this mountain? High up in the Italian Mountains that are on the Swiss Perimeter:


source







Voila! Hotel Generoso

Same view, two other contemperaneous photos:


Who Built this Beautiful Place?
Dr. Carlos Pasta


The Old Hotels of Mount Generoso
"Mendrisio being situated on the railway between Lugano and Como, both these places are within easy reach. Milan is only a couple of hours off, and Varese a three or four hours’ carriage drive. It lies on the very last slopes of the Alps, so that whether the visitor has a fancy for mountains or for the smiling beauty of the colline, he may be equally gratified. There are excellent roads in every direction, and none of them can be taken without its leading to some new feature of interest; I do not think any English family will regret spending a fortnight at this charming place.
Most visitors to Mendrisio, however, make it a place of passage only, en route for the celebrated hotel on the Monte Generoso, kept by Dr. Pasta, Signora Pasta’s brother-in-law. The Monte Generoso is very fine; I know few places of which I am fonder; whether one looks down at evening upon the lake of Lugano thousands of feet below, and then lets the eye wander upward again and rest upon the ghastly pallor of Monte Rosa, or whether one takes the path to the Colma and saunters over green slopes carpeted with wild-flowers, and studded with the gentlest cattle, all is equally delightful. What a sense of vastness and freedom is there on the broad heaving slopes of these subalpine spurs. They are just p. 230high enough without being too high. The South Downs are very good, and by making believe very much I have sometimes been half able to fancy when upon them that I might be on the Monte Generoso, but they are only good as a quartet is good if one cannot get a symphony."
Alps & Sanctuaries of Piedmont & the Canton Ticino




The New & Improved Tunnels to Allow for Transportation up and into the Italian/Swiss Border:





Other Places of Interest During Late 1800's early 1900's



\


25 Items of Note on the Swiss Perimeter
Hotel Generoso Today:
The Small Worship Grotto has been updated:


The current train station and panorama views:




Panorama of Mount Generoso
Note: This OP was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Note: Archived Sh.org replies to this OP are included in this thread.








