Linescio is a
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
Vallemaggia
The Vallemaggia District is a district of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It has a population of (as of ). The capital of the district is Cevio.
Geography
The Vallemaggia District has an area, , of . Of this area, or 1.7% is used for ...
in the
canton of
Ticino
Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
History
Linescio is first mentioned in 1437 as ''Lignazio''. In 1602 it was mentioned as ''Linezio''.
[
The ]parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
of S. Remigio was built in 1640 and rebuilt in 1817–19. In 1757, it split away from the parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Cevio to become its own parish.[
The slopes around the village were heavily terraced, creating most of the farm land for the village. ]Rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...
, hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...
, flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...
and later potatoes were grown on the terraces. As a result of emigration out of Switzerland in the 19th century and emigration to the cities after 1950, most of the fields, meadows and pastures were abandoned. In 2000, no one in Linescio worked in agriculture. On the right side of the valley, there is some mining. At the beginning of the 21st century a project was developed to save the terraces from decay.[
]
Geography
Linescio has an area, , of . Of this area, or 1.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 65.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 1.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.8% is either rivers or lakes and or 29.8% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.0%. Out of the forested land, 56.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.6% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 17.7% is unproductive vegetation and 12.1% is too rocky for vegetation.
The village is located in the Vallemaggio district, on the left side of the lower portion of the Valle di Campo. It was created in 1858, when the village separated from Cevio
Cevio is the capital of the district of Vallemaggia (district), Vallemaggia in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. In 2006 Cevio grew by incorporating the villages of Bignasco and Cavergno, previously municipalities in th ...
.[Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010
Coat of arms
The 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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Quartered argent and azure a dove displayed counterchanged.'' The dove is an attribute of Saint Remigius, the patron saint of the village church.
Demographics
Linescio has a population () of . , 8.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
accessed 19 June 2010
Most of the population () speaks Italian language
Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...
(26 or 81.3%) with the rest speaking German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
[
, the gender distribution of the population was 45.7% male and 54.3% female. The population was made up of 18 Swiss men (39.1% of the population), and 3 (6.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 24 Swiss women (52.2%), and 1 (2.2%) non-Swiss women.][ Of the population in the village 16 or about 50.0% were born in Linescio and lived there in 2000. There were 6 or 18.8% who were born in the same canton, while 7 or 21.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3 or 9.4% were born outside of Switzerland.][
In there were no live births to Swiss citizens and 3 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 3 while the foreign population remained the same. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 4 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 1 people. This represents a ]population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...
of 6.5%.[
The age distribution, , in Linescio is; 1 child is between 0 and 9 years old. Of the adult population, 5 people or 10.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 7 people or 15.2% are between 30 and 39, 8 people or 17.4% are between 40 and 49, and 9 people or 19.6% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 6 people or 13.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 4 people or 8.7% are between 70 and 79, there are 6 people or 13.0% who are over 80.][01.02.03 Popolazione residente permanente]
accessed 23 November 2010
, there were 13 people who were single and never married in the village. There were 12 married individuals, 1 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.[STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
There were 10 households that consist of only one person and 1 household with five or more people. Out of a total of 19 households that answered this question, 52.6% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 3 married couples without children, 2 married couples with children There was 1 single parent with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up unrelated people.[
there were 101 single family homes (or 97.1% of the total) out of a total of 104 inhabited buildings. There was 1 multi-family buildings (1.0%), along with 1 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (1.0%) and 1 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (1.0%). Of the single family homes 12 were built before 1919, while none were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (75) were built between 1919 and 1945.][Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011
there were 104 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 26. There were 16 single room apartments and 24 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 19 apartments (18.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 85 apartments (81.7%) were seasonally occupied.[
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Sights
The entire village of Linescio is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 46.67% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (30.83%), the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
(21.67%) and the PdA Party (0.83%). In the federal election, a total of 15 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 32.6%.
In the '' Gran Consiglio'' election, there were a total of 45 registered voters in Linescio, of which 23 or 51.1% voted. 1 blank ballot was cast, leaving 22 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 12 or 54.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the MPS (with 4 or 18.2%), the SSI (with 3 or 13.6%) and the PPD+GenGiova (with 1 or 4.5%).[ Elezioni cantonali: Gran Consiglio, Consiglio di Stato]
accessed 23 November 2010
In the ''Consiglio di Stato'' election, The most popular party was the PLRT which received 13 or 56.5% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were; the PS (with 5 or 21.7%) and the PPD (with 2 or 8.7%).[
]
Economy
There were 13 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.5% of the workforce. the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 19. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 2, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 17.
, there were 8 workers who commuted away from the village.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010
Religion
From the , 24 or 75.0% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 1 or 3.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. There were 6 (or about 18.75% of the population) who belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 1 individual (or about 3.13% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Linescio about 14 or (43.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and or (0.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). In Linescio there was 1 student, who was in kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
(). Allievi e studenti, secondo il genere di scuola, anno scolastico 2009/2010
accessed 23 November 2010
, there were 2 students from Linescio who attended schools outside the village.[
]
References
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Ticino