Onsernone Valley
The Onsernonetal ( Italian Valle Onsernone ) is west of the Maggia valley located valley in the Swiss canton of Ticino .
scope
Like the «Comun Grande d'Onsernone», which was first mentioned in documents in the High Middle Ages, the Onsernone valley historically encompasses the entire valley, through which the Onsernone brook in the far west and the Isorno river further to the east, with all its side brooks, right up to the mills in the east Auressio village (then part of the Pedemonte). It was not until the cession of the uppermost valley section from Switzerland to Italy in 1807 that the uppermost valley section was called "Valle dei Bagni" (after the ruins of the former thermal baths of Bagni di Craveggia ). On the other hand, in common usage today, the Onsernone Valley also includes the lowest valley section of the Isorno river from above near Auressio to the confluence with the Melezza river from Centovalli near Intragna . This earlier historical delimitation of the valley was reflected from 1995 to 2016 in the names of the two municipalities Onsernone and Isorno, which were created as a result of mergers .
geography
All villages are located on the respective north side of the valley in terraced terrain high above the gorges of the Isorno and Ribo rivers. The only exception is the settlement of Oviga (one of the twenty terre of the Comun Grande) on the south side of the river, formerly known as "Terra vecchia". Nearby, the main route from Centovalli to Onsernone used to cross the river via Monte Camino towards Mosogno and Russo . The other two important access routes in the south were from Cavigliano via Auressio to Loco along the north side of the valley and the connection from Intragna TI over the bridge at Niva to Loco, which was developed as a mulatteria in the 16th century .
The uppermost section of the valley beyond the baths on Italian territory can only be reached on foot. At Russo the side valley through which the Ribo flows joins the villages of Vergeletto and Gresso.
history
Early settlement and the Middle Ages
Due to the extremely difficult accessibility of the valley from the south along the Isorno river, which runs in a long gorge and many side streams cut just as deep into the terrain (such as the Ribo from the Vergeletto valley) and especially on the south side of the valley, a significant settlement is likely to begin started relatively late in the 8th to 10th centuries. But over the mountain ranges from the south (from Centovalli via Monte Comino and Oviga, in Ticino dialect for shady place , to Mosogno ) and from the north (from Maggia valley via the Passo della Garina and Ighelone to Loco ) the valley was certainly already walked earlier.
In addition to isolated finds at individual pass crossings, a grave found near Gresso at the end of the 19th century with a jug, a small vase and three Roman coins from AD 98 to 161 speaks for this .
The Onsernone Valley was first mentioned in a document a few decades after the neighboring Centovalli (owned by the Disentis Monastery in the 12th century ) in an assignment contract dated November 27, 1224 in Ascona. Four years later, the Comune di Onsernone and the first were mentioned for the first time Talk church of St. Remigius in Loco on the occasion of a dispute settlement with representatives from the Pedemonte and Centovalli. In the same century, further first mentions of fractions (Terre) that are still identifiable today followed, such as von Crana (1228 as Grana ), Russo (1231 as Ruxi ), Seghelina (1265 as Segurina ), Rossa (1265 as Uossa ), Bairone (1273 as Albairolo and Barione ), Mosogno (1277 with already a chapel there) and von Spruga (1285).
The Alpe di Porcareccio (at the back of the Valle Vergeletto at the pass crossing into the Valle Campo as a side valley of the Valle Maggia) is documented as early as 1296. On the occasion of a property transfer in a parchment from Toceno in 1299, the river crossing the valley was also referred to for the first time in Latin as "flumen de aqua calida" (German: warm water , today Onsernone at the top, then Rio dei Bagni and further down Isorno). This document is also the earliest evidence of the two thermal springs north (now dried up) and south ( Bagni di Craveggia ) of the river.
Thus, as early as the 13th century, today's settlement and alpine area was used. The agricultural area, which could hardly be expanded in terms of surface area, despite further population growth, and the improved transport connections (especially after the construction of the Romanesque Isorno bridges between Vosa and Niva and between Oviga and Navira) led to increased emigration, especially to Northern Italy and specialization in the Manufacture of consumer goods from rye straw for export. However, this broke off in the 19th century when the corresponding industrial products were then available, which led to increased migration from the valley despite the occasional return migration.
19th century
The Comune di Onsernone, until Napoleon as King of Italy ceded the uppermost section of the valley to the Italian communities of Craveggia and Dissimo (today part of the community of Re ) again and again against foreign property claims, especially from the south (Centovalli and Valle Vigezzo).
A winding road into the Onsernone Valley with numerous bridges was only built between 1898 and 1900. From the time it was set up in 1858, postal traffic with the valley took place on foot to Loco, from where the further mail distribution and collection took place in the valley. The lengthening of the only thoroughfare beyond Spruga to the national border actually took place in 1932. The often narrow road (especially when passing through towns) has remained to this day, with the only thing being that the route between Cavigliano and Auressio was later realigned.
Border violation from 18./19. October 1944
In the final phase of World War II, fascist troops and Italian partisan associations fought each other in northern Italy. In October 1944, the survivors of the Perotti partisan brigade withdrew to the Swiss border at the Bagni di Craveggia near Spruga after a battle of retreat . Their commanding officer, Filippo Frasati, requested internment in Switzerland, which was refused because Swiss regulations only allowed combatants to be interned in cases of imminent death.
From October 12, 1944, the border was reinforced by the motorized Mitrailleur Company 9 of the Swiss Army, whose officers agreed with the partisans to cross the border in the event of a fascist attack. This took place on October 18, 1944, when around 200 men, supported by some German soldiers, opened fire on the partisans, with many bullets also striking Swiss territory. The partisans fled to Switzerland as agreed, and one of their officers was killed on Swiss soil in the process.
The fascist commandant demanded the partisans be extradited, which the Swiss commandant refused. After the border was reinforced by further Swiss troops, the fascist troops left the border area again. The 256 surviving partisans were interned in Locarno until the end of the war.
Immigration from German-speaking Switzerland after 1968
In the course of the 1968 movement until the end of the 1980s, around 200 young people from German-speaking Switzerland who were referred to as dropouts or neo- rural residents moved into the valley .
Political structure
The former Comune di Onsernone was divided into five Squadre (localities) and 20 Terre (parliamentary groups) until its dissolution as a political unit (today only exists as a civil parish) at the beginning of the 19th century:
- Loco (Loco, Niva, Maltino, Rossa, Ighelone),
- Berzona (Berzona, Seghelina),
- Mosogno (Mosogno Sopra, Mosogno Sotto, Ciosso, Barione, Oviga),
- Russo (Russo, Quiello, Gresso, Vergeletto) and
- Crana (Crana, Vocaglia, Comologno, Spruga).
Today the whole Onsernonetal including Auressio heard along with the Vergeletto, according to three different municipal mergers to the municipality Onsernone .
architecture
The Onsernone Valley is known for its villages, which are located on the only through road high up on the northern slope and are accordingly very sunny, with up to seven hours of sunshine even in winter. You can see numerous well-preserved, typical Ticino stone houses made of paragneiss , which is regionally called Serizzo , with their wooden terraces. Some of the small villages are very well preserved.
Artist colony
The Onsernone Valley and especially the town of Berzona has been an artists' colony since the 20th century , as various well-known writers have lived there, at least temporarily. Alfred Andersch spent his old age in the Onsernone Valley and was buried in Berzona. Max Frisch and Golo Mann are also known residents.
literature
- Johannes Bär: The vegetation of the Val Onsernone (Canton Ticino). Rascher, Zurich 1918 ( digitized version ).
- Siro Borrani : Il Ticino Sacro. Memorie Religose della Svizzera Italiana raccolte dal sacerdote Siro Borrani prevosto di Losone. Tipografia e Libreria Cattolica di Giovanni Grassi, Lugano 1896.
- Alfred Canale: Geomorphology of the Valle Onsernone. Bellinzona 1956.
- Vasco Gamboni: Onsernone Valley. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Peter Knup: Geology and petrography of the area between Centovalli-Valle Vigezzo and Onsernone. In: Swiss mineralogical and petrographic communications. Volume 38, Issue 1, Zurich 1958,
- Simona Martinoli et al .: Guida d'arte della Svizzera italiana. Edizioni Casagrande, Bellinzona 2007.
- 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. 284-290.
- Stef Stauffer: Steep world - life in the Onsernone. Book publisher Lokwort, Bern 2012 ISBN 978-3-906786-44-5 .
- Luciano Vaccaro, Giuseppe Chiesi, Fabrizio Panzera: Terre del Ticino. Diocesi di Lugano. Editrice La Scuola, Brescia 2003.
- Patricia Vavadini-Bielander, Massimo Colombo: Locarnese and valleys (= paths of the past - forays into the history and archeology of the canton of Ticino. Volume 123). Edited by the AAT Associazione Archeologica Ticinese and UBC Ufficio Beni Culturali SKG. Bellinzona J.], routes 11 and 14.
- Laurentius Zawadyński: Geological-petrographic investigations in the Valle Onsernone (Ticino): On the petrography of the cataclasites. In: Swiss mineralogical and petrographic communications. Volume 32, Issue 1, Zurich 1952.
Web links
- Valle Onsernone on ticinarte.ch
Individual evidence
- ^ Aldo Crivelli: Atlante preistorico e storico della Svizzera Italiana, Volume Primo, Istituto Editorale Ticinese, Bellinzona, 1943, aggiornamento 1990 da Pierangelo Donati, p. 73.
- ↑ 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. 284-290.
- ↑ Lindoro Regolatti: Il Comune di Onsernone - ordinamento civile delle cinque antiche Squadre. Mazzuconi, Lugano, 1934, pp. 125-132.
- ↑ Paolo Norsa (ed.): Invito alle Valle Vigezzo. Dante Giovannacci Editore, Domodossola, 1970, p. 134, on primary document: pergameno n.9, Vol. I, dell'Archivio comunale di Toceno.
- ↑ Aurelio Giovannacci, Martin Fricker: "Dead, injured or alive": Battle of the Bagni di Craveggia , Swiss soldier 11/2015 p. 50 f.
- ↑ Jürg Oehninger, Regi Sager, Jürg Oehninger: The dropouts from the Onsernonetal. Swiss Radio and Television SRF, October 3, 2017, accessed on February 23, 2018 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 12 ' N , 8 ° 39' E ; CH1903: six hundred and ninety-three thousand four hundred and ten / 117248