Camorino
Encyclopedia
Camorino is 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 Bellinzona
Bellinzona (district)
The district of Bellinzona is a district of Canton Ticino, Switzerland. It has a population of .-Geography:The district has an area, , of . Of this area, or 13.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 68.7% is forested...

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...

 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....

.

History

From time immemorial the inhabitants of Isone
Isone
Isone is a municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Isone is mainly known for being the location of the grenadier school of the Swiss Army. The Grenadiers are a corps of the infantry and is being instructed in Isone since 1970...

 regularly crossed the Tiglio alpine pass to arrive in the Camorino area, where they owned vineyards and arable land. Over the centuries, many of them finally created a village. Camorino is first mentioned in 1237 as part of the lands of the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 of S. Pietro in Bellinzona
Bellinzona
Bellinzona is the administrative capital of the canton Ticino in Switzerland. The city is famous for its three castles that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000....

. A church is mentioned in the village in 1237 and 1285, but no visible traces have been preserved. The existing 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....

 of San Martino was built in 1553 and completely renovated in 1888. In 1583, the village church split from the Bellinzona 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...

 and was confirmed in 1591 as a separate parish.

In 1853 a defensive line between Sementina
Sementina
Sementina is a municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-Geography:Sementina has an area, , of . Of this area, or 19.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 67.4% is forested...

 and Camorino was built to create jobs for the citizen of Ticino expelled from the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia was created at the Congress of Vienna, which recognised the House of Habsburg's rights to Lombardy and Venetia after the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed by Napoleon in 1805, had collapsed...

. The Fortini della fame, five round towers with arrow slits in the upper part, is part of these fortifications.

Camorino was originally a pure farming village (raising mostly grapes, strawberries and livestock) with some handicraft, trade and light industry (manufacturing knitwear and pasta as well as a mill). Due to the lack of jobs, some of whose inhabitants emigrated to America. The population growth coincides with the growth of the cities of Giubiasco
Giubiasco
Giubiasco is a municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Due to its location at the center of numerous routes through the Alps, Giubiasco has been important since ancient times...

 and Bellinzona. Today it is a residential community with many commuters, with no large industrial companies and with very little agriculture.

Geography

Camorino has an area, , of 8.28 square kilometres (3.2 sq mi). Of this area, 1.93 km² (0.745177166083593 sq mi) or 23.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.55 km² (2.1 sq mi) or 67.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.05 km² (0.405407266522162 sq mi) or 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.05 km² (12.4 acre) or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.15 km² (37.1 acre) or 1.8% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 63.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 11.4% is used for growing crops, while 5.4% is used for orchards or vine crops and 6.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 1.7% is unproductive vegetation and .

The municipality is located in the Bellinzona district, and is a suburb of Bellinzona. The village is crossed by several major roads and rail lines leading into Bellinzona.

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 Gules on a Base Argent wavy two bars wavy Azure and overall a Mill Wheel Or. The mill wheel refers to the Maglio, a mill which, with another house, remained undamaged after a landslide that destroyed the rest of the village."

Demographics

Camorino has a population of . , 16.1% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 17.7%. Most of the population speaks 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...

(89.6%), 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 ( 5.3%) and 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...

 being third ( 1.2%).

Of the Swiss national languages , 117 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....

 26 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...

, 1,981 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...

, and 2 people speak Romansh. The remainder (84 people) speak another language.

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The population was made up of 1,088 Swiss men (40.2% of the population), and 275 (10.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,139 Swiss women (42.1%), and 204 (7.5%) non-Swiss women.

In there were 27 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 24 deaths of Swiss citizens and 3 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 3 while the foreign population decreased by 2. There was 1 Swiss man and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 9 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 5 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 26 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 19 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.8%.

The age distribution, , in Camorino is; 303 children or 11.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 272 teenagers or 10.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 316 people or 11.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 383 people or 14.2% are between 30 and 39, 481 people or 17.8% are between 40 and 49, and 370 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 286 people or 10.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 179 people or 6.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 116 people or 4.3% who are over 80.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.61 which is about equal to 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 48.7% 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 934 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 482 single family homes (or 71.1% of the total) out of a total of 678 inhabited buildings. There were 120 two family buildings (17.7%) and 45 multi-family buildings (6.6%). There were also 31 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings (used for both housing and commercial or another purpose).

The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.08%. there were 1,079 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 4 room apartment of which there were 363. There were 53 single room apartments and 270 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 928 apartments (86.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 126 apartments (11.7%) were seasonally occupied and 25 apartments (2.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.7 new units per 1000 residents.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1591 400
1698 211
1784 300
1850 321
1880 483
1900 405
1950 702
1980 1,476
1990 1,709
2000 2,210

Heritage sites of national significance

The Ottocentesche fortification and the Fortini Della Fame are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

.

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 28.1% 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...

 (24.34%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (21.57%) and the Ticino League
Ticino League
The Ticino League is an isolationist, national conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino.In 1991, after some public campaigning in the Sunday journal Mattino della Domenica against political power and use of public money, the editor Giuliano Bignasca and the...

 (12.74%). In the federal election, a total of 922 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 54.3%.

In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 1,701 registered voters in Camorino, of which 1,239 or 72.8% voted. 14 blank ballots and 2 null ballots were cast, leaving 1,223 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 290 or 23.7% 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 253 or 20.7%), the PS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (with 233 or 19.1%) and the SSI (with 232 or 19.0%).

In the Consiglio di Stato election, there were 18 blank ballots and 2 null ballots, which left 1,219 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 273 or 22.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PS (with 268 or 22.0%), the PPD (with 246 or 20.2%) and the SSI (with 207 or 17.0%).

Economy

, Camorino had an unemployment rate of 4.7%. , there were 71 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 19 businesses involved in this sector. 217 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 23 businesses in this sector. 666 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 80 businesses in this sector.

There were 962 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.2% of the workforce. , there were 660 workers who commuted into the municipality and 747 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 3.6% of the workforce coming into Camorino are coming from outside Switzerland.

Of the working population, 8% used public transportation to get to work, and 67.8% used a private car.

, there was one hotel in Camorino.

Religion

From the , 1,776 or 80.4% were Roman Catholic, while 118 or 5.3% 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 246 individuals (or about 11.13% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 70 individuals (or about 3.17% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Camorino about 70.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or 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...

).

In Camorino there are a total of 469 students . The Ticino education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...

 provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

and in Camorino there are 73 children in kindergarten.

The primary school program lasts for five years and includes both a standard school and a special school. In the municipality, 160 students attend the standard primary schools and 5 students attend 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 are 113 students in the two year middle school and in their pre-apprenticeship, while 44 students are 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 are 22 vocational students who are attending school full-time and 46 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 are 6 students in the professional program.

, there were 3 students in Camorino who came from another municipality, while 246 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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