Mogno is a village in Vallemaggia District 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 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts and its capital city is Bellinzo ...

, Switzerland. Mogno is situated near the top of Val Lavizzara, a valley through which the upper Maggia River flows. It was formerly part of the municipality of Fusio, which merged with adjoining municipalities in 2004 to form the new municipality of

Lavizzara Lavizzara is a municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The municipality was created in 2004 by a merger of Broglio, Brontallo, Fusio, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-Sornico.fireplaces A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

. By 1801, the population had dropped to just 40 inhabitants. Today, it is no longer inhabited all year round and serves only as a holiday village. Before Mogno was incorporated in 1936 into Fusio, it was part of Peccia, and the land around the settlement was shared between Fusio, Peccia, Prato and Sornica. Mogno is most noted for its modern marble-and-granite Church of San Giovanni Battista, designed by Ticinese architect

Mario Botta Mario Botta is a Swiss architect born in Mendrisio, Ticino on 1 April 1943. At age fifteen, Botta dropped out of secondary school and apprenticed with the architectural firm of Carloni and Camenisch in Lugano. After three years, he went to the Ar ...

. The church was erected between 1994 and 1996 on the site of its 350-year-old predecessor, which was levelled by an avalanche in 1986. This catastrophe also claimed several of the homes in the village, though no one was injured. The original church of San Giovanni Battista Decollato was built in 1626 and was initially a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

of 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 Peccia. Towards the end of the 17th century, it became an independent

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 ...

. In 1940 it became part of the parish of Fusio. The village is also home to one of the few remaining Ticinese

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

s. Above Mogno is Alp Vaccariscio, famous for its high-altitude granite water pipe to irrigate the meadows, restored in 1998.

References

External links

Vitruvio.ch - Mogno Church website
{{Authority control Villages in Ticino