Medeglia is a village and a former municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 21 November 2010, the former municipalities of Medeglia, Bironico, Camignolo, Rivera and Sigirino merged in the new municipality of Monteceneri.
History
Medeglia is first mentioned in 1195 as Medellia. It can be assumed that in the High Middle Ages, Medeglia was part of the old valley community of Carvina. In 1501-03 changed area around Isone, Medeglia and Lugano became part of the county of Bellinzona, but remained in the Agno parish. It became part of the parish of Bironico in the 13th century. Then, in 1585, it broke away from that parish to become a vice parish. It was raised to a full parish in 1888. The parish church of St. Bartholomew was first mentioned in 1328. The romanesque core of the church was renovated and rebuilt in the 15th and 17th centuries.
The local economy of the village was based on animal husbandry and forestry. Starting in the 16th century the residents of Isone and Medeglia bought forests and pastures as far away as Robasacco, Contone, Cadenazzo, Sant'Antonino and Camorino while at the same time opening up trade relations with Bellinzona. In the 19th century, many inhabitants emigrated with the majority going to Argentina and California. The mountain pastures of Medeglia were classified in 1996 as a wetland of national importance. In 2000, three quarters of the working population worked outside the municipality.
Geography
Medeglia has an area, , of . Of this area, or 7.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 79.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 2.2% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 71.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.8% is used for growing crops, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.7% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 1.9% is unproductive vegetation and .
The municipality is located in the Bellinzona district, in the upper Vedeggio valley. It consists of the village of Medeglia and multiple hamlets including Drossa. Until 1805, the village of Robasacco (now part of Cadenazzo) belonged to Medeglia. The municipalities of Medeglia, Bironico, Camignolo, Rivera and Sigirino are seeking approval from the voters to merge on some time in the future into a new municipality which will be known as Monteceneri.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Sun in her Splendour Or between two Roses Argent slipped growing from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second.
Demographics
Medeglia has a population () of 355. , 5.7% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997-2007) the population has changed at a rate of -2%.
Most of the population () speaks Italian(89.4%), with German being second most common ( 4.8%) and French being third ( 2.4%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 16 speak German, 8 people speak French, 295 people speak Italian. The remainder (11 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. The population was made up of 156 Swiss men (44.4% of the population), and 14 (4.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 173 Swiss women (49.3%), and 8 (2.3%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 7 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 3 while the foreign population remained the same. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 6 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 3 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.6%.