Corippo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Corippo | ||||||||||
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| Population | 17 (December 2004) | |||||||||
| - Density | 2 /km² (6 /sq.mi.) | |||||||||
| Area | 7.7 km² (3 sq mi) | |||||||||
| Elevation | 558 m (1,831 ft) | |||||||||
| Postal code | 6631 | |||||||||
| SFOS number | 5102 | |||||||||
| Mayor | Claudius Scettrini | |||||||||
| Surrounded by (view map) |
Gordevio, Lavertezzo, Mergoscia, Vogorno | |||||||||
| Website | www.corippo.ch | |||||||||
![Corippo [zoom] (Switzerland)](../../../../images/shared/thumb/c/cf/Karte_Schweiz.png/265px-Karte_Schweiz.png)
![Corippo [zoom]](../../../../images/shared/thumb/0/0c/Red_pog.svg/8px-Red_pog.svg.png){kind=small}
Corippo is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
With a population of just 17 as of December 2004, it is the smallest municipality in Switzerland. Despite this, it possesses the trappings of communities many times its size: an official website (www.corippo.ch), its own coat of arms, a village church, a restaurant, and a mayor who leads a town council consisting of three local citizens. The village has maintained its status as an independent entity since its incorporation in 1822.
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[edit] Description
Corippo lies in the Verzasca valley some 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) from Locarno at the north end of the artificial Lake Vogorno, and 20 km from the border with Italy. The houses are built from the local Ticino granite with slate roofs and have changed little for several hundred years, leading the Italian writer Piero Bianconi to describe Corippo as "Verzasca's gentlest village". Its early 17th century Church of the Blessed Virgin Annunciata (later the Blessed Virgin Carmine) was extended in the late eighteenth century. Corippo's architectural value has caused the entire village centre to be placed under a conservation order, and in 1975 the European Architectural Heritage Congress named the village as an "exemplary model" for historical preservation.
Corippo was originally part of the larger parish and commune of Vogorno (though maintaining a certain degree of autonomy), before becoming a fully independent municipality in 1822. The village first became connected to the wider world in 1883 when a road was built linking it to the Verzasca valley road.
Depopulation has been a long-standing problem of the commune as scarceness of agricultural resources has driven the inhabitants, historically farmers and herdsmen, to move out to more populated areas, and within the last hundred and fifty years the village census has declined by over 94%:
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1795 | 269 |
| 1850 | 294 |
| 1900 | 196 |
| 1950 | 73 |
| 2000 | 22 |
| 2004 | 17 |
[edit] References
- Falconi, DP: Corippo in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. Version of 2004-03-02.
[edit] Further reading
- (Italian) Mondada, G. (1977). Corippo. Berne: Società di storia dell'arte in Svizzera.
- (Italian) Gerosa, P.G. (1992). Un microterritorio alpino. Corippo dal Duecento all'Ottocento. ISBN 88-85115-51-9.
- English: An alpine microterritory. Corippo from the 12th to the 18th century
[edit] External links
- (Italian) Official website
- (English) Description and photo gallery
- Helvetic Administration and Public Services listing
- Swissinfo map
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