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 Breggia.
History
Morbio Superiore is first mentioned in 1116 as Morbio de Supra. In the Middle Ages the village was owned by Como Cathedral and the Benedictine monastery of S. Abbondio in Como. The church of S. Vittore in Balerna also owned property in the village. From 1591 until the 17th Century, Morbio and Sagno were a vice parish under the mother church at Balerna. In 1802 Morbio Superiore was a separate parish.The parish church of S. Giovanni Evangelista was first mentioned in 1227. In the 18th Century, it was totally rebuilt and then renovated in 1957. The chapel of San Martino, originally an Early Middle Ages romanesque building stands on the site of what might be an Ostrogoth watchtower from the 6th Century. The Chapel of S. Anna is from the late Baroque period.
Formerly, the village was surrounded by vineyards, tobacco and mulberry cultivation, of which only the vineyards remain. In the last decades of the 20th Century Morbio Superiore developed into a residential community. Since 1960, Lattecaldo has been the headquarters of the Cantonal Forestry School. In 2000, four-fifths of the workforce worked outside the community.
Geography
Morbio Superiore has an area,, of. Of this area, or 18.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 69.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 12.7% is settled and or 0.7% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 10.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 66.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.8% is used for growing crops, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.2% is used for alpine pastures.
The village is located in the Mendrisio district, at the entrance to the Muggio valley on the left side of the valley. It consists of the village of Morbio Superiore and the hamlet of Lattecaldo.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules two bars embowed in base and chause vert. The bars represent the small antique bridge and the new big one.Demographics
Morbio Superiore has a population of 705.Most of the population speaks , with being second most common and being third. Of the Swiss national languages, 50 speak German, 6 people speak French, 632 people speak Italian. The remainder speak another language.
In there was 1 live birth to Swiss citizens and were 2 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 was a decrease of 9 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 6 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.4%.
there were 175 single family homes out of a total of 227 inhabited buildings. There were 44 multi-family buildings, along with 1 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing and 7 other use buildings that also had some housing. Of the single family homes 4 were built before 1919, while 19 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes were built between 1919 and 1945.
there were 297 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 84. There were 9 single room apartments and 133 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 269 apartments were permanently occupied, while 26 apartments were seasonally occupied and 2 apartments were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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bar:1696 from:start till:207 text:"207"
bar:1723 from:start till:180 text:"180"
bar:1850 from:start till:306 text:"306"
bar:1860 from:start till:325 text:"325"
bar:1870 from:start till:339 text:"339"
bar:1880 from:start till:320 text:"320"
bar:1888 from:start till:316 text:"316"
bar:1900 from:start till:303 text:"303"
bar:1910 from:start till:354 text:"354"
bar:1920 from:start till:331 text:"331"
bar:1930 from:start till:291 text:"291"
bar:1941 from:start till:304 text:"304"
bar:1950 from:start till:327 text:"327"
bar:1960 from:start till:326 text:"326"
bar:1970 from:start till:401 text:"401"
bar:1980 from:start till:538 text:"538"
bar:1990 from:start till:601 text:"601"
bar:2000 from:start till:700 text:"700"
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 33.07% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP, the SP and the Ticino League. In the federal election, a total of 313 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 60.2%.In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 525 registered voters in Morbio Superiore, of which 382 or 72.8% voted. 2 blank ballots and 1 null ballot were cast, leaving 379 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD+GenGiova which received 106 or 28.0% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT, the PS and the SSI.
In the Consiglio di Stato election, 3 blank ballots and 1 null ballot were cast, leaving 378 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD which received 107 or 28.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT, the PS and the LEGA.
Economy
There were 322 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.3% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 62. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 3, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 13, of which 12 or were in manufacturing and 1 was in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 46. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 8.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 6.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 4 or 8.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 6.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 17.4% were in education.
, there were 47 workers who commuted into the village and 273 workers who commuted away. The village is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.8 workers leaving the village for every one entering. About 12.8% of the workforce coming into Morbio Superiore are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.4% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work.