Peccia is one of six small

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

municipalities which merged in April 2004 to form the commune 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.Broglio,

Brontallo Brontallo is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio, Fusio, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-Sorni ...

Fusio Fusio is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio, Brontallo, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-Sorn ...

Menzonio Menzonio is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio, Brontallo, Fusio, Peccia and Prato-Sor ...

, and Prato-Sornico.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010 The fractions of Peccia are: Veglia (Véia), Cortignelli, San Carlo and Piano di Peccia. Val di Peccia

History

Peccia is first mentioned in 1374 as ''Petia''. Peccia, together with Broglio, Fusio, Prato and Sornico were part of the ''comunità'' or valley community of Lavizzara until 1374. When the valley community broke up into separate villages, Peccia was the largest in the Lavizzara region. It included the settlement of Mogno and the Valle di Peccia, which was independent until 1669. The common, shared land of the four communities of Fusio, Peccia, Prato and Sornico (known as the ''comunella dei quattro comuni'') remained shared until 1929. The village was part 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 Sornico until 1613, after which the church of S. Antonio Abate in Peccia was elevated to become a

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 ...

. The church was built in the 16th century. After the floods of 1834 and 1868, which destroyed some of the village, the church was totally rebuilt. The valley church of S. Carlo was built in 1617, and was raised to be the parish church in 1669. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the jobs in the village were in the extraction, processing (vessels and stone ovens) and trade in

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in sub ...

. Since 1946, white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

is also mined, which is the only marble quarry in Switzerland. In 1984, the presence of marble led to the creation of a sculpting school. This marble was used when the church of Mogno (a hamlet of Fusio) was rebuilt by

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 ...

, after the old church was destroyed by an avalanche in 1986. At the beginning of the 21st century, manufacturing provides more than a third of the jobs in village. In 1950-56 largest

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power plants in Switzerland was built in the Valle di Peccia. It is fed by water from the catchment area of the

Maggia river The Maggia is a river in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The springs are near the Cristallina mountain at 8136 ft (2480 m). The river runs through the Val Sambuco, the Val Lavizzara, and the Valle Maggia, and enters Lago Maggiore between Asco ...

. In the last decades of the 20th century, the village invested in its tourist infrastructure.

Geography

Peccia has an area, , of . Of this area, or 0.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 26.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 0.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 52.5% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.3%. Out of the forested land, 16.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.5% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 21.0% is unproductive vegetation and 31.5% is too rocky for vegetation. The village is located in the Vallemaggia district, about from

Locarno Locarno (; ; Ticinese dialect, Ticinese: ; formerly in ) is a southern Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Locarno (district), Locarno (of which it is the capita ...

. It consists of several settlements scattered throughout the Peccia valley. The main village is located at an elevation of in the

Valle Maggia Valle Maggia ( English, "Maggia Valley") is an alpine valley in the Vallemaggia district of canton of Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland. The valley is formed by the river Maggia and is situated between the Centovalli and Lago ...

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 ''Argent a fir tree issuant from a mount vert.'' It is also a surname in Italy. For example, past mayor of

Olevano sul Tusciano Olevano sul Tusciano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Main sights *Roman villa of S. Maria a Corte *Castrum Olibani, a Lombard castle. During the rule of Frederick of Hohenst ...

, was Luigi Peccia.

Demographics

Peccia has a population () of 171. 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 ...

(161 or 94.2%), with

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 ...

being second most common (5 or 2.9%) and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

being third (3 or 1.8%). There are 2 people who speak

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the village, 104 or about 60.8% were born in Peccia and lived there in 2000. There were 38 or 22.2% who were born in the same canton, while 8 or 4.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 21 or 12.3% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 62 people who were single and never married in the village. There were 84 married individuals, 14 widows or widowers and 11 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 There were 12 households that consist of only one person and 7 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 65 households that answered this question, 18.5% were households made up of just one person and 4 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 16 married couples without children, 22 married couples with children There were 6 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up unrelated people and 1 household that was made some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 144 single-family homes (or 91.7% of the total) out of a total of 157 inhabited buildings. There were 4 multi-family buildings (2.5%), along with multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (0.0%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.7%). Of the single-family homes 8 were built before 1919, while 4 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single-family homes (93) 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 162 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 46. There were 10 single room apartments and 60 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 63 apartments (38.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 97 apartments (59.9%) were seasonally occupied and 2 apartments (1.2%) were empty. The historical population is given in the following chart:Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000
accessed 29 January 2011 Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:800 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1500 from:start till:800 text:"800-900" bar:1795 from:start till:300 text:"300" bar:1850 from:start till:300 text:"300" bar:1860 from:start till:273 text:"273" bar:1870 from:start till:269 text:"269" bar:1880 from:start till:274 text:"274" bar:1888 from:start till:249 text:"249" bar:1900 from:start till:229 text:"229" bar:1910 from:start till:231 text:"231" bar:1920 from:start till:209 text:"209" bar:1930 from:start till:210 text:"210" bar:1941 from:start till:202 text:"202" bar:1950 from:start till:212 text:"212" bar:1960 from:start till:244 text:"244" bar:1970 from:start till:275 text:"275" bar:1980 from:start till:203 text:"203" bar:1990 from:start till:172 text:"172" bar:2000 from:start till:171 text:"171"

Economy

There were 64 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 23.4% of the workforce. , there were 26 workers who commuted into the village and 30 workers who commuted away. The village is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the village for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010

Religion

From the , 159 or 93.0% 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 2 or 1.2% 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 ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 3 individuals (or about 1.75% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church. There were 2 (or about 1.17% 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 ...

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 5 individuals (or about 2.92% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Peccia about 71 or (41.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

, and 7 or (4.1%) 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 ...

''). Of the 7 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.4% were Swiss men, 28.6% were Swiss women. , there were 10 students in Peccia who came from another village, while 17 residents attended schools outside the village.

References

External links

Comune Peccia
official site in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

.
Sculpting School
official site in

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. {{authority control Villages in Switzerland Former municipalities of Ticino