Melide is 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

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

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 ...

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 ...

. The village lies very close to the mountain Monte San Salvatore and is directly on the Lake of Lugano. The Melide causeway to the east was built to make it possible to cross to Bissone and to allow a north–south highway to be built. Melide is known for Swissminiatur, a museum that shows famous buildings in

presented in miniature form.

History

Melide is first mentioned in 1034 as ''Melede''. It was originally ruled by

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

. After ownership transferred to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in the first half of the 15th century, Melide was required to furnish five soldiers for the

Duke of Milan Milan was ruled by dukes from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna. List of dukes of Milan House of Visconti In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti was titled Duke ...

. In 1482, a toll and

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

station is first mentioned in Melide. Until 1427 it was part of the

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 ...

, followed by the parish of Carona. It became an independent parish in 1525. As the excavations of 1991-92 showed, 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 Quirico e Giulitta developed in several construction stages during the 6th and 7th Centuries. It was rebuilt in 1590 by

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian"Domenico Fontana."
''

Swiss Confederation 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. Switzerlan ...

Tagsatzung The Federal Diet of Switzerland (, ; ; ) was the legislative and executive council of the Old Swiss Confederacy and existed in various forms from the beginnings of Swiss independence until the formation of the Swiss federal state in 1848. T ...

granted Melide, Bissone and Morcote a monopoly on the sale of fish in Lugano. Fishing, together with agriculture and viticulture was the main sources of income in the village. The rest of the income for the village comes from the emigration of artisans and artists, including the Fontana and Castelli families. After the construction of the main road in 1818, a ferry opened in the settlement of La Punta the following year. The ferry helped the economic development of the village until the construction of the Melide causeway between 1844 and 1847. The long structure added a railroad line in 1874 and since the second half of the 1960s, a highway. In the 18th century

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is: CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2 This reaction can tak ...

s opened in the village. In the 19th century various manufacturers of tobacco, alcohol, bells, boats, soap and ink opened. The tourist industry started in the 19th century and is still a major industry in Melide. In 1959, Swissminiatur, with miniature models of Swiss towns and buildings, opened.

Geography

Melide has an area, , of . Of this area, or 13.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 62.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 34.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.6% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 13.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 13.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 3.0% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.2%. Out of the forested land, 60.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.0% is used for growing crops and 13.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Lugano district, on the western shore of

Lake Lugano Lake Lugano ( or , from ; ) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore. It was cited for the first t ...

at the end of the Melide dam. It consists of the village of Melide and, since 1863, part of Capo San Martino.

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 ''Azure an anchor cabled or.''

Demographics

Melide has a population () of . , 32.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 9.6%. Most of the population () speaks

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

(79.5%), 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 (12.1%) and Portuguese being third (1.9%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 13-January-2011 Of the Swiss national languages (), 181 speak German, 22 people speak French, 1,193 people speak Italian. The remainder (105 people) speak another language.Popolazione residente, secondo la lingua principale e la religione, nel 2000
accessed 23 November 2010 , the gender distribution of the population was 47.0% male and 53.0% female. The population was made up of 500 Swiss men (30.6% of the population), and 268 (16.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 604 Swiss women (37.0%), and 261 (16.0%) non-Swiss women. In there were 10 live births to Swiss citizens and 8 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 11 deaths of Swiss citizens and 4 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 1 while the foreign population increased by 4. There were 2 Swiss men and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 10 non-Swiss men and 15 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 15 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 20 people. This represents a

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

of -0.3%. The age distribution, , in Melide is; 150 children or 9.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 121 teenagers or 7.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 156 people or 9.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 261 people or 16.0% are between 30 and 39, 261 people or 16.0% are between 40 and 49, and 249 people or 15.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 193 people or 11.8% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 132 people or 8.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 110 people or 6.7% who are over 80.01.02.03 Popolazione residente permanente
accessed 23 November 2010 , there were 740 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. there were 169 single family homes (or 47.7% of the total) out of a total of 354 inhabited buildings. There were 69 two family buildings (19.5%) and 79 multi-family buildings (22.3%). There were also 37 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings (used for both housing and commercial or another purpose). The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.39%. there were 985 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 3 room apartment of which there were 298. There were 86 single room apartments and 132 apartments with five or more rooms. 09.02.02 Abitazioni
accessed 23 November 2010 Of these apartments, a total of 737 apartments (74.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 231 apartments (23.5%) were seasonally occupied and 17 apartments (1.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1260 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1600 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1591 from:start till:197 text:"197" bar:1643 from:start till:167 text:"167" bar:1709 from:start till:150 text:"150" bar:1769 from:start till:142 text:"142" bar:1801 from:start till:158 text:"158" bar:1850 from:start till:273 text:"273" bar:1860 from:start till:264 text:"264" bar:1870 from:start till:249 text:"249" bar:1880 from:start till:287 text:"287" bar:1890 from:start till:397 text:"397" bar:1900 from:start till:403 text:"403" bar:1910 from:start till:518 text:"518" bar:1920 from:start till:573 text:"573" bar:1930 from:start till:693 text:"693" bar:1941 from:start till:665 text:"665" bar:1950 from:start till:775 text:"775" bar:1960 from:start till:1046 text:"1,046" bar:1970 from:start till:1315 text:"1,315" bar:1980 from:start till:1337 text:"1,337" bar:1990 from:start till:1372 text:"1,372" bar:2000 from:start till:1501 text:"1,501"

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 39.04% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (17.75%), the CVP (15.78%) and the

Ticino League The Ticino League () is a regionalist, national-conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino. The party was founded in 1991 by entrepreneur Giuliano Bignasca and journalist Flavio Maspoli. After some public camp ...

(11.82%). In the federal election, a total of 463 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 51.2%. In the '' Gran Consiglio'' election, there were a total of 904 registered voters in Melide, of which 566 or 62.6% voted. 7 blank ballots and 1 null ballot were cast, leaving 558 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 184 or 33.0% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PS (with 112 or 20.1%), the SSI (with 73 or 13.1%) and the PPD+GenGiova (with 65 or 11.6%). Elezioni cantonali: Gran Consiglio, Consiglio di Stato
accessed 23 November 2010 In the ''Consiglio di Stato'' election, 3 blank ballots and 2 null ballots were cast, leaving 561 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 182 or 32.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PS (with 118 or 21.0%), the LEGA (with 106 or 18.9%) and the SSI (with 66 or 11.8%).

Economy

, Melide had an unemployment rate of 4.06%. , there was 1 person employed in the primary economic sector and about 1 business involved in this sector. 109 people were employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there were 10 businesses in this sector. 397 people were employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 75 businesses in this sector. There were 780 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.9% of the workforce. , there were 417 workers who commuted into the municipality and 561 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 23.0% of the workforce coming into Melide are coming from outside Switzerland, while 3.4% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 14.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 56.7% used a private car. , there were 4 hotels in Melide with a total of 71 rooms and 145 beds.

Religion

From the , 1,167 or 77.7% 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 145 or 9.7% 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 ...

. There are 152 individuals (or about 10.13% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 37 individuals (or about 2.47% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Melide about 72.2% of the population (between age 25 and 64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university 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 ...

''). In Melide there were a total of 220 students (). The Ticino

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

provides up to three years of non-mandatory

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

and in Melide there were 47 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years and includes both a standard school and a special school. In the municipality, 66 students attended the standard primary schools and 1 student attended the special school. In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education. There were 45 students in the two-year middle school and 1 in their pre-apprenticeship, while 20 students were in the four-year advanced program. The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college. In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student). There were 15 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 19 who attend part-time. The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields. There were 6 students in the professional program. Allievi e studenti, secondo il genere di scuola, anno scolastico 2009/2010
accessed 23 November 2010 , there were 24 students in Melide who came from another municipality, while 151 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transport

Melide is served by the Melide station, which is on the Gotthard railway.

Famous people

* Giovanni Fontana (1540–1614) - architect and engineer. *

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian"Domenico Fontana."
''

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

by the

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V (; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death, in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where h ...

. He also re-erected the

Obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

Saint Peter's Square St. Peter's Square (, ) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the pope, papal enclave and exclave, enclave in Rome, directly west of the neighborhood (rione) of Borgo (rione of Rome), Borgo. Both t ...

in Rome in 1586.

References

External links

*
Official website

Web site of Swissminiatur
{{Authority control Municipalities of Ticino Populated places on Lake Lugano