Mendrisio (; ) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura of the university of Italian-speaking Switzerland (USI).
The municipality was boosted in size on 4 April 2004 when it incorporated the former municipality of Salorino. On 5 April 2009 it incorporated the former municipalities of Arzo, Capolago, Genestrerio, Rancate and Tremona. On 14 April 2013 the former municipalities of Besazio, Ligornetto and Meride merged into the municipality of Mendrisio.
Mendrisio is served by Mendrisio railway station and Mendrisio San Martino railway station.
History
thumb|right|Classicist Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano
thumb|right|upright|Casa Croci, a villa built in 1873 as the town grew wealthy from factories.
Mendrisio was first mentioned in 793 as Mendrici and was also known by its German name, Mendris though this name is no longer used. However, the area was inhabited during the Roman era. Around thirty tombs, a villa and coins from a Roman settlement have been discovered in the area. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Mendrisio was the center of a Lombard district and grew into a town. During the Middle Ages, several fortifications were built on the valley floor between the Porta S. Giovanni and the Moree river. In the Late Middle Ages the Torriani family built their castle on the rocky hills above the town. Mendrisio became an independent town in the County of Seprio in 1140. The county was taken over by Como three decades later in 1170. Como ruled over Mendrisio until 1335, when Como was brought under Milan's control. Mendrisio then remained under Milanese control until 1402. At some point in the 15th century, the town was given as a fief to the Rusca and Sanseverino families.
The municipality is the capital of the Mendrisio district. It is located on the slopes of Monte Generoso. In 2004, it absorbed Salorino. In 2009, it added Arzo, Capolago, Genestrerio, Rancate and Tremona and in 2013 it expanded again with Besazio, Ligornetto and Meride.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a cross argent.
Demographics
thumb|House in Arzo village
Mendrisio has a population () of . , 23.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 4.8%.
Most of the population () speaks Italian (87.5%), with German being second most common (4.8%) and French being third (1.4%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 285 speak German, 78 people speak French, 5,369 people speak Italian, and 8 people speak Romansh. The remainder (406 people) speak another language.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.5% male and 52.5% female. The population was made up of 4,309 Swiss men (37.3% of the population), and 1,186 (10.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,942 Swiss women (42.7%), and 1,124 (9.7%) non-Swiss women.
, there were 2,992 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household.
there were 3,049 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 934. There were 185 single room apartments and 584 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 2,736 apartments (89.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 248 apartments (8.1%) were seasonally occupied and 65 apartments (2.1%) were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
<timeline>
Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)
id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
ImageSize = width:1140 height:210
PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100
AlignBars = justify
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:6600
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1300 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:260 start:0
PlotData=
color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1591 from:start till:962 text:"962"
bar:1643 from:start till:862 text:"862"
bar:1696 from:start till:1051 text:"1,051"
bar:1850 from:start till:1972 text:"1,972"
bar:1860 from:start till:2062 text:"2,062"
bar:1870 from:start till:2321 text:"2,321"
bar:1880 from:start till:2744 text:"2,744"
bar:1888 from:start till:2825 text:"2,825"
bar:1900 from:start till:3338 text:"3,338"
bar:1910 from:start till:3919 text:"3,919"
bar:1920 from:start till:3607 text:"3,607"
bar:1930 from:start till:3904 text:"3,904"
bar:1941 from:start till:4265 text:"4,265"
bar:1950 from:start till:4602 text:"4,602"
bar:1960 from:start till:5109 text:"5,109"
bar:1970 from:start till:6223 text:"6,223"
bar:1980 from:start till:6590 text:"6,590"
bar:1990 from:start till:6152 text:"6,152"
bar:2000 from:start till:6146 text:"6,146"
</timeline>
Heritage sites of national significance
thumb|upright|Rancate village
Mendrisio is home to a number of Swiss heritage sites of national significance. The list includes three churches; the Church of S. Sisinio alla Torre, the Church of S. Martino, and the complex of S. Giovanni, which includes a convent, the Church of S. Giovanni and the Oratory of S. Maria. There are six stately houses or palaces on the list; the Croci House, the Dei Pagani Tre Buchi House, Palazzo Pollini, Palazzo Torriani, Villa Argentina and the Villa and mosaics of S. Maria in Borgo. The rest of the list consists of the Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst or Giovanni Züst Art Gallery and the Tremona archeological site. The 2013 mergers added the Museo Vela from Ligornetto and the Church of S. Silvestro from Meride. The villages of Ligornetto and Meride were added to the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Sights
Mendrisio is known in Italian as il magnifico borgo (the magnificent town) due to its numerous elegant historical buildings. For two decades the town has had a pioneering role in promoting electric cars. The city's surroundings are the main wine-growing regions in Canton Ticino.
The city is also known for its typical Good Friday procession (included by UNESCO in the intangible world heritage lists from 2019), when a live recreation of Christ's passion is enacted (without any blood or violence), and also for the grape festival (called Sagra dell'uva) which takes place in late September.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 37.58% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (27.5%), the SP (13.6%) and the Ticino League (9.24%). In the federal election, a total of 2,738 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 59.3%.
In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 4,635 registered voters in Mendrisio, of which 3,292 or 71.0% voted. 63 blank ballots and 6 null ballots were cast, leaving 3,223 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD+GenGiova which received 1,012 or 31.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 868 or 26.9%), the SSI (with 440 or 13.7%) and the PS (with 422 or 13.1%).
In the Consiglio di Stato election, 46 blank ballots and 10 null ballots were cast, leaving 3,236 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD which received 1,010 or 31.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 837 or 25.9%), the PS (with 501 or 15.5%) and the SSI (with 401 or 12.4%).
, there were 10,078 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,394 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 7.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 33.4% of the workforce coming into Mendrisio are coming from outside Switzerland, while 1.4% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 10.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 56.4% used a private car.
The winemaker Vinattieri Ticinesi, which produces merlot, is the largest in Switzerland. Household goods multinational Metaltex has its headquarters in Mendrisio. There are four gold refining factories; however, many of their technical employees commute from Italy. Both Italy and Switzerland are major markets for refined gold which is used in the manufacture of watches and jewellery. About 7,500 workers from Italy commute daily to Mendrisio.
Religion
From the , 4,982 or 81.1% were Roman Catholic, while 279 or 4.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There are 665 individuals (or about 10.82% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 220 individuals (or about 3.58% of the population) did not answer the question. There were 105 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 157 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 were 20 students in the professional program.
, there were 1,096 students in Mendrisio who came from another municipality, while 155 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
A palace in the old town became in 2018 the new seat of the public library, the Cantonal Library of Mendrisio which is familiarly called "Filanda" after the silk fabric once settled in the building.
From 2021 Mendrisio is home to the Department of Environment Construction and Design of the Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI).
Transportation
The municipality has two railway stations, and . Both are located on the Gotthard line and have regular service to , , , , , and . The Mendrisio San Martino station was built for its proximity to the industrial area and shopping centres.
Notable people
140px|thumb|Luigi Snozzi, 2009
140px|thumb|Clay Regazzoni, 1971
- Józef Fontana (1676 in Mendrisio – 1739 in Warsaw), a Swiss Italian Polish architect who settled in Poland
- Giulio Guglielmetti (1901–1987), mayor of Mendrisio, 1941 to 1973
- Luigi Snozzi (born 1932 in Mendrisio), a Swiss architect
- Bruno Monguzzi (born 1941 in Mendrisio), a Swiss graphic designer
- Peter Zumthor (born 1943), a Swiss uncompromising and minimalist architect, winner of the 2009 Pritzker Architecture Prize, professor at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio
- Mario Botta (born 1943 in Mendrisio), architect, professor at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio
- Fabio Pusterla (born 1957 in Mendrisio), a Swiss translator and writer in Italian
- Mauro Urbano (born 1968 in Mendrisio), writer and collector of Middle-Age and Renaissance Art
- Paolo Meneguzzi (born 1976), a Swiss Italian singer
; Sport
- Clay Regazzoni (1939 in Mendrisio – 2006), a Swiss racing driver, competed in Formula One races 1970 to 1980, winning five Grands Prix
- Rocco Travella (born 1967 in Mendrisio), cyclist, competed at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics
- Patrick Foletti (born 1974 in Mendrisio), former Swiss goalkeeper, now goalkeeper coach for the Switzerland national football team
- Michael Rogers (born 1979), a retired Australian professional road bicycle racer, lives in Mendrisio
- Michael Albasini (born 1980), a Swiss professional road bicycle racer
- Fulvio Sulmoni (born 1986 in Mendrisio), a Swiss footballer, 260 club caps, plays for FC Lugano
- Roberto Kovac (born 1990 in Mendrisio), a Swiss professional basketball player
- Alessandro Martinelli (born 1993 in Mendrisio), is a Swiss professional footballer, 160 club caps