Locarno rewards both the active and the sedentary. The old town is compact and walkable, the funicular to Madonna del Sasso takes five minutes, and the Cardada-Cimetta cable car opens up serious mountain terrain above the lake. In August the Locarno Film Festival transforms Piazza Grande into Europe's largest open-air cinema. The rest of the year the piazza belongs to cafes, pigeons, and slow afternoons.