Bruzella
Encyclopedia
Bruzella was a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Mendrisio
Mendrisio (district)
The district of Mendrisio is the southernmost district of canton of Ticino and of Switzerland. To its north lies the district of Lugano. It is surrounded on the other three sides by Italy: to the east and south by the province of Como, and to the west by the province of Varese...

 in the canton of Ticino in 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....

. On 25 October 2009 the municipalities of Bruzella, Cabbio
Cabbio
Cabbio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 25 October 2009 the municipalities of Bruzella, Cabbio, Caneggio, Morbio Superiore, Muggio, Sagno and Breggia merged into the municipality of Breggia-History:...

, Caneggio
Caneggio
Caneggio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 25 October 2009 the municipalities of Bruzella, Cabbio, Caneggio, Morbio Superiore, Muggio, Sagno and Breggia merged into the municipality of Breggia...

, Morbio Superiore
Morbio Superiore
Morbio Superiore was a municipality in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland in the hills above Chiasso. It is located in the district of Mendrisio. On 25 October 2009 the municipalities of Bruzella, Cabbio, Caneggio, Morbio Superiore, Muggio and Sagno merged into the municipality of...

, Muggio
Muggio
Muggio was a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 25 October 2009 the municipalities of Bruzella, Cabbio, Caneggio, Morbio Superiore, Muggio and Sagno merged into the municipality of Breggia.-History:...

 and Sagno
Sagno
Sagno is a former municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland; it is now part of the new municipality of Breggia....

 merged into the municipality of Breggia.

History

Bruzella is first mentioned in 852 as Brusella. Until 1609 it was united territorially with Monte and until 1649 it was part of the 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...

 of Caneggio. The Church of S. Siro is first mentioned in 1579. It was rebuilt in the 18th Century, and restored in 1973.

Traditionally, cheese production and forestry (production of timber and charcoal) were the main economic sources. This was supplemented by periodic waves of emigration. By 1985, agriculture only employed six people. At the beginning of the 21st Century, the population was largely made of retirees and commuters.

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 Quartered: 1st Argent two pales azure, 2nd Gules a cross argent, 3rd Gules an oak branch with an acorn or in bend and 4th Bendy of six argent and azure.

Geography

Bruzella has an area, , of 3.44 square kilometres (1.3 sq mi). Of this area, 0.35 km² (0.135135755507387 sq mi) or 10.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3 km² (1.2 sq mi) or 87.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.06 km² (14.8 acre) or 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.9% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, 83.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 9.6% is used for growing crops.

The village is located in the Mendrisio district on a terrace along the left side of the Valle di Muggio

Demograhics

Bruzella has a population of 185.

In there was 1 live birth to Swiss citizens and 1 death of a Swiss citizen. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 0 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 4 people. This represents a population growth rate of -2.2%.

Of the Swiss national languages , 13 speak 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....

, 2 people speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, 164 people speak Italian
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...

. The remainder (4 people) speak another language.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 which received 37.66% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (26.13%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (24.67%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (5.69%). In the federal election, a total of 89 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 57.8%.

In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 155 registered voters in Bruzella, of which 120 or 77.4% voted. 2 blank ballots were cast, leaving 118 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 which received 51 or 43.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

+GenGiova (with 21 or 17.8%), the PS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (with 20 or 16.9%) and the SSI (with 17 or 14.4%).

In the Consiglio di Stato election, 3 blank ballots were cast, leaving 117 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 47 or 40.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD (with 23 or 19.7%), the PS (with 21 or 17.9%) and the SSI (with 17 or 14.5%).

Education

, there were 29 students from Bruzella who attended schools outside the village.

Economy

There were 88 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.6% of the workforce.
, there were 79 workers who commuted away from the village.

Religion

From the , 152 or 83.1% were Roman Catholic, while 10 or 5.5% 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 are 20 individuals (or about 10.93% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 1 individuals (or about 0.55% of the population) did not answer the question.

Housing

there were 71 single family homes (or 80.7% of the total) out of a total of 88 inhabited buildings. There were 15 multi-family buildings (17.0%), 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 (2.3%). Of the single family homes 3 were built before 1919, while 2 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (42) were built between 1919 and 1945. there were 106 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 35. There were 2 single room apartments and 44 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 74 apartments (69.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 29 apartments (27.4%) were seasonally occupied and 3 apartments (2.8%) were empty.

Weather

Bruzella has an average of 104.4 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 1680 mm (66.1 in) of precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

. The wettest month is May during which time Bruzella receives an average of 213 mm (8.4 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.1 days. The driest month of the year is December with an average of 74 mm (2.9 in) of precipitation over 5.8 days.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK