Brontallo
Brontallo is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.
In 2004 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Broglio, Fusio, Menzonio, Peccia and Prato-Sornico to form a new and larger municipality Lavizzara.
Brontallo is first mentioned in 1574 as Bruntalo.
Until the beginning of the 15th Century it formed a community with Menzonio and together with Bignasco and Cavergno it formed a Vicinanza.
The church of S. Maria e S. Giorgio was first mentioned in the 15th Century. In the 16th Century it was rebuilt, and then renovated several times thereafter. Until 1513 it, along with Menzonio, was part of the parish of Cevio. In 1513 Menzonio broke away from Cevio, but Brontallo remained part of the parish until 1655.
The greatest population was during the 17th Century. The population decline began in the 18th Century, but accelerated into the 20th Century. The road running from the village into the Val Lavizzara was completed in 1955. In 1990 less than a third of the workforce was employed in agriculture. Many of the homes in the village are now vacation homes.
Brontallo has an area, as of 1997[update], of 10.46 square kilometers (4.04 sq mi). Of this area, 0.13 km2 (0.050 sq mi) or 1.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) or 57.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.05 km2 (12 acres) or 0.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.12 km2 (30 acres) or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes and 3.81 km2 (1.47 sq mi) or 36.4% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.3%. Out of the forested land, 41.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.1% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 16.5% is unproductive vegetation and 19.9% is too rocky for vegetation.
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