Bosco/Gurin
Bosco/Gurin (Walser German: Gurin / Guryn, Lombard: Bosch / Gürin) is a municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The village is near the end of the valley of Bosco Gurin, near the Italian border. Despite the overall prominence of Italian in Ticino, the small municipality of Bosco/Gurin is historically German-speaking.[3]
Bosco/Gurin is first mentioned in 1244 as als Buscho de Quarinobis. Until 1934, it was known as Bosco-Vallemaggia, and in German as Gurin.[3]
The village was started during Walser migration in the 13th century, with the first settlers arriving in 1244. Today the Walser German dialect is being abandoned in favor of the Italian language, and Italian speakers make up the majority in the village, which today has the fifth highest proportion of German speakers. Given the aforementioned, Bosco/Gurin is the only municipality in Ticino where German is a co-official language.[4]
The Walser emigrated from the Val Formazza Walser around 1240 at the request of the Lombardy rulers and the Capitanei of Locarno who needed a band of mercenaries. In 1244, a noble family from Locarno and the villagers of Losone leased from the pastures around the village. Later these pastures passed fully into their possession. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Walser colony survived almost totally isolated. The rare contacts with the outside world were more with the Val Formazza or Valais than from the rest of Ticino. The geographic isolation strengthened the independent living habits and traditions of the village. The town was frequently buried by avalanches.[3]
The parish church of St. James and St. Christopher was consecrated in 1253, probably at the same time that the village separated from the parish of Cevio. It was expanded and rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries. The chapel of Madonna della Neve is from the early 18th century.[3]
The area was briefly part of the Canton of Lugano, before the canton was unified with Bellinzona to form Ticino.
