Pollegio

Pollegio village

Coat of arms

Pollegio

Location of Pollegio

Coordinates: 46°21′N 8°56′E / 46.350°N 8.933°ECoordinates: 46°21′N 8°56′E / 46.350°N 8.933°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Sindaco

Area

• Total

5.89 km² (2.27 sq mi)

Elevation

298 m (978 ft)

Population (Dec 2015)

• Total

741

• Density

130/km² (330/sq mi)

Postal code

6742

SFOS number

5077

Surrounded by

Biasca, Bodio, Personico, Semione

Website

www.pollegio.ch
SFSO statistics

Pollegio is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, located in the lower Leventina (valley crossed by the river Ticino).

Pollegio is first mentioned around 1237 as Poleccio/Puletio though this comes from an 18th Century copy of the original document. In 1256 it was mentioned as de Polecci. It used to be known by the German name of Klösterli, though this is not used anymore. In the Middle Ages Pollegio belonged to the Vicinanza of Giornico. The village church was part of the Bodio parish (another member of the Vicinanza of Giornico) until 1602, when it became an independent parish. The Church of SS. MM. Innocenti was built after the Battle of Giornico (which took place in 1478), in memory of the fallen. It was renovated in the 17th century, in 1840 and in 1990.

In the early centuries, there were two local centers: the mountain community of Saymola (Simbra, Symora) (probably the oldest of the two) and the other on the valley floor. The small village was part of the Commune of Leventina (with villages in the valley) and over the Novena pass to the Moleno river. The Leventina was given in 945 to the Canons of the Cathedral of Milan, who held it until 1403 when it passed into the hands of Uri. The municipality was formed by ten Vicinie. Pollegio with Bodio and the mountain of Sobrio, were part of the Vicinanza of Giornico. The location at the intersection of the Three Ambrosian Rite Valleys, led to the creation, between 1210 and 1236, of a hospice for travelers known as the "Hospitale de Santa Maria in Campo Canino de Pollezio de gli Humiliati", directed by the religious order of the Humiliati. After 1326, the hospice was called a "monastery", under the direction of the Humiliati. In 1422 the Confederates met in Pollegio to swear an oath before the Battle of Arbedo. Moreover, from Pollegio, the Confederates sent a declaration of war to the Duke of Milan. In 1478 after the Battle of Giornico of 28 December (which occurred in the territories between Bodio and Pollegio) the Confederates buried their dead in Pollegio. In the following years, they built an ossuary which was later replaced with a Church devoted to the Santissimi Martiri Innocenti (Most Holy Innocent Martyrs). Until then, the only available church was the Church of St. Mary attached to the Humiliati hospice and monastery. The church was later transformed into a parish church (of the Ambrosian Rite and dedicated to the Innocent Martyrs). December 28, the date of battle, became the patron saint's day. Later, the Confraternity (founded by San Carlo Borromeo as a Blessed Sacrament Confraternity and later erected to the glory of St. Anthony of Padua) added a new patron saint's day June 13 based on popular devotion to St. Anthony of Padua. The church, with a single nave and a barrel vault, was renovated in the Baroque style in the 18th Century and further renovated in the 19th and mid-20th Centuries.

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Wikipedia