Municipio di Monteceneri

History

The municipality of Monteceneri was established in November 2010 following the merger of the former municipalities of Bironico, Camignolo, Medeglia, Rivera, and Sigirino.
Its current territory follows that of the ancient Carvina valley, excluding the municipalities of Mezzovico-Vira and Isone. This valley has been inhabited for more than two millennia by people deeply attached to their land. In fact, according to current archaeological findings, the first human settlements in Carvina date back to the 6th century BC, during the Iron Age, in the upper valley, sheltered from the destructive force of the waters due to the frequent flooding of the Vedeggio and Leguana rivers, which made these lands inhospitable.
This is evidenced by the necropolises that came to light by chance in the first half of the 20th century in the Isone area and at the foot of the "Caslaccio" promontory in Rivera, near the Monte Ceneri pass.
For centuries, the people of this land lived off hunting, freshwater fishing, agriculture, cattle and goat breeding with the relative summer transhumance to the numerous mountain pastures. Then, after their introduction by the Romans, chestnuts became the main food on the table, also useful as fodder for farm animals.

A place of passage
This valley has always been a place of passage, lying on the transit route that leads from the Po Valley to the passes of the central Alps.
The first real paved road in the Carvina valley was built by the Romans, probably following the route of an ancient protohistoric track that ran halfway up the mountain on the right bank of the Vedeggio river, from south to north through the villages of Sigirino, Mezzovico-Vira and Rivera, before reaching Monte Ceneri. From here, there were four different routes to follow: the two main roads led to Cadenazzo, one steep and straight, the other with gentler hairpin bends, and then on to Bellinzona and the Alpine passes; a third, incorrectly called the "Roman road," descended towards Quartino and then continued towards Locarno; the fourth, from the Monte Ceneri pass, in the locality of "alla Guardia," descended towards Robasacco, passing by the church of San Leonardo.
Another route that skirted the Carvina valley was the one that ran from Capriasca to Isone, climbed towards the Tiglio pass and then descended towards Giubiasco and Bellinzona.
Over the last two centuries, impressive engineering works have been carried out to improve and speed up connections across the Alps, starting with the Gotthard Railway, which began operating in 1882, followed by the opening of the A2 motorway in 1980 and the current AlpTransit construction site.

Border territory/fortifications
Another fundamental role played by this region, especially in ancient times, is that of a border area. In fact, as early as the Iron Age (11th-1st century BC), Monte Ceneri divided the two Celtic tribes of the Lepontii, located in the north, and the Orobi, settled in the south.
However, it was with the arrival of the Romans that the strategic military and road importance of the Carvina increased. Emperor Augustus (1st century BC) placed the border between two worlds on Monte Ceneri: to the north was Celtic Rhaetia and to the south was the XI Regio Transpadana of the Roman Empire.
In late antiquity (early 5th century AD), due to constant pressure from barbarian peoples, Emperor Honorius had the Tractus Italiae circa Alpes built, a defensive system consisting of a network of fortifications located at the southern exits of the Alpine valleys, thus blocking the most important strategic nodes. There are records of 13 castles in the Vedeggio Valley in ancient times, seven of which are located in Carvina alone (Isone, Monte Ceneri, Rivera, Bironico, Camignolo, two in Sigirino), the ruins of which can still be seen in the woods.
The morphology of the valley must have favored the construction of these fortified structures; in fact, they are all located on rocky promontories naturally defended by sheer walls, visually connected to each other and located at strategic points in the valley.
With the end of the Roman Empire, these defensive structures were abandoned until the arrival of the Lombards (late 6th-8th centuries), who reoccupied them: Carvina thus became a military settlement under the authority of Bironico.

The historical information reported here is taken from Laura Pianezzi's unpublished thesis in Cultural Heritage Sciences at the University of Pavia, Vallis Carvyne - Archaeological Map of the Vedeggio Valley and Ancient History of its Upper Part, available at the Municipal Registry Office.