Fusio is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia

Vallemaggia (district)

The district of Vallemaggia is a district of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It has a population of . The capital of the district is Cevio.-Geography:...

 in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

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In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio

Broglio, Switzerland

Broglio 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 Brontallo, Fusio, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-Sornico to form a new and larger municipality...

, Brontallo

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-Sornico to form a new and larger municipality...

, Menzonio

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-Sornico to form a new and larger municipality...

, Peccia

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.-History:...

 and Prato-Sornico

Prato-Sornico

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...

 to form a new and larger municipality Lavizzara

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.-History:...

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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

Chapel of ease

A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....

 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). 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

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Mogno

Mogno

Mogno is a village in Vallemaggia District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. Mogno is situated near the top of Val Lavizzarra, a valley through which the upper Maggia river flows. Formerly part of the municipality of Fusio, which merged with adjoining municipalities in 2004 to form the new...

 was also part of the village. In the 17th Century it possessed 50 taxable fireplaces. 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, Prato and Sornica.

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

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

. 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

Mario Botta is a Swiss architect. He studied at the Liceo Artistico in Milan and the IUAV in Venice. His ideas were influenced by Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn. He opened his own practice in 1970 in Lugano.-Career:...

, 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 60.78 square kilometres (23.5 sq mi). Of this area, 0.58 km² (0.22393925198367 sq mi) or 1.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 11.97 km² (4.6 sq mi) or 19.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.41 km² (0.158301885022939 sq mi) or 0.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 2.56 km² (0.98842152599689 sq mi) or 4.2% is either rivers or lakes and 34.23 km² (13.2 sq mi) 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 1289 m (4,229 ft). It is 46 km (28.6 mi) from Locarno

Locarno

Locarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...

. Lago di Mognola

Lago di Mognola

Lago di Mognola is a lake above Fusio in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is located at an elevation of 2003 m.-External links:*...

 is located above the village.

The former municipality also contained the village Mogno

Mogno

Mogno is a village in Vallemaggia District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. Mogno is situated near the top of Val Lavizzarra, a valley through which the upper Maggia river flows. Formerly part of the municipality of Fusio, which merged with adjoining municipalities in 2004 to form the new...

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Coat of arms

The blazon

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...

 of the municipal coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 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

Canting arms

Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...

 on the names of two families in the village. The Chiodi ( or nail) and the Tabacchi ( 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%.

Most of the population speaks Italian language

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 (40 or 88.9%), with German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 being second most common (4 or 8.9%) and Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 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.

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.

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:

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.

Religion

From the , 41 or 91.1% were Roman Catholic, while or 0.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church

Swiss Reformed Church

The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. 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

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

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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 or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the 3 who completed tertiary schooling, all were Swiss men.

, there was 1 student from Fusio who attended school outside the village.