Sorengo is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
History
Sorengo was first mentioned in 1189 as Sourengo when the S. Lorenzo Cathedral in Lugano acquired the right to collect tithes.
In the Late Middle Ages a number of groups owned land or rights in Sorengo including; the monastery of S. Abbondio in Como (from 1265), Como Cathedral (mentioned in 1298), and various important family, including the Torriani and Rusca. Sorengo was first mentioned as an independent municipality in 1298, and the settlement of Cortivallo had partial independence into the 18th century. Sorengeo alternated with Lugano and Loreto as the meeting place of the General Council of the city and valley of Lugano. It was used by the Council in the 16th century, in 1687 and again in 1696.
The inhabitants of Sorengo were part of the parish of Lugano, until 1776 when they became a separate parish. The church of S. Maria Assunta dates back to about the end of the 11th century back, but is not mentioned until 1298. It was expanded in 1566–1593, then rebuilt several times, and renovated in 1975-76 and 1980–81. In 1565 some monks from Bigorio founded a Capuchin monastery by the church, which moved in 1653 to Lugano and is now known as SS. Trinità Monastery.
Since the 1950s, Sorengo has transformed from a rural village into a commuter town for the agglomeration of Lugano. Several organizations have settled in Sorengo including; the children's charity Opera per l'assistenza alla ticinese fanciullezza (since 1920), the S. Anna Hospital (since 1934) and the American private university, Franklin University Switzerland (since 1986). In 2005, 96% of jobs in the municipality were in the services sector.
Geography
Sorengo has an area, , of . Of this area, or 65.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 15.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 58.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 2.4% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 40.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 14.1%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.4% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.4%. Out of the forested land, 9.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 24.7% is used for growing crops, while 1.2% is used for orchards or vine crops and 40.0% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Lugano district, on the heights between Lake Lugano and Lago di Muzzano. It consists of the village of Sorengo with the village sections of Cortivallo and Cremignone. Lago di Muzzano is shared with the neighboring municipalities.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Vert a chestnut tree eradicated or surrounded with four robins proper reguardant towards it.
Demographics
Sorengo has a population () of . , 33.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 15.3%.
Most of the population () speaks Italian (83.5%), with German being second most common (7.8%) and French being third (3.1%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 122 speak German, 48 people speak French, 1,300 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The remainder (86 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 45.5% male and 54.5% female. The population was made up of 522 Swiss men (29.8% of the population), and 276 (15.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 650 Swiss women (37.1%), and 304 (17.4%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 17 live births to Swiss citizens and 2 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 12 deaths of Swiss citizens and 4 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population decreased by 2. There were 5 Swiss men and 4 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 40 non-Swiss men and 40 non-Swiss women 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 5 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 60 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.8%.