Serravalle 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
Blenio
Blenio is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Blenio (district), district of Blenio, in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino, Switzerland.
Blenio was created on 22 October 2006 when it incorporated the formerly autonomous ...
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. It was formed on 1 April 2012 by the merger of the former municipalities of
Malvaglia
Malvaglia is a former municipality in the district of Blenio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Since 15 March 2011, it is part of the municipality Serravalle. The reservoir Bacino di Val Malvaglia is located above the village of Malvaglia ...
,
Semione and
Ludiano.
[Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 May 2012
History
Ludiano
In 1926, a grave was discovered which contained
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
grave offerings. The modern municipality of Ludiano is first mentioned in 1211 as ''Luguilano''.
It was mentioned as a local center for surrounding farmhouses and villages in 1351.
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 S. Secondo is first mentioned in 1293. It was rebuilt in 1779–82, though the older
romanesque clock tower was retained.
[
In the past, the main sources of income were crops, livestock and vineyards. This income was supplemented by money sent back to the village by emigrants to other European countries. After the emigration-related decline in the mid-19th century, the number of inhabitants has increased in the last decades of the 20th century and has led to numerous new homes. In 2000 about half the jobs in the village were in manufacturing and the services sector accounted for about a fifth of the jobs. Two-thirds of the working population earned their livelihood outside the community.][
]
Malvaglia
Malvaglia is first mentioned in 1205 as ''de Malvallia''. In German, it was previously known as ''Manglia''.Roman
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 Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
coin hoard was found. The settlement is also home to the ''Casa Baggio''. ''Casa Baggio'' was built in the 16th century and expanded in the 17th. It was probably the ruling seat of the bailiff
A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary.
Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...
. The building is now listed as a historic building. Above the village is also the remains of ''Casa dei pagani'', a cave castle from the 11th–13th Centuries.[
The original, parish church was dedicated to St. Benedict and first mentioned in 1207. The current building, with St. Martin as the ]patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
is from 1602 to 1603, but the bell tower is from the 13th Century.[
The local economy was dominated by agriculture, animal husbandry, ]vineyards
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
. The emigration in until the 19th century to Italy and in the 19th and 20th centuries to France, England, and America, led to a sharp population decline. Between 1933 and 1959, the first cable car in the Canton was in operation between Malvaglia and Ponterio in the Malvaglia Valley. In 1995 a new line was inaugurated on Mount Dagro. In the 1940s for the construction of the dam, a road was built into the Malvaglia Valley. The ring road around the village open in 1976. In 2000 about one-third and one-half of the workers were employed in manufacturing and the services sectors, respectively. More than half of employed persons worked outside of the municipality.[
]
Geography
As of the 2004/2009 survey, Serravalle has an area of . Of this area, about 12.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 47.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and 38.6% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 1.1% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1983 amount. Of the agricultural land, is used for orchards and vineyards, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1983 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by . Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality.[Regionalporträts 2017: Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 18 May 2017
Demographics
Serravalle has a population () of . , 8.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 5 years (2010–2015) the population has changed at a rate of 4.17%. The birth rate
Birth rate, also known as natality, is the total number of live childbirth, human births per 1,000 population for a given period divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registr ...
in the municipality, in 2015, was 6.3, while the death rate
Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...
was 10.6 per thousand residents.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 55.9% of the population and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 24.0%.][ The population of Serravalle is older than the national average. In 2015 there were 499 residents who were over 65 years old (24% vs 18% nationally) and out of those 176 who were over 80 (8.5% vs 5% nationally). In 2015 there were 890 single residents, 894 people who were married or in a civil partnership, 130 widows or widowers and 161 divorced residents.
In 2015, there were 897 private households in Serravalle with an average household size of 2.27 persons. In 2015, about 85.9% of all buildings in the municipality were single family homes, which is much greater than the percentage in the canton (68.1%) and much greater than the percentage nationally (57.4%). In 2014, the rate of construction of new housing units per 1,000 residents was 2.89. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.54%.][
]
Historic Population
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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AlignBars = justify
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ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:120 start:0
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id:LA value:yellowgreen legend:Ludiano
id:ST value:green legend:Malvaglia
id:SE value:blue legend:Semione
PlotData=
color:yellowgreen width:30 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1850 from: 0 till:389 text:"389" color:LA
bar:1860 from: 0 till:300 text:"300" color:LA
bar:1870 from: 0 till:389 text:"389" color:LA
bar:1880 from: 0 till:329 text:"329" color:LA
bar:1890 from: 0 till:322 text:"322" color:LA
bar:1900 from: 0 till:294 text:"294" color:LA
bar:1910 from: 0 till:271 text:"271" color:LA
bar:1920 from: 0 till:251 text:"251" color:LA
bar:1930 from: 0 till:219 text:"219" color:LA
bar:1940 from: 0 till:256 text:"256" color:LA
bar:1950 from: 0 till:242 text:"242" color:LA
bar:1960 from: 0 till:208 text:"208" color:LA
bar:1970 from: 0 till:206 text:"206" color:LA
bar:1980 from: 0 till:253 text:"253" color:LA
bar:1990 from: 0 till:228 text:"228" color:LA
bar:2000 from: 0 till:291 text:"291" color:LA
bar:1850 from: 389 till:2036 text:"1,647" color:ST
bar:1860 from: 300 till:1755 text:"1,455" color:ST
bar:1870 from: 389 till:2118 text:"1,729" color:ST
bar:1880 from: 329 till:2351 text:"2,022" color:ST
bar:1890 from: 322 till:2074 text:"1,752" color:ST
bar:1900 from: 294 till:1900 text:"1,606" color:ST
bar:1910 from: 271 till:1662 text:"1,391" color:ST
bar:1920 from: 251 till:1752 text:"1,501" color:ST
bar:1930 from: 219 till:1484 text:"1,265" color:ST
bar:1940 from: 256 till:1446 text:"1,190" color:ST
bar:1950 from: 242 till:1362 text:"1,120" color:ST
bar:1960 from: 208 till:1328 text:"1,120" color:ST
bar:1970 from: 206 till:1305 text:"1,099" color:ST
bar:1980 from: 253 till:1358 text:"1,105" color:ST
bar:1990 from: 228 till:1374 text:"1,146" color:ST
bar:2000 from: 291 till:1463 text:"1,172" color:ST
bar:1850 from: 2036 till:2791 text:"755" color:SE
bar:1860 from: 1755 till:2377 text:"622" color:SE
bar:1870 from: 2118 till:2997 text:"879" color:SE
bar:1880 from: 2351 till:2946 text:"595" color:SE
bar:1890 from: 2074 till:2706 text:"632" color:SE
bar:1900 from: 1900 till:2372 text:"472" color:SE
bar:1910 from: 1662 till:2087 text:"425" color:SE
bar:1920 from: 1752 till:2185 text:"433" color:SE
bar:1930 from: 1484 till:1802 text:"318" color:SE
bar:1940 from: 1446 till:1763 text:"317" color:SE
bar:1950 from: 1362 till:1711 text:"349" color:SE
bar:1960 from: 1328 till:1609 text:"281" color:SE
bar:1970 from: 1305 till:1573 text:"268" color:SE
bar:1980 from: 1358 till:1615 text:"257" color:SE
bar:1990 from: 1374 till:1655 text:"281" color:SE
bar:2000 from: 1463 till:1783 text:"320" color:SE
Heritage sites of national significance
The ''Casa dei pagani'' (a cave castle
A cave castle () or grotto castle (German: ''Grottenburg'') is a residential or refuge castle that has been built into a natural cave. It falls within the category of hill castles. Unlike other types (such as water castles), such castles can o ...
) and the parish church of S. Martino with its ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...
and churchyard in Malvaglia and 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 S. Maria Assunta with Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...
, the Oratory of S. Maria Bambina a Navone and the ruins of Serravalle Castle in Semione are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The villages of Rongie/Orino, Semione, Navone and the Val Malvaglia region are all listed on the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
Casa dei Pagani.jpg, ''Casa dei pagani'', a cave castle
Malvaglia KircheJPG.JPG , Parish Church of S. Martino with ossuary and churchyard
Chiesa di Santa Maria del Castello (Semione).jpg, Parish Church of S. Maria Assunta
Serravalle Säulen2.JPG, Ruins of Serravalle Castle
Economy
Serravalle is classed as an industrial-tertiary municipality, a municipality where agriculture and manufacturing play a minor role in the economy.
, there were a total of 554 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 118 people worked in 49 businesses in the primary economic sector. 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 ...
employed 267 workers in 34 separate businesses, of which there were 6 small businesses with a total of 123 employees and one mid sized business with a total of 89 employees. Finally, 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 ...
provided 169 jobs in 84 businesses.
In 2015, a total of 2.9% of the population received social assistance.[
In 2015, the average cantonal, municipal and church tax rate in the municipality for a couple with two children making was 2.4% while the rate for a single person making was 16.1%, both of which are close to the average for the canton. The canton has one of the lowest average tax rates for those making and an average rate for those making . In 2013, the average income in the municipality per tax payer was and the per person average was , which is less than the cantonal average of and and the national per taxpayer average of and the per person average of .
]
Politics
In the 2015 federal election, the most popular party was 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 ...
with 23.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (21.9%), the CVP (21.2%) and the SP (14.1%). In the federal election, a total of 975 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 53.7%.
References
{{Authority control
Cultural property of national significance in Ticino
Municipalities of Ticino