Aronyo

Aronyo in April 2015.

The Aronio community is located in the district of Lugano on a high hill in the Val Mara Valley, about 2 km from the Italian border near the Campione d'Italia enclave. The municipality consists of Aronyo itself and many villages, including Pugerna.

As of 1997, the area of ​​the Aronyo community was 8.5 square kilometers. 12.1% of this territory was used for agricultural purposes, and 84.5% of it was forest ^[5] .

Aronyo has been populated since late antiquity due to its strategic location along the transit route between Seprio and the island of Comachina . In the Lombard era, Aronió expanded to a large fortified garrison. In 859, the Monastery of Saint Ambrose in Milan was marked as the owner of the territory of Aronió. On February 24, 1798, Aronyo became part of the Republic of Riva San Vitale, which lasted only two weeks (from February 23 to March 16, 1798). Beginning in 1797-1798, territorial conflicts with Campione d'Italia repeatedly occurred, which were settled only in 1861.

The parish church of St. Stephen (originally St. Nicholas) was first mentioned in 810. In 1581, she became independent from the Riva San Vitale church, forming her own parish. From 1591 until the end of the 17th century, Ursulinki owned a house in Arono. To the east of the village is the Romanesque chapel of St. Michael, which was rebuilt in the Baroque style .

The local economy depends on agriculture and livestock, as well as on the income of successful emigrants (mainly working in construction). For a short time there was a small coal mining industry in the commune. In 1873 and 1888, two factories for the manufacture of parts for watches were opened in Arono. For decades, these were the main industries of the community. Today, most of the population works in the service sector or goes to work in neighboring cities ^[6] .