two parishes, SS Cosma e Damiano and S. Sisinio. The present parish church of SS Cosma e Damiano was built in the classicist style in 1863-75, above the foundations of a baroque style church from 1672. The church of S. Sisino is in the district of La Torre. Other churches in the town include the churches of S. Martino and S. Nicolau. The Order of Humiliati ran the hospice of St. John and maintained a monastery in the district Ferrera, starting in 1268. The Servite Order moved in 1477 from La Torre to S. Giovanni. There, they set up a house to feed pilgrims. After 1644, they opened a boys' school in the S. Giovanni monastery. In 1852 the school became a cantonal gymnasium. In the 17th Century the Ursulines settled in Caslaccio and the Capuchins settled to the south of town. The monasteries of all these orders were secularized in the 19th Century.
In modern times the town has grown over the Moree bridge and out around the country estates and farms. Along the river paper mills, mills and breweries were built. Then, in 1873 the Torriani-Bolzani spinning mill opened. By the end of the 19th Century it employed about 350 workers (mainly women and children). In the second half of the 19th Century, the population doubled within 60 years. The town grew toward the south with the magnificent villas and the Hospital Beata Vergine and north towards the Cantine. The local sharecropping agriculture collapsed during this time, but the construction of the railway led to the emergence of a second diversified industrial center along the railway line. After World War II the industrial zone expanded into the Prati di S. Martino.
In 1910, the Mendrisio electric tramway opened, linking a northern terminus in Riva San Vitale with Capolago, Mendrisio, Balerna and Chiasso. The section of the line north to Riva San Vitale closed in 1948, followed by the section south to Chiasso in 1950. Both were replaced by bus service, which today are operated by the Autolinea Mendrisiense bus
