Camorino is a former municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
On 2 April 2017 the former municipalities of Claro, Giubiasco, Gnosca, Gorduno, Gudo, Moleno, Monte Carasso, Pianezzo, Preonzo, Sant'Antonio and Sementina merged into the municipality of Bellinzona.
History
From time immemorial the inhabitants of Isone regularly crossed the Tiglio alpine pass to arrive in the Camorino area, where they owned vineyards and arable land. Over the centuries, many of them finally created a village. Camorino is first mentioned in 1237 as part of the lands of the collegiate church of S. Pietro in Bellinzona. A church is mentioned in the village in 1237 and 1285, but no visible traces have been preserved. The existing parish church of San Martino was built in 1553 and completely renovated in 1888. In 1583, the village church split from the Bellinzona parish and was confirmed in 1591 as a separate parish.
In 1853 a defensive line between Sementina and Camorino was built to create jobs for the citizen of Ticino expelled from the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. The Fortini della fame, five round towers with arrow slits in the upper part, is part of these fortifications.
Camorino was originally a pure farming village (raising mostly grapes, strawberries and livestock) with some handicraft, trade and light industry (manufacturing knitwear and pasta as well as a mill). Due to the lack of jobs, some of whose inhabitants emigrated to America. The population growth coincides with the growth of the cities of Giubiasco and Bellinzona. Today it is a residential community with many commuters, with no large industrial companies and with very little agriculture.
Geography
Camorino has an area, , of . Of this area, or 23.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 67.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 1.8% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 63.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 11.4% is used for growing crops, while 5.4% is used for orchards or vine crops and 6.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 1.7% is unproductive vegetation and .
The municipality is located in the Bellinzona district, and is a suburb of Bellinzona. The village is crossed by several major roads and rail lines leading into Bellinzona.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules on a Base Argent wavy two bars wavy Azure and overall a Mill Wheel Or. The mill wheel refers to the Maglio, a mill which, with another house, remained undamaged after a landslide that destroyed the rest of the village."
Demographics
Camorino has a population () of . , 16.1% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 17.7%. Most of the population () speaks Italian(89.6%), with German being second most common ( 5.3%) and French being third ( 1.2%).
Of the Swiss national languages (), 117 speak German 26 people speak French, 1,981 people speak Italian, and 2 people speak Romansh. The remainder (84 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The population was made up of 1,088 Swiss men (40.2% of the population), and 275 (10.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,139 Swiss women (42.1%), and 204 (7.5%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 27 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 24 deaths of Swiss citizens and 3 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 3 while the foreign population decreased by 2. There was 1 Swiss man and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 9 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 5 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 26 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 19 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.8%.