Broglio 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 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...

, Fusio

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-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

Broglio is first mentioned in 1361 as Brono.

The existing village area has developed in several stages. It was created in 1374, when the valley (comunità) Lavizzara broke up and divided its lands. At the end of the 16th Century it grew again through a series of agreements between the neighboring communities.

The Church of S. Maria Lauretana was dedicated in 1487. In the following centuries, it was repeatedly rebuilt and restored. It belonged to the Sornico parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 until 1616, when it became an independent parish. The historically significant building, Casa Pometta, is from the 17th Century.

The highest population in the village was during the 17th Century. The slow population decline intensified in the late 19th Century with emigration to the cities and to other countries. In 1990, agriculture and livestock, which for centuries were the main sources of income, employed about a third of the workforce. In recent decades, the number of vacation homes has increased markedly.

Geography

Broglio has an area, , of 12.94 square kilometres (5 sq mi). Of this area, 0.26 km² (0.100386561234059 sq mi) or 2.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.88 km² (2.7 sq mi) or 53.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.15 km² (37.1 acre) or 1.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.25 km² (0.0965255396481338 sq mi) or 1.9% is either rivers or lakes and 5.33 km² (2.1 sq mi) or 41.2% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. Out of the forested land, 41.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 8.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.3% is used for growing crops. Of the water in the village, 0.5% is in lakes and 1.5% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 18.9% is unproductive vegetation and 22.3% is too rocky for vegetation.

The village is located in the Vallemaggia district, about 35 km (21.7 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...

 on the road to Fusio.

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 Argent a pot between two lions rampant reguardant and in chief a mullet of five and in base a fleur de lis all gules. The pot is taken from the old seal of the Lavizzara valley. The other symbols are for the four oldest families of the village: the lions the Coraggioni and Pometta, the star the Pescatore and the fleur de lis the Demaria families.

Demographics

Broglio has a population of 88. 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...

 (86 or 97.7%) with the rest speaking 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....

Of the population in the village 52 or about 59.1% were born in Broglio and lived there in 2000. There were 26 or 29.5% who were born in the same canton, while 6 or 6.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3 or 3.4% were born outside of Switzerland.

, there were 38 people who were single and never married in the village. There were 42 married individuals, 7 widows or widowers and 1 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was which is less people per room than the cantonal average of 0.6 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About % of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage

Mortgage loan

A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

there were 11 households that consist of only one person and 4 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 34 households that answered this question, 32.4% 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 7 married couples without children, 13 married couples with children There were 1 single parents with a child or children.

there were 103 single family homes (or 92.8% of the total) out of a total of 111 inhabited buildings. There were 6 multi-family buildings (5.4%), along with multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (0.0%) and 2 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (1.8%). Of the single family homes 17 were built before 1919, while 1 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (66) were built between 1919 and 1945.

there were 117 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 33. There were 15 single room apartments and 24 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 34 apartments (29.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 82 apartments (70.1%) were seasonally occupied and 1 apartments (0.9%) were empty.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Economy

There were 39 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.5% of the workforce. , there were 32 workers who commuted away from the village.

Religion

From the , 86 or 97.7% were Roman Catholic, while 1 or 1.1% 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...

. There was 1 person who belonged to no church, was 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...

.

Education

In Broglio about 34 or (38.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 4 or (4.5%) 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 4 who completed tertiary schooling, 50.0% were Swiss men, 50.0% were Swiss women.

, there were 17 students from Broglio who attended schools outside the village.