Hi there and welcome to Ticino. My experience in Lugano was that much of the expat action is through Internations or Meetup page. Also there is IWC in Lugano that I understand is very active. However when I say very active its the Ticinese way, this place does not have a buzzing expat scene so speaking Italian does help you to make friends I find people here generally the friendliest bunch in Swiss (and have lived both in German and French speaking part already), just its a lot quieter and bit isolated due to slow connections to rest of Swiss / international airport...anyway am sure you will love it and hiking here goes on late November and you can then swap snowshoes on and continue