Fusio is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio,

Brontallo Brontallo is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio, Fusio, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-So ...

Menzonio Menzonio is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio, Brontallo, Fusio, Peccia and Prato- ...

, Peccia and Prato-Sornico to form a new and larger municipality

Lavizzara Lavizzara is a municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The municipality was created in 2004 by a merger of Broglio, Brontallo, Fusio, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-Sornico.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010

History

Fusio is first mentioned in 1258 as ''Fuxio''. The population reached its peak in the 16th-17th Century (400-500 inhabitants), but towards the end of the 18th Century began a slow decline. This slow decline accelerated dramatically after 1950 because of emigration to the cities. Most of the remaining population is elderly. The church, consecrated in 1455 to the ''Beata Vergine Assunta'', was a Chapel of ease of Sornico until the 16th Century. It was later rebuilt several times, mainly in the 17th Century. The local economy relied on livestock, pastures and forestry. The village possessed vast pastures and alpine pastures, which explains the relatively small number of emigrants overseas. Until the second half of the 19th Century there were two mines in the village that produced

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

(soapstone). Through the construction of the dam in the Sambuco valley (1950–56) the amount of agricultural land has been reduced. From the 1980s a number of houses and an inn were built. The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Mogno Mogno is a village in Vallemaggia District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. Mogno is situated near the top of Val Lavizzara, a valley through which the upper Maggia river flows. Formerly part of the municipality of Fusio, which merged with ...

was also part of the village. In the 17th Century it possessed 50 taxable

fireplaces A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

. By 1801, the population had dropped to just 40 inhabitants. Today it is no longer inhabited all year round and serves only as a holiday village. Before Mogno was incorporated in 1936 into Fusio it was part of Peccia, and the land around the settlement was shared between Fusio, Peccia and Prato-Sornico. The church of San Giovanni Battista Decollato was built in 1626 and was initially a chapel of ease of the parish of Peccia. Towards the end of the 17th Century it became an independent

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the 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 community activities, ...

. In 1940 it became part of the parish of Fusio. The church was destroyed in 1986 by an avalanche. The new building, by

Mario Botta Mario Botta (born 1 April 1943) is a Swiss architect. Career Botta designed his first building, a two-family house at Morbio Superiore in Ticino, at age 16. He graduated from the Università Iuav di Venezia (1969). While the arrangements of spa ...

, was built in 1997 after 10 years of planning and construction work. The unique construction of the building has already become a point of interest and a source of critical debate.

Geography

Fusio has an area, , of . Of this area, or 1.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 19.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 0.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 4.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 56.3% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.4%. Out of the forested land, 13.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.8% is used for growing crops. Of the water in the village, 3.6% is in lakes and 0.6% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 26.4% is unproductive vegetation and 29.9% is too rocky for vegetation. The village is located in the Vallemaggia district. It is the upper most village in the Val Lavizzara at an elevation of . It is from

Locarno , neighboring_municipalities= Ascona, Avegno, Cadenazzo, Cugnasco, Gerra (Verzasca), Gambarogno, Gordola, Lavertezzo, Losone, Minusio, Muralto, Orselina, Tegna, Tenero-Contra , twintowns =* Gagra, Georgia * Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic ...

. Lago di Mognola is located above the village. The former municipality also contained the village of Mogno.

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 the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Tierced argent a pot sable gules two nails or in saltire and or a tobacco plant issuant vert.'' The pot is the symbol of the Lavizzara valley. The nails and tobacco are

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely ''batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional '' ...

on the names of two families in the village. The Chiodi ( it, chiodo or nail) and the Tabacchi ( it, tabacco or tobacco).

Demographics

Fusio has a population () of 45. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 14-February-2011 Most of the population () speaks

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...

(40 or 88.9%), with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

being second most common (4 or 8.9%) and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

being third (1 or 2.2%). Of the population in the village 30 or about 66.7% were born in Fusio and lived there in 2000. There were 3 or 6.7% who were born in the same canton, while 5 or 11.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 5 or 11.1% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 16 people who were single and never married in the village. There were 23 married individuals, 5 widows or widowers and 1 individuals who was divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 There were 8 households that consist of only one person and households with five or more people. Out of a total of 22 households that answered this question, 36.4% were households made up of just one person and 2 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 4 married couples without children, 6 married couples with children There was 1 single parent with a child or children. there were 103 single-family homes (or 92.0% of the total) out of a total of 112 inhabited buildings. There were 4 multi-family buildings (3.6%) and 5 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.5%). Of the single-family homes 1 were built before 1919, while 1 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single-family homes (60) 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 113 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 32. There were 11 single room apartments and 17 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 20 apartments (17.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 93 apartments (82.3%) were seasonally occupied. The historical population is given in the following chart:Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000
accessed 29 January 2011 Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:260 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:50 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1799 from:start till:257 text:"257" bar:1850 from:start till:236 text:"236" bar:1860 from:start till:209 text:"209" bar:1870 from:start till:227 text:"227" bar:1880 from:start till:216 text:"216" bar:1888 from:start till:199 text:"199" bar:1900 from:start till:161 text:"161" bar:1910 from:start till:133 text:"133" bar:1920 from:start till:140 text:"140" bar:1930 from:start till:130 text:"130" bar:1941 from:start till:133 text:"133" bar:1950 from:start till:136 text:"136" bar:1960 from:start till:98 text:"98" bar:1970 from:start till:69 text:"69" bar:1980 from:start till:63 text:"63" bar:1990 from:start till:37 text:"37" bar:2000 from:start till:45 text:"45"

Economy

There were 16 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.5% of the workforce. , there were 4 workers who commuted away from the village.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010

Religion

From the , 41 or 91.1% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while or 0.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There were 3 (or about 6.67% of the population) who belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist.

Education

In Fusio about 12 or (26.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 3 or (6.7%) have completed additional higher education (either

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 3 who completed tertiary schooling, all were Swiss men. , there was 1 student from Fusio who attended school outside the village.

References

* {{Authority control Former municipalities of Ticino Villages in Ticino