Elevatori Club – The most interesting plants according to our readers
Following the images published in this column in the last issue, we have received further messages alerting us to noteworthy installations.
Memories in New York installations
Empire State Building (New York City)
Ground Zero (New York City)
“I read in the Club column of issue 5/2025 of Elevatori Magazine the story of some lift operators who cannot stop thinking about lifts even during the holiday period, recounting installations that connect different levels of urban floors, and therefore not only as installations that facilitate people’s lives inside buildings, but also outside, connecting different urban areas and allowing easier and more accessible use by the population. I believe this is because lifts can be considered a bit like our life companions, that leave traces of their presence over time.
So I decided to send you a photographic story about these travelling companions I met in New York (5). Companions who appeared unexpectedly during my sightseeing tour of the city, even inside historic shopping stores, such as Macy’s (3) and some museums, such as the Empire State Building or the Groun Zero (4), built in memory of what happened on 11 September 2001 at the Twin Towers.”
Andrea P.
Macy’s (New York City)
Funicular railways in Lugano
We have received and are publishing an interesting message from one of our Swiss readers, who takes us on a journey of discovery of the funicular railways in Lugano: “While reading issue N. 5/2025 of the magazine, the images you published in the Elevatori Club section on lifts visited by readers during the summer made me want to suggest three means of transport that characterise my city, Lugano, in Switzerland. They are not exactly lifts, but funicular railways.
The first one I want to tell you about is the funicular railway that connects the city centre with the FFS station in the Besso district, also known as “La Sassellina”. Inaugurated in 1886, this historic funicular railway was renovated in 2016 to make it technologically advanced and more spacious (it now carries 100 people).
Still on the subject of historic facilities, in the Ruvigliana district there is also the Monte Brè Funicular, inaugurated in 1908, which takes you to the top of Monte Brè in fifteen minutes, covering a difference in altitude of 629 metres over a total distance of 1,599 metres. It can be taken from either Via Pico in Cassarate or Via Ceresio in Ruvigliana.
A third funicular railway, equipped with new panoramic carriages, is located in Paradiso, a small town on the lake near Lugano, and takes passengers to the summit of Monte San Salvatore in 12 minutes.
The 1,660-metre-long line is divided into two separate sections of 830 metres, each with a different gradient (the first reaches 37%, the second 61%).”
Massimo B., funicular railway enthusiast
