1. Geography

2. Coat of arms

3. Demographics

4. Politics

5. Economy

6. Religion

7. Education

8. References

9. External links

Vira is a former municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

On 25 April 2010, the former municipalities of Caviano, Contone, Gerra Gambarogno, Indemini, Magadino, Piazzogna, San Nazzaro, Sant'Abbondio and Vira Gambarogno merged in the new municipality of Gambarogno.^[1]

Geography

Vira (Gambarogno) has an area, {{as of|1997|lc=on}}, of {{convert|11.99|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}. Of this area, {{convert|0.53|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} or 4.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while {{convert|10.39|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} or 86.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, {{convert|0.56|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} or 4.7% is settled (buildings or roads), {{convert|0.14|km2|acre|abbr=on}} or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and {{convert|0.51|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} or 4.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. Out of the forested land, 73.1% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 11.8% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.3% is used for growing crops and 3.0% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 3.2% is unproductive vegetation and 1.1% is too rocky for vegetation.^[2]

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Bendy wavy of eight argent and azure and overall on a base of an anchor sable three mullets of five or.^[3]

Demographics

Vira (Gambarogno) has a population ({{as of|2009|December}}) of 679.^[4] {{as of|2008}}, 15.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals.^[5] Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 2%.

Most of the population ({{as of|2000|lc=on}}) speaks Italian (73.7%), with German being second most common (17.2%) and French being third (2.8%).^[6] Of the Swiss national languages ({{as of|2000|lc=on}}), 106 speak German, 17 people speak French, 454 people speak Italian. The remainder (39 people) speak another language.^[7]

In {{as of|2008|alt=2008}} there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 7 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 3 while the foreign population decreased by 2. There were 2 Swiss men who immigrated back to Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man and 5 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 a decrease of 3 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 6 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.5%.^[5]

The age distribution, {{as of|2009|lc=on}}, in Vira (Gambarogno) is; 53 children or 7.8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 45 teenagers or 6.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 57 people or 8.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 86 people or 12.7% are between 30 and 39, 95 people or 14.0% are between 40 and 49, and 104 people or 15.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 106 people or 15.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 77 people or 11.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 56 people or 8.2% who are over 80.^[8]

The vacancy rate for the village, {{as of|2008|alt=in 2008}}, was 0.13%. {{as of|2000|alt=In 2000}} there were 740 apartments in the village. The most common apartment size was the 4 room apartment of which there were 223. There were 88 single room apartments and 162 apartments with five or more rooms.^[12] Of these apartments, a total of 276 apartments (37.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 445 apartments (60.1%) were seasonally occupied and 19 apartments (2.6%) were empty.^[12] {{as of|2007}}, the construction rate of new housing units was 24.2 new units per 1000 residents.^[6]

The historical population is given in the following table:^[13]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 31.03% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (30.16%), the SP (14.17%) and the Ticino League (11.03%). In the federal election, a total of 212 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 41.6%.^[14]

In the {{as of|2007|alt=2007}} Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 500 registered voters in Vira (Gambarogno), of which 279 or 55.8% voted. 7 blank ballots were cast, leaving 272 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 75 or 27.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD+GenGiova (with 63 or 23.2%), the SSI (with 56 or 20.6%) and the LEGA (with 35 or 12.9%).^[15]

In the {{as of|2007|alt=2007}} Consiglio di Stato election, 3 blank ballots and 2 null ballots were cast, leaving 274 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 71 or 25.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PPD (with 58 or 21.2%), the SSI (with 52 or 19.0%) and the LEGA (with 50 or 18.2%).^[15]

Economy

Religion

From the {{as of|2000|alt=2000 census}}, 456 or 74.0% were Roman Catholic, while 78 or 12.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There are 56 individuals (or about 9.09% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 26 individuals (or about 4.22% of the population) did not answer the question.^[7]

Education

There are two schools in Vira: a municipal preschool site and a municipal primary school site.^[18]

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Vira (Gambarogno) about 69.2% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule).^[6]

In Vira (Gambarogno) there were a total of 84 students ({{as of|2009|lc=on}}). The Ticino education system provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten and in Vira (Gambarogno) there were 18 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years. In the village, 26 students attended the standard primary schools. In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education. There were 15 students in the two-year middle school and 1 in their pre-apprenticeship, while 6 students were in the four-year advanced program.

The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college. In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student).^[19] There were 8 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 9 who attend part-time.

The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields. There was 1 student in the professional program.^[20]

References

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061004033034/http://viragambarogno.ch/ Official website] {{it icon}}

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