Боско/Гурин: Вальзерская деревня в Тичино

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. 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.

Bosco is located in the Vallemaggia district, and the highest municipality in Ticino at an elevation of
Bosco/Gurin has an area, as of 1997, of Of this area, or 3.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 27.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 0.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 42.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.6%. Out of the forested land, 11.6% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 12.0% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 4.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.9% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 22.3% is unproductive vegetation and 19.7% is too rocky for vegetation.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a lion rampant langued gules and holding a letter B also gules.

Bosco/Gurin has a population of as of 2008, 7.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 26%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks Italian language (37 or 52.1%), with German being second most common (23 or 32.4%) and Romansh being third (7 or 9.9%). There are 2 people who speak French. as of 2000, there were 37 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 27 married individuals, 4 widows or widowers and 3 individuals who are divorced. as of 2000, there were 35 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.9 persons per household. In 2000 there were 140 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 51. There were 5 single room apartments and 25 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 35 apartments (25.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 105 apartments (75.0%) were seasonally occupied.

Year 1970 1980 1990 2000 German 95 (81.9%) 61 (93.8%) 35 (60.3%) 23 (32.4%) Italian 18 (15.5%) 3 (4.6%) 20 (34.5%) 37 (52.1%) Inhabitants 116 (100%) 65 (100%) 58 (100%) 71 (100%)

The village center is home to many historic buildings, so the entire village of Bosco Gurin is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. The Walserhaus, a (Walser style house) is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 32.29% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (28.13%), the Ticino League (18.75%) and the FDP (10.42%). In the federal election, a total of 12 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 27.9%. In the 2007 Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 49 registered voters in Bosco/Gurin, of which 26 or 53.1% voted. The most popular party was the PPD+GenGiova which received 10 or 38.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the SSI (with 7 or 26.9%), the PS (with 6 or 23.1%) and the PLRT (with 3 or 11.5%). In the 2007 Consiglio di Stato election, the most popular party was the PPD which received 10 or 38.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the SSI (with 7 or 26.9%), the PS (with 5 or 19.2%) and the PLRT (with 3 or 11.5%). In 2000, there were 11 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 3.7 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 36.4% of the workforce coming into Bosco/Gurin are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 0% used public transportation to get to work, and 33.3% used a private car.

From the 2000 census, 61 or 85.9% were Roman Catholic, while 2 or 2.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There were 2 (or about 2.8% of the population) who belonged to no church, agnostic or atheist, and 6 individuals (or about 8.5% of the population) did not answer the question. There was 1 vocational student who was attending school full time and 1 who attend part time. as of 2000, there were 9 students from Bosco/Gurin who attended schools outside the municipality.