Porza
Porza is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
History
Porza is first mentioned around 1297−99 as Porza.1907-08 several cremation graves along with grave goods from the Iron Age were discovered. During the Middle Ages the Benedictine abbey of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro owned land in Porza. On a hill northeast of Porza was Trevano castle, which was probably built in the 12th Century by the Bishop of Como. It was owned by the Brocchi family, from Como and later by the Trevano and Quadri families. On the castle's foundations a villa was built in 1871. During the Belle Époque the glamorous and wealthy met here, and musicians from across Europe presented themselves to give concerts. In 1934, the district purchased the villa. It was demolished in 1961 and replaced with a school, which is now part of the Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana.
Porza's church was under the parish church S. Lorenzo in Lugano until 1468, followed by the parish of Comano. It became an independent parish in 1647. The Church of SS. Bernardino e Martino dates from the 16th Century and was restored 1974.
Historically, the local economy relied on farming as well as craftsmen emigrating to other countries. At the beginning of the 21st Century, it has become a residential community for the agglomeration of Lugano. Since the 1960s, a substantial proportion of the population comes from abroad or the rest of Switzerland. In the valley along the Cassarate river, an industrial and trade development zone has grown up. In 1992−95, a skating rink was built in Resega near the river. In 2000, about three-quarters of the workforce commutes.
Geography
Porza has an area,, of. Of this area, or 43.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 41.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 43.0% is settled and or 1.9% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 29.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.2%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.5% of the area Out of the forested land, 38.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 10.8% is used for growing crops, while 3.2% is used for orchards or vine crops and 29.1% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Lugano district, north-west of Lugano. It consists of the village of Porza and the hamlets of Vira, Trevano and Belvedere in along the hills, as well as Cornaredo and Resega in the valley.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a sun in splendor and a base serrated both or.Demographics
Porza has a population of. , 19.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 10.8%.Most of the population speaks Italian, with German being second most common and French being third. Of the Swiss national languages, 136 speak German, 30 people speak French, 1,122 people speak Italian, and 2 people speak Romansh. The remainder speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female. The population was made up of 586 Swiss men, and 159 non-Swiss men. There were 631 Swiss women, and 139 non-Swiss women.
In there were 18 live births to Swiss citizens and 2 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 4 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 14 while the foreign population increased by 1. There were 2 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 8 non-Swiss men and 3 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 was an increase of 31 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 5 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.8%.
The age distribution,, in Porza is; 157 children or 10.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 164 teenagers or 10.8% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 141 people or 9.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 225 people or 14.9% are between 30 and 39, 277 people or 18.3% are between 40 and 49, and 211 people or 13.9% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 172 people or 11.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 109 people or 7.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 59 people or 3.9% who are over 80.
, there were 586 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. there were 233 single family homes out of a total of 360 inhabited buildings. There were 62 two family buildings and 49 multi-family buildings. There were also 16 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings.
The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0%. there were 692 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 5 room apartment of which there were 216. There were 19 single room apartments and 216 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 584 apartments were permanently occupied, while 98 apartments were seasonally occupied and 10 apartments were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.4 new units per 1000 residents.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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bar:1648 from:start till:218 text:"218"
bar:1698 from:start till:168 text:"168"
bar:1747 from:start till:186 text:"186"
bar:1801 from:start till:258 text:"258"
bar:1850 from:start till:235 text:"235"
bar:1860 from:start till:253 text:"253"
bar:1870 from:start till:235 text:"235"
bar:1880 from:start till:223 text:"223"
bar:1890 from:start till:223 text:"223"
bar:1900 from:start till:241 text:"241"
bar:1910 from:start till:333 text:"333"
bar:1920 from:start till:286 text:"286"
bar:1930 from:start till:324 text:"324"
bar:1941 from:start till:395 text:"395"
bar:1950 from:start till:406 text:"406"
bar:1960 from:start till:499 text:"499"
bar:1970 from:start till:811 text:"811"
bar:1980 from:start till:1052 text:"1,052"
bar:1990 from:start till:1155 text:"1,155"
bar:2000 from:start till:1348 text:"1,348"
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 29.15% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP, the SP and the SVP. In the federal election, a total of 505 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 53.7%.In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 954 registered voters in Porza, of which 682 or 71.5% voted. Three blank ballots and 4 null ballots were cast, leaving 675 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 188 or 27.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD+GenGiova, the SSI and the LEGA.
In the Consiglio di Stato election, 6 blank ballots were cast, leaving 676 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 170 or 25.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD, the LEGA and the SSI.
Economy
, Porza had an unemployment rate of 2.63%. , there were 7 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 2 businesses involved in this sector. 154 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 15 businesses in this sector. 585 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 56 businesses in this sector. There were 670 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.0% of the workforce., there were 352 workers who commuted into the municipality and 570 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 25.9% of the workforce coming into Porza are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.5% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 8.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 69.9% used a private car.
Religion
From the, 1,066 or 79.1% were Roman Catholic, while 115 or 8.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There are 136 individuals who belong to another church, and 31 individuals did not answer the question.Education
In Porza about 80.1% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education.In Porza there were a total of 262 students. The Ticino education system provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten and in Porza there were 31 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years. In the municipality, 87 students attended the standard primary schools. 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 were 71 students in the two-year middle school, while 45 students were 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 or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship. There were 12 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 13 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 were 3 students in the professional program.
, there were 12 students in Porza who came from another municipality, while 180 residents attended schools outside the municipality.