In the early centuries, there were two local centers: the mountain community of Saymola (Simbra, Symora) (probably the oldest of the two) and the other on the valley floor.

[5] The Leventina was given in 945 to the Canons of the Cathedral of Milan, who held it until 1403 when it passed into the hands of Uri.

In the following years, they built an ossuary which was later replaced with a Church devoted to the Santissimi Martiri Innocenti (Most Holy Innocent Martyrs).

[8] Later, the Confraternity (founded by San Carlo Borromeo as a Blessed Sacrament Confraternity and later erected to the glory of St. Anthony of Padua) added a new patron saint's day 13 June based on popular devotion to St. Anthony of Padua.

[8] In 1567, all the villages (members of the Vicinanza) of Giornico asked San Carlo Borromeo[9] to give them the independence from the parish of Bodio, but without success.

[6] However, in 1602 Federico Borromeo[10] decided in favor of the separation and Pollegio finally became an independent parish.

On 6 June 1622, Federico Borromeo officially erected the Seminary of Pollegio using the assets of the suppressed order of Humiliati, and on 16 July 1626 he determined its rules of conduct.

[11] The foundation act was signed at the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Milan, in the presence of Uri and Leventina authorities.

[12] The Seminary was governed by a rector who belonged to the congregation of the Oblates of Saint Ambrose and Charles founded by Carlo Borromeo in 1578.

The line, known as "dozen", varied depending on the cost of living, at the end of 17th century was introduced a line "economy" to make education accessible to more students, equivalent to less than a quarter of the normal: those who chose this mode were called "menestrante" as the housing and received a bowl of soup, the rest of the food had to be taken from home and have it cooked by the chef of the seminary.

Carlo Borromeo had set up five free seats for the youth of Leventina to become seminarians.

Other students came from the Swiss cantons (Uri especially) to learn the Italian language and from different locations, including Graubünden, Ticino and Lombardy.

Sunday and Thursday afternoons were the days of vacation, as students had to speak in Latin, except that in moments of recreation and after dinner.

For books, a student would have had a dictionary, a handbook of grammar and a short treatise in vogue in the schools of the spiritual, the author studied the most was Cicero.

Thanks to the documents scattered in various archives there is some information about the food consumed by students and teaching staff: Cereals - rye, wheat mile and barley - came from the seminar and possessions from the property to Cardana (province of Varese).

the meat was mostly white: in 1697/98 had cooked 25 calf, two heifers, some lamb, some pigs and 23 chickens.

The menu of 1697 also included apples, pears, strawberries, fruit, salt, lemon candies, cookies, candies, anicini, sugar, spices, cream, mascarpone, 950 snails, anchovies and 1174 eggs.

In 1852 the Grand Council launched an act of secularism about religious institutions which affected the Seminary of Pollegio too, making it owned by the State.

The Patricianship includes all families originating in the place that once administered the undistributed assets of the community such as forests, grasslands, mountains, the Alps[17] and are responsible for the maintenance of the artifacts, roads, bridges, trails, springs and fountains.

[clarification needed][18] The traditional economy was based on agriculture and livestock, with granite mining starting in the 19th century.

In 1999, construction on the new Gotthard Base Tunnel began, starting in the area between Pollegio and Bodio.

[22] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Pollegio is; 51 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 87 teenagers or 10.1% are between 10 and 19.

[23] The historical population is given in the following table:[3] In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the SP which received 36.47% of the vote.

[28] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 373 registered voters in Pollegio, of which 264 or 70.8% voted.

[31] From the 2000 census[update], 631 or 87.3% were Roman Catholic, while 9 or 1.2% 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 professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields.