Corippo marks 50 years of efforts to save the village

Corippo, Switzerland's smallest municipality, sits in the Verzasca valley above Locarno. The village celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Corippo 1975 Foundation. The festivities marked half a century of work to prevent depopulation and keep the small stone hamlet alive.

The project has turned the village's houses into a scattered hotel. This was made possible by joint support from the Confederation, the canton, the municipality of Verzasca and the residents themselves, who chose to make their houses available.

A positive balance sheet, but fragile sustainability

The Foundation's president, Marco Molinari, describes a very positive balance sheet: figures for the scattered hotel are encouraging. But the Foundation itself admits it is at the limit of economic sustainability. A second phase of the project has therefore already begun: two old houses in Corippo will be converted to create three new rooms, adding up to 8 to 10 beds.

Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider attended the celebration and brought greetings from the Confederation. "Per la Confederazione Corippo è un esempio. Si è deciso insieme di salvare un villaggio, un patrimonio, una cultura" ("For the Confederation, Corippo is an example. Together it was decided to save a village, a heritage, a culture"), she said. Baume-Schneider added that the Foundation had taken the operation into its own hands, turning a project into a concrete reality. For the Federal Councillor, the fact that Ticino, with the country's smallest municipality, managed to showcase this heritage shows that something old can remain relevant.

Verzasca's mayor, Ivo Bordoli, also stressed the village's importance for the valley: "Corippo ha un ruolo importante sia a livello comunale, architettonico e storico, sia a livello turistico. È il fiore all'occhiello della valle" ("Corippo plays an important role at the municipal, architectural and historical level, as well as for tourism. It is the jewel of the valley").

It remains to be seen how the scattered hotel's tourist vocation will be reconciled, in the years ahead, with the daily life of a municipality with very few permanent residents. The Foundation itself acknowledges that economic balance cannot be taken for granted: maintaining it will likely mean continuing to seek public support alongside tourism revenue, so that the responsibility for preserving a shared piece of heritage does not fall solely on a handful of families.