two hospices. They were later managed by the neighborhood and had until the 15th century, were of major social and economic importance. Much of the local economy was based on agriculture (dairy farming and livestock). However, between the 15th century and the 19th century, much of the economy depended on money sent back home from emigrants to Italy, France and England as well as other cities in Switzerland. The chocolate makers from Olivone enjoyed a good reputation in Italy and France starting in the 17th century. In the last decades of the 19th century, tourism became important. In the 20th century, tourism grew in importance and initiatives for nature and heritage protection were further promoted. At the beginning of the 21st century the village was known for its winter and summer tourism. Olivone retained its agricultural character, but in 1956 it became home to the Blenio Kraftwerke AG power plant and certain construction companies. It houses the Alpine Institute of Chemistry and Toxicology (2006) of the Alpine Foundation for Life Sciences. In 2005, 22% of jobs in Olivone were in agriculture. Coat of arms The coat of arms of the new municipality was adopted in November 2009 after a public competition won by a graphic design student. The design is a stylised representation of the Blenio valley and the five constituent former municipalities. Geography Blenio has an area, , of . Of this area, 22.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 27.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 48.4% is unproductive land. In 2006 the municipality was created with the fusion of Aquila, Campo (Blenio), Ghirone, Olivone and Torre. The municipality occupies much of the Blenio valley. It consists of the villages of Aquila, Campo (Blenio), Ghirone, Olivone and Torre. In addition to the villages, the hamlets of Dangio, Grumarone, Pinaderio, Ponto Aquilesco, Comprovasco, Scona, Sommascona and Lavorceno. Demographics Blenio has a population () of . , 6.6% of the population are foreign nationals. Most of the population () speaks Italian (90.5%), with German being second most common ( 4.1%) and Albanian being third (1.7%). , the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 828 Swiss men (46.2% of the population), and 66 (3.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 845 Swiss women (47.2%), and 53 (3.0%) non-Swiss women. In there were 22