Menzonio

Menzonio is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.

At the time of the Swiss Confederation rule over Ticino, Menzonio was one of seven villages in the valley.

In the 17th century, the population reached its peak and then decreased gradually, initially because of emigration to Italy.

Later the residents emigrated to California and finally they moved away from the villages to the cities of Ticino and the rest of Switzerland.

[3] The village is located in the Vallemaggia district, on a terrace along the right side of the Val Lavizzara at an elevation of 732 m (2,402 ft).

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure St. Mary praying and crowned all argent haloed or issuant from a stump snagged and eradicated vert sprouting a branch with three leaves.

According to the story, due to the lack of arable land, many of the young men of Menzonio emigrated to Rome in search of work.

One day, a group of emigrants came back carrying an image of the Blessed Virgin in a casket.

They stopped outside the village to rest and set the casket on the stump of a cherry tree.

[7] The historical population is given in the following chart:[2][8] There were 32 residents of the village who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.5% of the workforce.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 64 or 87.7% were Roman Catholic, while or 0.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.