Malcantone
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The Malcantone is a region in the Swiss canton of Ticino , Lugano district .
geography
The region extends over 76.35 square kilometers from Lake Lugano (approx. 300 m above sea level) over a hilly zone to the mountain area at over 1630 m above sea level. M. ( Monte Lema ). It is divided into the following three zones (municipalities as of May 1, 2008 in brackets):
- lower Malcantone ( Agno , Bioggio , Caslano , Magliaso , Neggio , Ponte Tresa , Vernate )
- medium Malcantone ( Astano , Bedigliora , Croglio , Curio , Monteggio , Novaggio , Pura , Sessa )
- Upper Malcantone ( Aranno , Alto Malcantone , Cademario , Miglieglia ).
history
The first human traces go back to the Neolithic . There are isolated evidence from the Iron Age ( necropolis in Cademario), widespread from Roman times (Agno and Bioggio). In the Middle Ages, large holdings of the Bishop of Como are attested in the region .
Traditionally, subsistence farming was practiced in Malcantone . Seasonally, craftsmen from the region migrated to northern and central Italy, France and central Switzerland to work as brick makers , masons and plasterers . Especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries, an iron mine was operated in Sessa, Astano and Miglieglia gold mines on Monte Torri .
From the 1950s onwards, the Malcantone was increasingly integrated into the Lugano economic area, to which it now fully belongs.
Surname
The medieval name of the area, as it is first found in a document in 1280, was Vallis Aroxii or Vallis Arosii, meaning «Valley of Arosio ». The current name is first attested in 1644 in the Latinized form malus angulus in an episcopal visitation report. On a map of the Archdiocese of Milan from the first half of the 18th century, the region is then entered as Malcantone .
The politician, publicist and statistician Stefano Franscini explained the name in the 19th century in terms of folk etymology by saying that the area in the Ancien Régime was far away from the federal governor who lived in Lugano , so that crimes (misfatti) often occurred there. Local names of the Malcantón type are common in Ticino and northern Italy. Against this background, the Ticinese linguist Ottavio Lurati explained the name as “corner off the beaten track, difficult to reach”.
literature
- Virgilio Chiesa : Lineamenti storici del Malcantone. Gaggini-Bizzozero, Lugano 1961.
- Bernardino Croci Maspoli: Malcantone. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 15, 2008 .
- Antonio Galli , Angelo Tamborini: Guida storico-descrittiva del Malcantone e della bassa valle del Vedeggio. 1911.
- Plinio Grossi: Il Malcantone. Guida Galli-Tamburini, 2nd edition, Fontana Print SA, Pregassona 1984.
- Ernesto Pelloni: Per il nostro Malcantone (Val d'Arosio). Tipografia-legatoria La Commerciale SA, Lugano 1957.
- Giovanni Maria Staffieri : Malcantone. Testimonianze culturali nei comuni malcantonesi. Lugano-Agno 1985.
- Celestino Trezzini : Malcantone. In: Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , Volume 8: Macheret - Z. Attinger, Neuchâtel 1934, p. 107 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Helmut Fritz Etter: The Malcantone. A contribution to the regional studies of the Sottoceneri , in: Geographica Helvetica, 18 (1963), pp. 121–204 ( digitized version )
- Ticinoin photo: Malcantone on www.flickr.com
- Malcantone on the ETHorama platform
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ottavio Lurati: dialetto e italiano regional nella Svizzera italiana. Solari & Blum, Lugano 1976, p. 99 f .; the same: Malcantone - un nome curioso. In: Cooperazione 10, March 5, 1981; the same: Nomi di luoghi e di famiglie. E il loro perché? … Lombardia - Svizzera italiana - Piemonte. Macchione, Varese 2011, p. 139 (note 126).
Coordinates: 46 ° 1 ′ 0 ″ N , 8 ° 51 ′ 0 ″ E ; CH1903: 709,304 / 97107