Aranno is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. Bordering municipalities are Cademario, Iseo, Alto Malcantone, Miglieglia and Novaggio.
In Aranno you can find the "Maglio", the last power hammer of Switzerland. It stopped its activities in 1952.
History
Aranno is first mentioned in 1335 as Arano.
Cemented into the facade of the Casa Pelli, there are four copies of grave stone fragments (discovered in 1842, originals in the Museo del Malcantone in Curio) with inscriptions in the so-called Alphabet of Lugano.
One unconfirmed source states that the parish church of San Vittore was built in the 17th century on the ruins of an ancient castle. The church was rebuilt in 1815 to its present appearance. Inside the church there are many artistic works from the Malcantone valley.
The local economy was based on agriculture and emigration to other countries for jobs. Further up the valley, there are numerous terraces that support intensive cultivation of vineyards and grain. In 1857, sphalerite, barite and stibnite were discovered and mined for several decades. On the right flank in the area of Miglieglia is the so-called Maglio power hammer. It was built in 1860 in Aranno and is the only functional power hammer with a lever device in Switzerland. It was bought by a preservation society and renovated.
Geography
Aranno has an area, , of . Of this area, or 5.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 84.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.4% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 82.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.5% is used for growing crops and 3.7% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Lugano district, in the Magliasina Valley at an elevation of .
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a plough gules and in a chief of the same a lion passant or. The plow may be a form of canting arms. The village name may have come from the Latin ara or altar. But in common usage this origin has been changed to the Italian arare or to plow, leading to the plow on the coat of arms.
Demographics
Aranno has a population () of . , 12.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 27.3%.
Most of the population () speaks Italian (79.4%), with German being second most common (16.1%) and French being third (1.9%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 43 speak German, 5 people speak French, 212 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The remainder (6 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 46.9% male and 53.1% female. The population was made up of 130 Swiss men (40.9% of the population), and 19 (6.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 148 Swiss women (46.5%), and 21 (6.6%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 6 live births to Swiss citizens and were 2 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 4 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland and 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 1 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 1 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.0%.
The age distribution, , in Aranno is; 36 children or 11.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 34 teenagers or 10.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 29 people or 9.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 40 people or 12.6% are between 30 and 39, 69 people or 21.7% are between 40 and 49, and 39 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 41 people or 12.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 21 people or 6.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 9 people or 2.8% who are over 80.