The Ticino River is a tributary of the Po. It rises in the St. Gotthard massif in Switzerland, flows through Lake Maggiore, Italy. The Ticino joins the Po a few km downstream of Pavia. It is about 280 kilometers or 173 miles long. In Switzerland it is dammed to create hydroelectricity, while in Italy it is primarily used for irrigation.
Wedge shaped, Ticino protrudes into Italy to the west and south and is bounded by the cantons of Valais and Uri to the north and Graubünden to the northeast.
The chief system is that of the TicinoRiver, which rises in the northwest, flows east through the Bedretto valley and then southeast through the Leventina valley, receiving the left-bank tributaries Brenno (from the Blenio valley) and Moesa (from the Mesolcina valley) before curving westward above Bellinzona to enter the lake from the east.
The western part of the canton is drained by the Maggia and its numerous right-bank tributaries, and the Verzasca valley lies between the Ticino and the Maggia.