Castasegna () is a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in the district of Maloja in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Grisons, on the Italian border. It is currently part of the municipality of

Bregaglia Bregaglia ( Italian and rm, ) is a municipality in the Maloja Region in the canton of Grisons in Switzerland. It was formed by the 2010 merger of the municipalities of Bondo, Castasegna, Soglio, Stampa and Vicosoprano, all located in the ...

. The town is situated in the Bergell valley, above the river Mera.

History

Castasegna is first mentioned in 1374 as ''Castexegnia''.

Geography

Castasegna has an area, , of . Of this area, 19.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 40.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (38.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located in the Bergell sub-district of the Maloja district in the lower section of the Bergell valley. It consists of the linear village of Castasegna with the Italian border on the edge of town and the neighboring Italian village of Villa di Chiavenna nearby. The main highway in the valley used to run through the main, narrow street. In order to relieve the town of the congestion, the highway was moved just below, along the valley floor. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Bondo, Castasegna, Soglio, Stampa, and Vicosoprano merged into a new municipality of as

.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 September 2009

Demographics

Castasegna has a population () of 191, of which 8.4% are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -11.8%.
accessed 19-Oct-2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 46.4% male and 53.6% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Castasegna is; 20 children or 10.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 20 teenagers or 10.5% are 10 to 14, and 6 teenagers or 3.2% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 10 people or 5.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 41 people or 21.6% are 30 to 39, 28 people or 14.7% are 40 to 49, and 16 people or 8.4% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 19 people or 10.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 18 people or 9.5% are 70 to 79, there are 9 people or 4.7% who are 80 to 89, and there are 3 people or 1.6% who are 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 46.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (29.9%), the FDP (18.5%) and the CVP (4.7%). In Castasegna about 70.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

or additional higher education (either University or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied ar ...

''). Castasegna has an unemployment rate of 0.69%. , there were 14 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 34 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructio ...

and there are 5 businesses in this sector. 64 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector ( raw materials) and the secon ...

, with 18 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

Languages

Most of the population () speaks Italian (80.0%), with German being second most common (15.8%) and Romansh being third ( 3.2%). Traditionally, the Italian spoken in Castasegna is a Lombard dialect. Since the early 20th Century the municipality had a German-speaking minority.

Industry

Elektrizitätswerk der Stadt Zürich (EWZ) operates a

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

in Castasegna.

Sights

Castasegna has the largest

Chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

forest in Europe, known as Brentan. The town's name means ''chestnut grove'' and the tree is featured on the coat of arms.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Bregaglia Populated places disestablished in 2010