Most visitors to Ticino’s Verzasca Valley come for the green river water and the famous dam. The road climbs and curves, and photographers lean out of car windows. Meanwhile, a cluster of grey stone roofs sits on the opposite slope, and plenty of people never register it.
That village is Corippo. It’s often called abandoned, which isn’t quite accurate, but it’s close enough to explain why the label sticks. The details of how it got here are more interesting than the label.
A Village Perched on the Valley Wall
The village sits at an elevation of 558 meters.[1] It lies in the Locarno district, on the western slope of the Verzasca valley, above the lake.[2]
The settlement is built on a steep slope surrounded by meadows.[3] The houses are packed closely around a central square, in an irregular and unplanned pattern.[2]
Why Drivers Keep Going
The valley already has a famous headline act. The Verzasca dam isn’t far from the village, and it’s where most tourists stop along the valley.[1] Corippo can be spotted from the main valley road, but most people are there for the clear water on a hot summer day.[1]
Getting to the village also takes a deliberate turn. One traveler’s guide warns drivers not to miss the turn to the bridge[4], and notes that parking is scarce and inconvenient.[4] A place that asks for a detour tends to get skipped.
From Around 300 Residents to a Handful
The name first appears in 1224 as Culipo.[3] By 1850, the village recorded a peak of 294 inhabitants.[5] Other sources put the high point at 315, so the exact figure depends on who’s counting.
The village wasn’t isolated from the outside world forever. It was first connected to the wider world in 1883, when a road linked it to the Verzasca valley road.[2] The decline came later, and it was gradual.
Why People Left
Corippo’s land couldn’t support everyone. The scarcity of resources forced people to emigrate, either seasonally or permanently.[6] Chimney sweeps, for example, left the village each winter.
Overseas emigration did most of the damage, first to Australia and later to America.[6] Numbers dropped to around 70 during the 1950s as most of the population moved out.[7]
The Smallest Municipality in the Country
The village reached a striking milestone in the late 2010s. It had 12 registered residents in July 2018, and only 9 by December 2019.[8] That made it Switzerland’s smallest municipality.
The title didn’t last. On 17 October 2020, Corippo merged with Vogorno, Sonogno, Brione (Verzasca) and Frasco to form the new municipality of Verzasca.[2] More recent descriptions of the village vary, with about ten residents[6] in one account, and 13 residents, including three newcomers,[5] in another.
Granite Houses and Narrow Lanes
The architecture is the main reason anyone should stop. Narrow lanes run between rustic stone buildings with stone slate roofs, set close together to save land for farming.[6] Dry stone walls around the village mark the terraces where rye and hemp were once grown.[6]
Look closer and there’s more. Visitors can see devotional wall paintings, and below the core there’s an old mill, a bridge and a chapel with a Crucifixion.[6] The village center was listed as a historical monument in 1975.[9]
The Foundation That Kept It Standing
The Fondazione Corippo 1975 was set up in 1976 with the intention of preserving the village in its historic form.[5] The foundation owns the mill and the Albergo Diffuso.
Its early goal was to bring permanent residents back. That plan hit a practical wall. The foundation’s president later said the buildings are too small and not directly accessible by car,[10] so another approach was needed.
Turning the Village Into a Hotel
In June 2022, Corippo became home to Switzerland’s first certified albergo diffuso.[11] The idea is that village houses become rooms and the streets work as the hotel lobby.[7]
Accounts differ on the size of the project. One reports ten rooms spanning five restored residences,[11] while another counts six historic residences.[10] Rooms are named after the village’s former residents.[5]
Reaching Corippo Without Missing It
The hotel’s own guidance favors walking. The footpaths on the right bank of the Verzasca take about 45 minutes from Lavertezzo, or 1.5 hours from Mergoscia.[12] By bus, the stop is Corippo, Bivio, a 15 minute walk from the village.[12]
Drivers have fewer options. Corippo has 15 free public parking spaces, which are very popular.[12] The dam, meanwhile, is easy to find: it can be reached by car or bus, and bungee jumping runs from April to October.[13]
