Novazzano (Italian pronunciation: [novatˈtsaːno]) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

During the Middle Ages Novazzano belonged to the county of Seprio.

In 1567, the village separated from the political and religious authority of the Pieve of Balerna, to become an independent parish.

In 2005, the manufacturing sector provided more than half of the jobs, many of which were filled by commuters.

[3] Novazzano has an area, as of 1997[update], of 5.18 square kilometers (2.00 sq mi).

[4] The municipality is located in the Mendrisio district, in the hilly country along the Swiss-Italian border.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a greyhound rampant reguardant argent.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks Italian language (2,213 or 93.4%), with German being second most common (86 or 3.6%) and French being third (20 or 0.8%).

The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 10 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 5 people.

[7] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Novazzano is; 199 children or 8.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 262 teenagers or 10.7% are between 10 and 19.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] The entire village of Brusata is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[13] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 30.68% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 941 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 54.7%.

[14] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 1,742 registered voters in Novazzano, of which 1,256 or 72.1% voted.

[8] There were 1,057 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.4% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 175 or 27.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 259 or 40.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 45 or 7.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 0.8% were in the information industry, 14 or 2.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 27 or 4.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 24 or 3.7% were in education and 64 or 9.9% were in health care.

[18] From the 2000 census[update], 2,124 or 89.7% were Roman Catholic, while 71 or 3.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education.

The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college.

In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student).

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