Valais: The Valais Canton is one of 26 Swiss cantons, located in the southwestern part of the country in the Appenine Alps. It surrounds the valley of the Rodano river, which starts at its mountain spring and ends at Lake Geneva. The Valais Canton is in the southern part of Switzerland. Its southern boundary abuts Italy (Valle d'Aosta and the provinces of Vercelli and Verbano Cusio Ossola of Piedmont) and, in the southwest it abuts France (department of the High Savoia in the Rodano-Alps). The Valais canton is bordered in the north by the Vaud and Berna Cantons and on the east by the Uri and Ticino Cantons. The vast glacial valley of Rodano dominates the region. There are many lateral vales and valleys that branch out from the main valley. They vary from the narrowest  and remotest to the widest and most populated. Zermatt, a delightful tourist village overlooked by the Matterhorn (4,477 meters) is located on the highest point of the Mattertal valley. Fifty mountains within the Canton exceed 4,000 meters and there are numerous glaciers within the canton. The Rodano river flows through the principal valley from east to west until it reaches Martigny where it turns north and empties into Lake Geneva. Beyond the little city of Saint-Maurice the northern bank of the river is part of the Vaud Canton. The main valley is delimited by the Bernase Alps on the north and the Appenine Alps on the south.
Ticino: The Ticino Canton is located in southern Switzerland. It is almost surrounded by Italy (the Verbano Cusio Ossola province of Piedmont and the Varese and Como provinces of Lombardy) on the eastern, western and southern boundaries. It borders the Valais and Uri Cantons in the north and in the northeast it borders the Grigioni Canton. Forests cover approximately 1/3 of the Canton and even the lakes; Lake Maggiore and Lugano Lake compose a considerable area of the territory. The Ticino river is the main river of the Canton. It bathes a large part of the Canton, flowing northwest and traversing Val Bedretto and Val Leventina emptying into Lake Maggiore in correlation with the "Seals of Magadino" the delta zone of notable relevance to the environment formed by the mouths of the Ticino river and the Verzasca river not far from Bellinzona.