Gorduno

Gorduno 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, Giubiasco, Gnosca, Gudo, Moleno, Monte Carasso, Pianezzo, Preonzo, Sant'Antonio and Sementina merged into the municipality of Bellinzona. The area around Gorduno was prehistorically settled, though very little is known about the earlier settlements. The modern municipality of Gorduno is first mentioned in 1182 as medius locus de Gorduno. It was first mentioned in the dispute between the churches of Como and Milan, which was settled by the verdict of 1202. In the verdict Como received the little church of SS Maurizio e Carpoforo in the so-called Castle of Gnosca, which, contrary to the name, was in the territory of Gorduno. The church was strategically located on the Ticino river. In the Late Middle Ages, Gorduno was a municipality in the County of Bellinzona. In 1374, the municipality was combined with Gnosca and placed under the control of Podestà, a canon of Milan. This placed the church under the Ambrosian Rite of the Diocese of Milan. The village had completely split from the Roman Rite Church in Bellinzona by 1538-83. The parish functions moved from the Castle Church to the village church of SS Sebastiano e Rocco. Gorduno has an area, , of . Of this area, or 7.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 72.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 11.3% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. Out of the forested land, 64.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.6% is used for growing crops and 2.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 8.0% is unproductive vegetation and 3.3% is too rocky for vegetation.