Centovalli

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The Centovalli near Camedo

The Centovalli is a valley in the Swiss canton of Ticino . Its lowest part is near Intragna , a little above Locarno on Lake Maggiore . From there it leads westwards to Camedo to the Swiss - Italian border.

Surname

The name means "a hundred valleys", which is not to be taken literally, but expresses the large number of branched valleys along the main valley of the Melezza . On the Italian side, the valley of Melezza is called Valle Vigezzo . In earlier centuries, both sections of the valley were also known as the "Kaminfegertal", as children from poor families in the valley were often sold as chimney sweepers, especially to northern Italy.

geography

The Lago di Palagnedra in Centovalli

The Centovalli is a densely forested landscape from which jagged rocks rise up. The deeply cut valley of the Melezza is surrounded by mountain ranges to the north and south; the highest peaks are in the south of the Gridone on the border with Italy (2188 m) and in the north of the Pizzo Ruscada with 2004 m height against the Onsernone valley . At Palagnedra , the Melezza is dammed up into a 4 km long narrow lake ( Lago di Palagnedra ).

Places in the Centovalli

  • Intragna (339 m above sea level) with the highest church tower in Ticino and the medieval arched bridge, the so-called Roman bridge / Ponte Romano
  • Calezzo , (564 m above sea level)
  • Corcapolo , (463 m above sea level) with railway station
  • Verdasio , (711 m above sea level) with the valley station of the cable car (530 m above sea level) to Rasa
  • Rasa (898 m above sea level), car-free village, starting point for hikes
  • Palagnedra , (657 m above sea level) the historic capital of Centovalli with a church from the 15th century
  • Bordei (726 m above sea level) restored hamlet with church and osteria
  • Camedo , (594 m above sea level) restored hamlet with church and osteria ; Border to Italy; Railway station, customs house on the Ponte Ribellasca
  • Borgnone (713 m above sea level)
  • Lionza (775 m above sea level) restored hamlet with the famous house Palazzo Tondü
  • Costa (872 m above sea level)

history

Grave finds near Intragna suggest that the Centum valles was already inhabited by the Romans . The valley was first mentioned under this name in the Middle Ages (1185). The settlements of Borgnone , Palagnedra and Intragna formed the Vicinia of Centovalli from the 13th century ; A Vicinia was understood to be a special form of informal self-administration of several neighboring settlements , originally developed in Val Camonica , initiated by the leading families. The Vicinia of Centovalli belonged together with the neighboring Vicinia of Intragna to the parish ( Pieve ) San Vittore, which was assigned to the communities of Locarno and Ascona on Lake Maggiore. In 1531 the twelve towns of the Old Confederation opposed the demands of these two vicinias to break away from Locarno. In 1838 the Vicinia of Centovalli gave the municipalities of Borgnone and Palagnedra official local self-government; In 1864 Rasa was separated from Palagnedra and raised to its own municipality.

In the course of a regional reform in 1972, Rasa became a district of Intragna. On October 25, 2009, the previously independent municipalities of Borgnone , Intragna and Palagnedra merged to form the new municipality of Centovalli . Since then, Centovalli has stood for both the valley and the political body.

Infrastructure

Overhanging rocks on the Centovalli Street in front of Camedo

In the Middle Ages , two mule trails ran through the Centovalli. The first high above the valley to the left of the Melezza from Intragna (339 m) to the Italian border at Camedo (549 m) follows today partly the winding mountain road over some viaducts and in places under rock overhangs; In some sections it is so narrow that two vehicles cannot drive past each other. The second mule track, on the other hand, crossed the Melezza immediately after Intragna on the Ponte Romano, followed the torrent on the valley floor and only climbed later to Borgnone, Camedo and across the border to Italy.

The route of the Centovalli Railway runs parallel to today's road - in parts through the rock tunnel . From a Swiss point of view, it bears this name on its entire route from Locarno to Domodossola , although more than half of its route is not in Centovalli. On the Italian side, in the Valle Vigezzo , this expression is not used for the entire route. Rather, the Italians affectionately call their section of the route Vigezzin, also after the valley name .

traffic

literature

  • Robert Kern: On the petrography of the Centovalli. Helsinki 1947.
  • Walter Geissbühler: On the geomorphology and valley history of the Centovalli-Vigezzo. In: Annual report of the Geographical Society of Bern. Volume 48 = 1965/66, Bern 1967.
  • Kurt Hutterli: The Centovalli. Haupt, Bern 1972, ISBN 3-258-01636-4 .
  • Simona Martinoli among others: Guida d'arte della Svizzera italiana. Edited by the Society for Swiss Art History . Edizioni Casagrande, Bellinzona 2007, ISBN 978-88-7713-482-0 , pp. 215-219, 221.
  • Claudio Turri: Centovalli - centoricordi: un viaggio teatrale. Teaterverlag Elgg, Belp 2012.
  • Elfi Rüsch: I monumenti d'arte e di storia del Canton Ticino. Distretto di Locarno IV: La Verzasca, il Pedemonte, le Centovalli e l'Onsernone (= The art monuments of Switzerland. Volume 123). Edited by the Society for Swiss Art History. SKG, Bern 2013, ISBN 978-3-03797-084-3 , pp. 180-184.
  • Niklaus Starck : Centovalli, through 100 valleys, over 100 bridges, past 100 chapels. Porzio, Breitenbach / Ascona 2017.

Web links

Commons : Centovalli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Elfi Rüsch: Distretto di Locarno IV. Ed. By the Society for Swiss Art History. Bern 2013, ISBN 978-3-03797-084-3 , pp. 180-184.
  2. ↑ Costa on ethorama.library.ethz.ch/de/node
  3. ↑ Pro Centovalli - hiking trails
  4. ↑ Pian del Barch-Comola ski lift at seilbahnbilder.ch/galerie