Suisio (

Bergamasque The Bergamasque dialect is the western variant of the Eastern Lombard group of the Lombard language. It is mainly spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy. Bergamasque has official status in the p ...

: ) is a municipality in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and about 20 (12 mi) kilometers west of Bergamo. It had a population of 3 794 inhabitants and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute

Istat The Italian National Institute of Statistics ( it, Istituto nazionale di statistica; Istat) is the main producer of official statistics in Italy. Its activities include the census of population, economic censuses and a number of social, economic ...

. Suisio borders the following municipalities:

Bottanuco Bottanuco (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,874 and a ...

Chignolo d'Isola Chignolo d'Isola (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,84 ...

Cornate d'Adda Cornate d'Adda (''Curnàa'' in the Brianza dialect, and simply Cornate until 1924) is a ''comune'' of 10,799 inhabitants in the province of Monza and Brianza, and it is 21 km away from Monza, the provincial capital. It is part of the '' Vimerca ...

, Medolago.

Etymology of the name

The name "Suisio" appears for the first time in a document in the 879 C.E but it's not mentioned the original name written in the document. To reproduce the evolution of the toponym, it's necessary to talk about the ''Corografia Bergomense'' (1880) that collects, in a chronological order, all the documents which cite the different municipalities in the province of Bergamo. Under the name Suisio, it's mentioned: SEVISIO (879 C.E.), SEVIXIO (980 C.E.), SOVISIO (1058 C.E.), SOVIXIO (1088 C.E.). The conclusion was that the most common forms found in the documents after 1260 C.E. are Sovixio and Sovisio. Another form which is very important is in the code 1387 in the

Vatican apostolic library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

, the so-called "Fondo Patella", which marks the borders of the municipalities of Bergamo between the years 1392-1395 and which presents the form: COMMUNIS DE SUIXIO. In the majority of cases the geographical names are connected with the characteristics of the environment surrounded places and this is true also for Suisio which has an assonance with the river

Seveso Seveso (; lmo, label= Lombard, Séves ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Monza and Brianza, in the Region of Lombardy. The economy of the town has traditionally been based on the furniture industry. Its name comes from the river o ...

Geological origin

Suisio was born ten millions years ago with the Earth and it has followed the same evolutions. The village lays on marine rocks of Canto Basso and Giglio mount. When the temperatures on the Earth started to go down deeply, the

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s advanced on the planet and Suisio was completely covered by an ancient glacier which ended in Monza. The glaciers, during their very slow movement, carried here boulders of rocks and rubbles and they shaped the valleys and the level ground. Melting glaciers and torrential rain made the level of rivers and streams raise and covered the Island of Bergamo with a wide swamp called Gerundo. Medolago and Calusco seem to signify: Medius-lacus and Caput-lacus. Consequently, also the land where Suisio lay down was inundated at that time. That long flood which left a thick layer of fertile land on the rocks made it so productive. The rivers, with time passing, excavated their bed and, from Gerundo Lake, the lands of the Island of Bergamo surfaced. They are bordered by Canto Basso on the north, Brembo river on the east, Adda river on the west and on the south there is the confluence of these two rivers where Capriate S. Gervasio is located. And here, on this Island, called in this way maybe because of the two rivers surrounding it, lies Suisio.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is almost monochromatic. As declared in the Concession of DPR 14 July 1960, it represents two towers (of one in the other) of two floors crenellated supported by a light blue and silver strip. On 18 April 1959, the mayor Giacomo Tasca decided to approve an emblem ex novo without waiting the necessary research in the historical archives of Bergamo and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. The opinion of the State Archive of

, written in a letter in 1960, was positive. However, the director expressed some critics about the aspect of the coat of arms of Suisio, considering it quite dark. From the heraldic point of view deserves a particularly attention the expression of one to another – wrongly used as of one in the other which has another mean – referred to a picture placed on a partition of fields of different shellac taking the color of the nearby field.

Ethnicity and foreign minorities

The foreigners residing in Suisio is about 13% of the whole population.

Demographic notes

The resident population is composed by 3794 inhabitants: * Men 1918 * Women 1876

Demographic evolution

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:455 height:303 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1861 text:1861 bar:1871 text:1871 bar:1881 text:1881 bar:1901 text:1901 bar:1911 text:1911 bar:1921 text:1921 bar:1931 text:1931 bar:1936 text:1936 bar:1951 text:1951 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1861 from: 0 till:1132 bar:1871 from: 0 till:1187 bar:1881 from: 0 till:1168 bar:1901 from: 0 till:1237 bar:1911 from: 0 till:1384 bar:1921 from: 0 till:1457 bar:1931 from: 0 till:1620 bar:1936 from: 0 till:1555 bar:1951 from: 0 till:1895 bar:1961 from: 0 till:1927 bar:1971 from: 0 till:2239 bar:1981 from: 0 till:2808 bar:1991 from: 0 till:3060 bar:2001 from: 0 till:3308 PlotData= bar:1861 at:1132 fontsize:XS text: 1132 shift:(-8,5) bar:1871 at:1187 fontsize:XS text: 1187 shift:(-8,5) bar:1881 at:1168 fontsize:XS text: 1168 shift:(-8,5) bar:1901 at:1237 fontsize:XS text: 1237 shift:(-8,5) bar:1911 at:1384 fontsize:XS text: 1384 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at:1457 fontsize:XS text: 1457 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at:1620 fontsize:XS text: 1620 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at:1555 fontsize:XS text: 1555 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at:1895 fontsize:XS text: 1895 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at:1927 fontsize:XS text: 1927 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at:2239 fontsize:XS text: 2239 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at:2808 fontsize:XS text: 2808 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at:3060 fontsize:XS text: 3060 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:3308 fontsize:XS text: 3308 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT

Monuments and places of interests

* Sant'Andrea church: built in the 18th-century, it is the building that better characterizes the territory, considered among the best architectural examples of that period at provincial level. It has sleek lines and the structure presents a Latin cross plan, containing some works among which the paints depicted by Francesco Capella, Francesco Zucco,

Federico Ferrari Federico Ferrari (born 15 September 1969) is an Italian philosopher and art critic. He teaches Philosophy of Art at Brera Academy, in Milan, Italy. Career Under the influence of Maurice Blanchot and Jean-Luc Nancy he has published many es ...

and Giovanbattista Riva, statues made by Luigi Carrara and a crucifix by Gaetano Peverada. The tradition wants that this church was built at the behest of the local family heads to redeem the disputes between inhabitants of different fractions that were assuming the right to call "parochial" their church. * San Floriano chapel: in the old town of the Castelletto fraction, dating back to 600, it's a stone building of little size. * Church of the Annunciation of Maria Vergine: located in Piazza Amati fraction. Inside there are high-value paintings. * San Lorenzo church: it's the major church of Castelletto, it was used in the first century of life as parochial of the entire municipality, built between the 16th and the 17th century. Inside are preserved paintings by Cignaroli and Carlo Ceresa.