Porza is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

During the Middle Ages the Benedictine abbey of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro owned land in Porza.

On a hill northeast of Porza was Trevano castle, which was probably built in the 12th century by the Bishop of Como.

During the Belle Époque the glamorous and wealthy met here, and musicians from across Europe presented themselves to give concerts.

It was demolished in 1961 and replaced with a school, which is now part of the Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana (university of Italian Switzerland).

[3] Historically, the local economy relied on farming as well as craftsmen (Maestranze) emigrating to other countries.

Since the 1960s, a substantial proportion of the population comes from abroad or the rest of Switzerland.

In the valley along the Cassarate river, an industrial and trade development zone has grown up.

[3] Porza has an area, as of 1997[update], of 1.58 square kilometers (0.61 sq mi).

It consists of the village of Porza and the hamlets of Vira, Trevano and Belvedere in along the hills, as well as Cornaredo and Resega in the valley.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a sun in splendor and a base serrated both or.

[7] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Porza is; 157 children or 10.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 164 teenagers or 10.8% are between 10 and 19.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 29.15% of the vote.

[14] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 954 registered voters in Porza, of which 682 or 71.5% voted.

[8] There were 670 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.0% of the workforce.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 1,066 or 79.1% were Roman Catholic, while 115 or 8.5% 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.