Collina d'Oro (English: Golden Hill) is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

[5] The hamlet of Bigogno, which is part of Agra, is first mentioned in 1270 in an inventory of the lands of the monastery of S. Abbondio in Como in the Valle di Lugano.

[6] The inventory of Como Cathedral (1298) mentions their allodial titles and episcopal loans in Agra as well as possessions of the Disentis Abbey.

In addition to agriculture, the village was once famous for training and sending artisans to Russia along with other European nations.

[6] In the Early Middle Ages Gentilino belonged to the royal court of Agnuzzo, which was donated in 818 by Emperor Louis the Pious to the clergy of Como.

The union of the monastic estates in 1335 probably led to the creation of the Concilium Sancti Abundii which included Gentilino and Viglio as well as Montagnola and the surrounding villages.

[4] It is believed that the church of S. Abbondio was the center of a medieval parish, which became a sub-parish in the 11th century.

[4] In the past centuries, the population lived mainly from agriculture, but there were also a large exodus of builders (known as Maestranze).

[4] The merger of several formerly separate properties of the monastery of S. Abbondio in Como in 1535, led to the establishment of the Concilium Sancti Abundii which covered not only Gentilino but the village of Montagnola with the hamlets of Vigilio, Orino, Arasio, Certenago, Poprino, Barca and Scairolo.

[5] The local economy was based on agriculture as well as emigration of architects and builders from the Gilardi, Lucchini, Berra and Camuzzi families into various European countries, especially Russia.

Several of these builders were able to create major works in these foreign cities and rise to great fame.

Between 1923 and 1927 it was the seat of the prestigious Officina Bodoni, the printing shop of Hans (later Giovanni) Mardersteig.

Until the merger, the village of Gentilino included the north side of the Collina d'Oro valley, and the settlement of Viglio.

The former municipality of Montagnola stretched over the central portion of the Collina d'Oro valley from the Bay of Agno to Pian Scairolo, and included a number of villages.

[10] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Collina d'Oro is; 429 children or 9.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 714 teenagers or 15.9% are between 10 and 19.

[11] The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][5][6][12] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 37.8% of the vote.

[13] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 2,661 registered voters in Collina d'Oro, of which 1,727 or 64.9% voted.

The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields.

The La Biblioteca comunale di Collina d'Oro is located in Montagnola, in proximity to the communal school.

[19] The Camuzzi House, Cimitero and Parish Church of S. Abbondio, with Ossuary and Via Crucis are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

[20] Montagnola was the home for over thirty years of the writer and Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse until his death in 1962.

The station is served by regular trains, operating every 15 minutes during weekday daytime, and every half-hour at other times.

[21][22] The city has 2 main sport facilities: Centro Ricreativo and Campo Campari both located in Gentilino.