Dalpe is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
History
In Dalpe a small cemetery from a 5th-century BC Golasecca culture settlement was discovered. Dalpe is first mentioned in 1217 as Albe. In the 13th century the Gotthard route went through Faido to Cornon and Prato. Dalpe and Cornon formed a Degagna within the Vicinanza of Prato.
The church is first mentioned in 1338, the church in Cornon is from the late 15th century. In 1640, Dalpe broke away from the parish of Prato and became an independent parish. The parish church of SS Bernardo e Carlo is from 1661.
In 1866, the Vicinanza of Dalpe separated from Prato and formed a separate civil parish. Due to emigration to France, the population decreased strongly in the 2nd half of the 19th century. It wouldn't increase until 1941–1960, when it increased slightly, due to the establishment of a construction company. Road construction starting in 1957 made Dalpe into an attractive summer resort in the Levantine and promoted the construction of second homes. The first road to the village opened in 1904. In 1940, a marble quarry opened, but closed shortly thereafter due to the war. For centuries cattle have been the main source of revenue, but now it employs only a few families. In 1998, the municipality began building a small hydroelectric power plant, which is fed by the river Piumogna.
Geography
Dalpe has an area, , of . Of this area, or 6.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 46.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 1.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 31.5% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.2%. Out of the forested land, 38.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.5% is used for growing crops and 1.2% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 1.0% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 12.1% is unproductive vegetation and 19.5% is too rocky for vegetation.
The municipality is located in the Leventina district, on a terrace at an elevation of above the Piottino. It consists of the village of Dalpe with the settlement of Cornone.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a cross Gules in canton a letter D of the same and overall a border Or. This is the same as the coat of arms of the Leventina district but with inverted colors and a letter D in place of the hand. The white background alludes to the name of the commune which appears on antique documents under the form Albe, derived from Latin Albus which means white.
Demographics
Dalpe has a population () of . , 8.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 0%.
Most of the population () speaks Italian (96.8%), with German being second most common ( 1.3%) and French being third ( 0.6%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 2 speak German, 1 person speaks, French, 153 people speak Italian. The remainder (2 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 51.4% male and 48.6% female. The population was made up of 81 Swiss men (44.8% of the population), and 12 (6.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 85 Swiss women (47.0%), and 3 (1.7%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 6 live births to Swiss citizens and there was 1 death of a Swiss citizen. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 non-Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 7 and the non-Swiss population remained constant. This represents a population growth rate of 3.8%.
The age distribution, , in Dalpe is; 10 children or 5.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 12 teenagers or 6.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 26 people or 14.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 20 people or 11.0% are between 30 and 39, 15 people or 8.3% are between 40 and 49, and 39 people or 21.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 28 people or 15.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 21 people or 11.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 10 people or 5.5% who are over 80.