Avegno was a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the district of
Vallemaggia
The Vallemaggia District is a district of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It has a population of (as of ). The capital of the district is Cevio.
Geography
The Vallemaggia District has an area, , of . Of this area, or 1.7% is used for ...
in the
canton of
Ticino
Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. On 20 April 2008, Avegno and
Gordevio merged to form
Avegno Gordevio.
[Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010
In 1982, the
Swiss Heritage Society
The Swiss Heritage Society (SHS) is a non-profit organization, non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of Switzerland's architecture, architectural heritage. Its focus is on the preservation of important landmarks, the development of ...
awarded the
Wakker Prize
The Wakker Prize (German: ''Wakkerpreis'', French: ''Prix Wakker'', Italian: ''Premio Wakker'') is awarded annually by the Swiss Heritage Society to a Municipality of Switzerland for the development and preservation of its architectural herita ...
to Avegno for the preservation of its architectural heritage.
History
Avegno is first mentioned in 1189 as ''Vegno''.
[
In the 14th century, Avegno shared a ]chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...
with Gordevio. In 1645, they separated from the mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...
in Maggia, and became separate parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
es. The parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
of SS Luca e Abbondio was built in 1313. In the 17th century it was expanded and the rich stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
work was added.[
Agriculture, formerly the main occupation of the inhabitants, is today almost non-existent. Handicrafts (making baskets and pottery) and stone cutting were able to slow the exodus somewhat. The strong population growth in recent decades is due to the proximity to ]Locarno
Locarno (; ; Ticinese dialect, Ticinese: ; formerly in ) is a southern Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Locarno (district), Locarno (of which it is the capita ...
. Some companies have settled in the valley and various sports facilities and campsites have been created. In 1982, the Wakker Prize was awarded to Avegno in recognition of the efforts to preserve the village's historic appearance.[
]
Geography
The village is located in the Vallemaggia district. It is located at the bottom of the valley, on the left side of the Maggia river. The former municipality consists of three separate village sections, that have grown into a single village.
Coat of arms
The blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Per fess azure and gules overall a tower with a banner argent surrounded with three doves volant two and one.''
Demographics
Avegno has a population () of 540. Most of the population () speaks Italian language
Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...
(429 or 87.0%), with German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
being second most common (47 or 9.5%) and French being third (4 or 0.8%).[
Of the population in the village 175 or about 35.5% were born in Avegno and lived there in 2000. There were 170 or 34.5% who were born in the same canton, while 64 or 13.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 73 or 14.8% were born outside of Switzerland.][ , there were 200 people who were single and never married in the village. There were 240 married individuals, 32 widows or widowers and 21 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
There were 47 households that consist of only one person and 14 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 193 households that answered this question, 24.4% were households made up of just one person and 4 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 42 married couples without children, 78 married couples with children There were 16 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up unrelated people and 2 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.[
there were 244 single-family homes (or 89.7% of the total) out of a total of 272 inhabited buildings. There were 23 multi-family buildings (8.5%), along with 1 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (0.4%) and 4 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (1.5%). Of the single-family homes 11 were built before 1919, while 19 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single-family homes (102) were built between 1919 and 1945.][Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011
there were 305 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 104. There were 13 single room apartments and 84 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 190 apartments (62.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 114 apartments (37.4%) were seasonally occupied and 1 apartments (0.3%) were empty.[
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 31.59% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (29.53%), the SP (16.85%) and the SVP (6.99%). In the federal election, a total of 209 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 52.5%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, ''Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton''
accessed 28 May 2010
In the '' Gran Consiglio'' election, there were a total of 402 registered voters in Avegno, of which 296 or 73.6% voted. 7 blank ballots were cast, leaving 289 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD+GenGiova which received 63 or 21.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 58 or 20.1%), the PS (with 54 or 18.7%) and the PS (with 54 or 18.7%).[ Elezioni cantonali: Gran Consiglio, Consiglio di Stato]
accessed 23 November 2010
In the ''Consiglio di Stato'' election, 4 blank ballots and 1 null ballot were cast, leaving 291 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PS which received 67 or 23.0% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD (with 65 or 22.3%), the PLRT (with 54 or 18.6%) and the SSI (with 52 or 17.9%).[
]
Economy
There were 211 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 33.2% of the workforce. , there were 176 workers who commuted into the village and 164 workers who commuted away. The village is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the village for every one leaving. About 22.2% of the workforce coming into Avegno are coming from outside Switzerland.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010
Religion
From the , 386 or 78.3% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 32 or 6.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 who belonged to an Orthodox church, and there were 7 individuals (or about 1.42% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 (or about 0.41% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. There was 1 individual who was Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. 43 (or about 8.72% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 21 individuals (or about 4.26% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Avegno about 202 or (41.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 64 or (13.0%) have completed additional higher education (either University
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 64 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.9% were Swiss men, 32.8% were Swiss women.[
, there were 1 students in Avegno who came from another village, while 75 residents attended schools outside the village.][
]
References
External links
Official website
*
{{Authority control
Former municipalities of Ticino
Articles which contain graphical timelines