Map - Stabio

Stabio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Stabio is first mentioned in 1067 as Stabio.

Excavations in the area around S. Pietro have found evidence of continuous settlements from about 400 BC to the 7th century AD. There are burial grounds from the Iron Age followed by a burial ground and patrician residential structures from the Roman era, traces of the cult of Mercury and numerous Lombards graves. In 1999, the rich grave goods of a Lombard warrior were discovered.

In 1181, the Orelli family of Locarno gained the tithe rights in the region from the Bishop of Como. In 1275, both the monastery of S. Abbondio in Como and the Benedictine abbey of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan owned property and rights in Stabio.

On 22 October 1876 a serious clash between conservatives and liberals in Stabio claimed three lives, which led to a Federal mediation between the two sides.

Religiously, Stabio belonged to the Vicariate of Mendrisio, from which it separated itself in 1575. The old parish church of SS. Pietro e Lucia, dates back to the 7th century, and was rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries. The current parish church of SS. Giacomo e Cristoforo martire is first mentioned in 1275. It was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century and expanded in the 18th and 20th centuries.

Traditionally, the main occupations were agriculture, livestock tending, and viticulture. Due to limited farming land, there was some emigration of artisans and artists, first to the cities of northern Italy and central Italy, and later overseas. In the 19th century, the silk and later the tobacco industry developed in the municipality. The first factory in Stabio was the Realini shirt factory which was founded in 1902. It was acquired in 1976 by the Ermenegildo Zegna Group; in 2005 it had 900 employees. The hot springs were discovered in 1850 and led to the establishment of mineral baths in Stabio. The water is still being used for therapeutic treatments at the beginning of the 21st century.

In 1926 the Mendrisio–Stabio railway was opened, but closed after only two years in operation. Since the 1960s, the municipality has experienced a boom in the food, engineering, textiles and clothing as well as electric and hybrid vehicle industries. In 2005, 73% of the jobs in Stabio, many filled by commuters, were in the manufacturing sector.

Since 1981, Stabio is home to the Museum of the Agricultural Culture of Mendrisio Valley.