Lavertezzo, Switzerland.

Lavertezzo is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Lavertezzo is first mentioned in 1327 as Laverteze.In the Middle Ages, Lavertezzo was a Squadra of the Vicinanza of Verzasca. For centuries the people lived, in the summer months, in the Verzasca valley and migrated in the winter, with their cattle, to the lower valleys. After the dissolution of Terricciole in 1920, a shared territory between Locarno, Minusio and Mergoscia, the settlement of Riazzino was allocated to Lavertezzo.The parish church of Madonna degli Angeli was built in the 18th Century. Lavertezzo became an independent parish in the 16th Century, when it separated from Vogorno. It was granted a provost in 1806.The double arch stone bridge was built in 17th Century, and is one of the most distinctive sights in the village. The economy in the valley consisted mainly of farming and grazing. There was added income, from emigrants who went to Italy, especially Palermo. In 1873, they began to systematically produce granite from quarries in Lavertezzo. In the last decades of the 20th Century Riazzino developed into a shopping and recreation center. By 2000, the agricultural sector still provided a good one-tenth of the jobs in Lavertezzo.Lavertezzo has an area, as of 1997, of 58.11 square kilometers. Of this area, 0.7 km2 or 1.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.34 km2 or 50.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.52 km2, 0.96 km2 or 1.7% is either rivers or lakes and 22.83 km2 or 39.3% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.1%. Out of the forested land, 36.8% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 11.4% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 2.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.4% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 23.4% is unproductive vegetation and 15.9% is too rocky for vegetation.The municipality is located in the Locarno district. It consists of the village of Lavertezzo in the Verzasca valley  and the exclave of Lavertezzo Piano in the Magadino valley.

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