Editing Ascona (section)

===Medieval town===
A fortified settlement is first mentioned  in 1186, as ''Sconae'' (''castrum quod dicitur sconae''), in 1224 as ''burgus de schona''.<ref>Virgilio Gilardoni, "Abbozzo di inventario toponimi asconesi", ''Archivio storico ticinese'' 81/82 (1980), p. 98&ndash;144.</ref> The etymology of the toponym is unknown, there are several suggestions from 19th-century scholarship, all of them uncertain: 
from Latin ''scanum'' "alluvial sediment", from Latin ''ab abscondito'', or from an uncertain early Romance ''asculà'' "pasture in uncultivated land".<ref>Suggestions are listed in Kristol, Andres (ed.): ''Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri'' (2005), the author of the article rejects as implausible a further suggestion, from Lombardic *''skugina'' "granary".</ref> The [[German language|German]] form of the name, ''Aschgunen'', is recorded from the 16th century, when Locarno had come under the rule of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]]. It is no longer in use.<ref name=HDS/>

In the later Middle Ages, Ascona, [[Ronco sopra Ascona|Ronco]], and Castelletto formed a village cooperative together. In 1321 it was mentioned for the first time, and in 1369, it had its own statutes. The history of Ascona during the [[Middle Ages]] is closely linked with that of [[Locarno]]. The important role of Ascona is reflected in the designation ''plebis Locarni Asconaeque'' which it was given in 1369. It is believed that in the 6th century, the Castle of San Michele was the site of a [[curia]] (court) and the seat of a ''sculdascio'' ([[Lombardic language|Lombardic]] for officer) of the county of Stazzona, who exercised control over the entire [[parish]] of Locarno. In 1004, the [[High, middle and low justice|court rights]] were transferred from the [[Archbishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan|Milan]] to the [[Bishop of Como]]. In 1189 this gave the castle of San Michele to the Duni, one of the families of the ''Capitanei di Locarno''. Other noble families from Locarno (Da Carcano, Castelletto, Muralto) settled in Ascona. They were joined by the Griglioni family that fled the wars between the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines]] of Milan.<ref name=HDS_new>{{HDS|2086<!--Section 1-2-->|Ascona-Middle Ages and Modern Era}}</ref>

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Duni enlarged their fortress (demolished in the 17th century) and the church of S. Sebastiano as well as having created a plaza around their residential home. The oldest fortification, probably, is the castle of San Materno. At its location, north of the village, there already seems to have been a Roman tower. The fort was occupied as early as the Early Middle Ages. In the 13th century, it was owned by the Orelli and Castelletto families. In the 17th century, only a part of the walls was still preserved. In the course of the 13th century, two new fortifications were built. The first was the Carcani Castle on the shore east of the Church of SS. Pietro e Paolo, and it was already demolished by the 2nd half of the 13th century. The second, was still further east, outside the inhabited area at that time. The Griglioni built a small castle to protect a port. Parts of this castle still exist and have been integrated into modern buildings.<ref name=HDS_new/>

A church is first mentioned in 1264 and was originally consecrated only as the Church of S. Peter. The Church of SS Peter and Paul is first mentioned as a [[parish church]] in 1330, and in 1332 as a [[collegiate church]]. However, no documents exist which show the separation from the mother church of San Vittore in [[Muralto]] and thus the existence of an early medieval [[parish]]. The Church of S. Maria della Misericordia was built in 1399–1442. It contains one of the most extensive late [[Gothic art|Gothic]] [[fresco]] cycles in Switzerland.