Prato-Sornico is a former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.
The municipality contained the villages Prato and Sornico. These entities were former municipalities of their own, having been merged to form Prato-Sornico in 1864.
In 2004 Prato-Sornico 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 ...
,
Fusio
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, 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- ...
and
Peccia
Peccia is one of six small Swiss municipalities which merged in April 2004 to form the commune of Lavizzara, with about 1000 people. The other municipalities were Broglio, Brontallo, Fusio, Menzonio, 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
Prato and Sornico were first mentioned in 1374.
Prato and Sornico, along with Broglio, Fusio and Peccia, formed the valley community of Lavizzara. In 1374, the community dissolved and the villages of Prato and Sornico became independent. The common, shared land of the four communities of Fusio, Peccia, Prato and Sornico (known as the ''comunella dei quattro comuni'') remained shared until 1929. In the 15th century, the hamlet was the seat of the General Council of the valley, then the seat of the
Swiss Confederation
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
governor between 1513 and 1798. After 1803 it was the capital of the sub-district of Lavizzara. Even today stately houses in the village testify of its political and religious importance of the village. One of the houses in the village, which was built in the 15th century, extended in the 16th century and renovated in 1975–77, served as the seat of the bailiff and a prison. Another house, in Prato, is Casa Berna which is from the 18th century. It contains the rich library of Giulio Giovanni Gerolamo Berna, the archpriest of Locarno.
The church of San Martino in Sornico is first mentioned in the 14th century, but probably dates back to the 11th century. It was 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 or a metropo ...
in the 16th century of the Val Lavizzara and in 1747 was made a provost's church. The
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, ...
of SS Fabiano e Sebastiano in Prato was built in 1487, rebuilt in 1730 and re-consecrated in 1761 by the
Bishop of Como
The Diocese of Como ( la, Dioecesis Comensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Italy. It was established in the Fourth Century. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of ...
.
In the 19th and 20th century, the emigration overseas and into the cities led to a sharp population decline. In this alpine village at the beginning of the 21st century, one-third of the workforce still works in agriculture. In the last decades of the 20th century, many vacation homes and tourist infrastructure were built in the village.
Geography
Prato-Sornico has an area, , of . Of this area, or 0.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 29.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 0.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 54.0% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.1%. Out of the forested land, 18.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.4% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 23.2% is unproductive vegetation and 30.9% is too rocky for vegetation.
The village is located in the Vallemaggia district. It is located about from
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
of Prato and Sornico merged. The village boundaries include the peak of Pizzo Campo Tencia which is high.
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 ''Argent in chief a cloth gules hanging from a sword azure fesswise point to dexter and in base a pot sable.'' The pot is a traditional symbol of the Lavizzara valley.
Demographics
Prato-Sornico has a population () of 104.
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 ...
(96 or 92.3%), 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 3.8%) and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
being third (2 or 1.9%). There is 1 person who speaks French and people who speak Romansh.
Of the population in the village 63 or about 60.6% were born in Prato-Sornico and lived there in 2000. There were 24 or 23.1% who were born in the same canton, while 8 or 7.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 9 or 8.7% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 43 people who were single and never married in the village. There were 52 married individuals, 7 widows or widowers and 2 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
There were 8 households that consist of only one person and 2 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 41 households that answered this question, 19.5% 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 10 married couples without children, 15 married couples with children There were 1 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up unrelated people and 1 household that was made some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 73 single-family homes (or 93.6% of the total) out of a total of 78 inhabited buildings. There were 2 multi-family buildings (2.6%), along with multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (0.0%) and 3 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.8%). Of the single-family homes 9 were built before 1919, while 0 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single-family homes (38) 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 80 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 21. There were 3 single room apartments and 24 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 39 apartments (48.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 41 apartments (51.3%) 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
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id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
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Period = from:0 till:800
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ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0
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color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1700 from:start till:800 text:"800"
bar:1776 from:start till:335 text:"335"
bar:1850 from:start till:161 text:"161"
bar:1860 from:start till:157 text:"157"
bar:1870 from:start till:175 text:"175"
bar:1880 from:start till:166 text:"166"
bar:1888 from:start till:150 text:"150"
bar:1900 from:start till:124 text:"124"
bar:1910 from:start till:114 text:"114"
bar:1920 from:start till:98 text:"98"
bar:1930 from:start till:118 text:"118"
bar:1941 from:start till:99 text:"99"
bar:1950 from:start till:104 text:"104"
bar:1960 from:start till:108 text:"108"
bar:1970 from:start till:111 text:"111"
bar:1980 from:start till:103 text:"103"
bar:1990 from:start till:92 text:"92"
bar:2000 from:start till:104 text:"104"
Economy
There were 50 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 28.0% of the workforce. , there were 15 workers who commuted into the village and 24 workers who commuted away. The village is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the village for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb accessed 24 June 2010
Religion
From the , 95 or 91.3% 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 3 or 2.9% 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 4 (or about 3.85% of the population) who belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1 individuals (or about 0.96% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Prato-Sornico about 36 or (34.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 4 or (3.8%) 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 4 who completed tertiary schooling, all were Swiss men. , there were 1 students in Prato-Sornico who came from another village, while 6 residents attended schools outside the village.