ls offered job opportunities to the locals. In the second half of the 19th century a Dynamite factory settled in Ascona, but it closed after repeated explosions in 1874.
In the 20th Century, tourism became a major part of the local economy. Since 1970 the number of second homes has increased substantially, and at the end of the 20th Century, during the summer season around 20,000-25,000 visitors came to Ascona each year. Closely connected with the rise of tourism was a population growth in 1920s. In 1925 an extensive redistribution of land ownership allowed non-locals to purchase land. By 1934, the number of landowners included not only 299 Ticinesi, but 88 other Swiss, 41 German, 35 Italian and 31 foreign nationals. The settlement area has expanded since 1960. The expansion has proceeded more and more towards the north so that today Locarno and Ascona form a single agglomeration. Two bridges connect Ascona with the left bank of the Maggia river. The one at Solduno, which was built 1815-16, and rebuilt in 1887 after the flood of 1868, was totally replaced in 1996. The second bridge is further into the valley and was built in 1974-80. Since 1947, Ascona has also had an airport, however, it is likely to close in the near future.
Monte Verit�
The "Monte Verit�" (literally Hill of Truth) in Ascona has an important historical background. At the beginning of the 20th century, a colony was founded on it which preached the return to nature.
The colony attracted a large number of artists, anarchists and other famous people, including Hermann Hesse, Hans Habe, Carl Jung,Erich Maria Remarque, Hugo Ball, Else Lasker-Sch�ler, Stefan George, Isadora Duncan, Paul Klee, Rudolf Steiner, Mary Wigman, Gyula H�y, Max Picard, Ernst Toller, Henri van de Velde, Rudolf Laban, Frieda and Else von Richthofen, Otto Gross, Erich M�hsam, Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, and Gustav Stresemann
