Overview
Sant'Antonio is a former municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It includes the hamlet of Carena. On 2 April 2017 the former municipalities of Camorino, Claro, Giubiasco, Gnosca, Gorduno, Gudo, Moleno, Monte Carasso, Pianezzo, Preonzo and Sementina merged into the municipality of Bellinzona.
History
A grave from the Early Iron Age (750-400 BC) has been discovered in the village. The so-called Squadra or part of the village made up the medieval municipality of Vallemorobbia. In 1803, it became a part of the political municipality of Vallemorobbia. Sant'Antonio became an independent municipality in 1831. Before 1600 the village part of the parish of Bellinzona, followed by the parish of Pianezzo until 1680. The first mention of the parish church of SS Antonio Abate e Abbondio is in 1371, and the church was rebuilt in the 16th Century. The inhabitants of the village lived on grazing and farming or many emigrated. In 1464, iron ore mining began in Carena, which was operated with varying success and various owners until 1831. The alpine pasture of Giumello, which belongs to the Canton and the cantonal Agricultural School at Mezzana, is located in the municipality.
In 2000, over three quarters of the workforce were commuters, especially to Bellinzona.
Geography
Sant'Antonio has an area, , of . Of this area, or 1.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 79.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 0.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 9.8% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.2%. Out of the forested land, 55.7% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 22.1% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.9% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 8.9% is unproductive vegetation. The municipality is located in the Bellinzona district on the heights above the right side of the upper Morobbia valley. It includes the Carena mountain, which is .
It consists of the village of Sant'Antonio and the several hamlets.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Azure St. Anthony statant clead as a Monk haloed Or holding a staff and a book argent and behind him a Pig proper and Gules a Snake Argent. Saint Anthony is the protector of animals, also known as Saint Anthony of the pig due to the classical iconography which always depicts him surrounded by animals, in particular by a little pig whose snout sticks out from the saint's clothes as on the coat of arms of Sant'Antonio.
Demographics
Sant'Antonio has a population () of . , 6.0% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 12.1%. Most of the population () speaks Italian(76.8%), with German being second most common (20.8%) and Romansh being third ( 0.6%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 35 speak German, 129 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The remainder (3 people) speak another language. , the gender distribution of the population was 52.2% male and 47.8% female. The population was made up of 95 Swiss men (46.8% of the population), and 11 (5.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 91 Swiss women (44.8%), and 6 (3.0%) non-Swiss women. , there were 88 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.9 persons per household. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. there were 335 apartments in the municipality.
The most common apartment size was the 3 room apartment of which there were 139. There were 21 single room apartments and 34 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 87 apartments (26.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 247 apartments (73.7%) were seasonally occupied and 1 apartments (0.3%) were empty.
Heritage sites of national significance
The ancient mine at A Carena is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 49.63% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (23.32%), the SP (11.01%) and the SVP (6.34%). In the federal election, a total of 69 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 40.4%. In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 165 registered voters in Sant'Antonio, of which 110 or 66.7% voted. 2 blank ballots were cast, leaving 108 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 39 or 36.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the SSI (with 25 or 23.1%), the PS (with 15 or 13.9%) and the PPD+GenGiova (with 12 or 11.1%). In the Consiglio di Stato election, there were 2 blank ballots, which left 108 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 38 or 35.2% of the vote.
The next three most popular parties were; the SSI (with 22 or 20.4%), the PS (with 15 or 13.9%) and the PPD (with 13 or 12.0%).
Economy
, Sant'Antonio had an unemployment rate of 3.84%. , there were 15 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 1 person is employed in the secondary sector and there is 1 business in this sector. 3 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 2 businesses in this sector. Of the working population, 3.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 70.5% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 127 or 75.6% were Roman Catholic, while 13 or 7.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There are 25 individuals (or about 14.88% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 3 individuals (or about 1.79% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Sant'Antonio about 70.4% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). There are 4 vocational students who are attending school full-time and 5 who attend part-time. , 29 students from Sant'Antonio attended schools outside the municipality.