a small town of Switzerland, and one of the three capitals of the canton of Tessin, is pleasantly situated at the head of Lake Maggiore, 8 miles S.W. of Bellinzona. It contains a government house, an old castle, and several churches. The climate is unhealthy, owing to the quantity of silt in the immediate vicinity, brought down by the numerous torrents which join the lake here. The inhabitants speak an Italian dialect. In March 1553 more than a hundred persons were expelled from the town for refusing to become Roman Catholics. Since then Locarno has decayed, as it was deprived by that expulsion of great part of its labouring population. Pop. 2675.