Around Lombardy, Western North Italy (therefore I believe also in Tessin, but I might be wrong) the common translation for "working super-hard", or "working your ass off" is " mi mi sun fà l' Cül à pera " (I made my ass pear-shaped).
More commonly spread versions " ----come una casa, come una capanna " (I made my ass- as big - as a house, as big as a hut). What that might have to do with working, or the sense in the object taken as a reference, I still have to understand