Giubiasco is a former municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
On 2 April 2017 the former municipalities of Camorino, Claro, Gnosca, Gorduno, Gudo, Moleno, Monte Carasso, Pianezzo, Preonzo, Sant'Antonio and Sementina merged into the municipality of Bellinzona.
History Due to its location at the center of numerous routes through the Alps, Giubiasco has been important since ancient times. The roads over the Monte Ceneri to the south, the Passo di San Jorio from the east, over the San Bernardino Pass and the Gotthard Pass from the north and the route along Lake Maggiore from the west all meet at Giubiasco.
Prehistoric necropolis The discovery of the great cemetery of Giubiasco in 1900, led to uncontrolled treasure hunting and the loss of many objects. It was not until 1905 that the Swiss National Museum organized an excavation, which made it possible to save a certain number of graves and document the discoveries scientifically. Further, limited archaeological digs were organized in 1958 and 1971 to explore the edges of the graveyard. A large part of the collection is kept in the National Museum in Zürich, while other items have been given to various foreign and Swiss museums. For example, the British Museum has an impressive collection of about 300 Iron Age artefacts from the site, which mostly include La Tène, copper alloy jewellery and pottery vessels. They were originally excavated from various graves in Giubiasco and were later donated to the BM by John Brunner and the Swiss National Museum.British Museum Collection The latest discoveries are in the Conservation Office in Bellinzona.
The large necropolis, which was not far from the modern train station, has 565 graves. It is one of the rare examples of a site that was in continuous use for a particularly long period, stretching from the late Bronze Age (11th century BC) to the Roman period (2nd century AD). However, only the massive graveyard has been discovered, to date no associated settlement has been located. The cemetery has several different types of graves. The few Late Bronze Age graves are all cremation urn burials. The ashes of the deceased were buried in clay urns in simple trenches in the bare earth, the offerings are modest and consist almost exclusively of fragmented traditional ceramics.
In the early Iron Age the Sopraceneri peoples burials gradually transformed from cremation to a full body burial. The graves were rectangular, bounded by dry stone trenches. From the mid-6th century the distribution of grave goods reflect the Golasecca culture. They include a richer collection of items such as pottery (usually an urn, a bowl and a cup included) but only rarely any bronze containers. There were also clothing, accessories and jewelry; such as bronze or iron brooches, pendants, earrings, rings, belts, sheets and amber necklaces.
Most of the tombs in the necropolis date back to the Late Iron Age (4th–1st century BC) and are exclusively full body burials. From the beginning of the 3rd century the influence of migration is visible in the graves. Celtic belt fittings, pendants and bronze bracelets are found in graves overlying ones from the Golasecca culture. Particularly interesting is the presence of weapons (spears and swords) and helmets of the early Iron Age, a period that is missing in other cemeteries (e.g. Solduno, which is now part of Locarno).
Even with the transition to Roman rule Giubiasco continued to play an important role, probably in connection with the military post of Castel Grande at Bellinzona. Roman items include imported bronze vessels and a silver bowl with two handles in a Roman style. Roman era graves included vessels of clay, metal or glass containing typical Roman grave goods. Additionally, coins and small iron day to day use items have been discovered.
While the archeological discoveries at the necropolis end during the 2nd century, it is likely that the graveyard remained in use for additional centuries. The nearby fortress of Castel Grande remained in use throughout the Roman era.
Medieval Giubiasco During the Early Middle Ages, Giubiasco was probably the center of the land that the Abbey of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia, held in Locarno and the upper reaches of Ticino. Presumably, the church of St. Mary of Primasca, which is mentioned in a document of King Hugo of Italy from the 929 as the property of the monastery, was in the village. The village of Giubiasco is first mentioned in 1186 as apud Cibiascum. In 1195 it was mentioned as Zibiassco. By 1200, the abbey had sold their ownership of the village and surrounding area to the noble Adam of Contone. At this time, the communities (vicinanze) of the valleys were able to partly buy limited self-rule with cash payments. In 1186, Frederick Barbarossa granted imperial immediacy to the region around Locarno.
After the battle of Arbedo in 1422, it fell under the power of Milan. From Milan, it was ruled by the Visconti and then by the Sforza families. Finally, after the Italian campaigns of the Swiss Confederation at the beginning of the 16th century, it became part of the Bailiwick of Bellinzona, which was administratively shared between Uri, Schwyz, and Nidwalden.
The Church of Santa Maria Assunta if first mentioned in 1387, but is probably from the 13th century. In 1622 it was separated from Bellinzona and became a vice-parish church. It was raised in 1804 to become the parish church. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the church was enlarged and modified several times.
Early Modern Giubiasco Originally, Giubiasco and the rest of the Valle Morobbia formed a single vicinanze, which split in the first half of the 16th century. In 1831 divided the municipality of Morobbia Valle split into Valle Morobbia in Piano, Pianezzo and S. Antonio. Then, in 1867 Valle Morobbia in Piano merged into Giubiasco to form a single community.
The economy of the municipality was based around raising crops and livestock, trading and some industry (grist mills and hammer mills). Some of the residents found jobs in other countries, particularly in Spain. Due to its location, Italian and German-Swiss livestock dealers, held livestock markets in Giubiasco starting in the first decades of the 16th century. The municipality's privileges to hold the fair in the fall led to a protracted dispute with Lugano, which broke out in 1513 and was not settled until the end of the 19th century.
Modern Giubiasco
On 25 August 1814, the leaders of the liberal revolutionary people's movement in the Ticino met in Giubiasco, to resist the oligarchic cantonal constitution of 29 July. The so-called Revolt of Giubiasco, set up a temporary government but was soon crushed by Federal troops. The leaders were given heavy sentences. In 1853 the Camorino-Giubiasco-Sementina line was fortified, while the fortifications around Giubiasco were later dismantled, the Fortini della fame at Camorino is still visible. The 19th and 20th century brought profound changes to the economy and society of the municipality. Due to its geographic location near Bellinzona, it became a station on the Gotthard railway. The connection to Locarno was completed in 1874, followed in 1882 by the Lugano and Luino route.
In 1905–06 two factories grew up next to the railway line; the linoleum works (later Forbo factory) and the Lenz engineering works (later , closed 1925). In 1932, the Cattaneo AG ironworks opened. The ironworks still have a role in the regional economy.
Agriculture has remained virtually unchanged, cereals, fruit and vegetable are grown of the plains and vineyards are on the hillside. A wine cooperative opened in 1928 and a market hall in 1937. Warehouses, mills and silos for an agricultural cooperative (Società cooperativa agricola ticinese, founded in 1941) supported other municipalities of the region.
The strong population growth in the 1970s and 80s, a consequence of the emergence of medium-sized industrial and small commercial businesses south of the main settlement, has slowed recently. The built-up area for housing and for commercial properties have extended from the old population centers at the foot of the mountain down into the valley floor. In 2000, about two-thirds of jobs were in the services sector, and about a fifth were in the manufacturing sector.
Geography
Giubiasco has an area, , of . Of this area, or 60.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 21.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 35.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.4% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 19.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 18.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 36.0% is used for growing crops, while 5.5% is used for orchards or vine crops and 19.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.Altitudine, superficie, secondo il genere di utilizzazione, rilevazione 1992/1997, e densità della popolazione, nel 2000 accessed 25 October 2010
The municipality is located in the Bellinzona district, north of Bellinzona at the mouth of Valle Morobbia. It is part of the Agglomeration of Bellinzona. It consists of the villages of Giubiasco and Piano and the settlements of Lôro, Motti, Palasio, Pedevilla and Sasso Piatto. The municipality of Pianezzo is considering a merger some time in the future into Giubiasco.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010
Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Azure on a Base Vert beneath a Mountain of the same a house Argent roofed Gules and in Chief a Sun Or and Argent a Poplar eradicated proper. accessed 26-October-2010
Demographics After Lugano, Bellinzona and Locarno, Giubiasco has one of the largest populations in Ticino.
Giubiasco has a population () of . , 27.3% of the population are foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981–2008 accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 8.9%. Most of the population () speaks Italian(87.8%), with German being second most common ( 4.1%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.8%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 26-October-2010
Of the Swiss national languages (), 302 speak German 72 people speak French, 6,516 people speak Italian, and 8 people speak Romansh. The remainder (520 people) speak another language.Popolazione residente, secondo la lingua principale e la religione, nel 2000 accessed 23 November 2010
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.7% male and 52.3% female. The population was made up of 2,816 Swiss men (34.0% of the population), and 1,134 (13.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 3,270 Swiss women (39.5%), and 1,065 (12.9%) non-Swiss women.