With the emergence and development of rye straw processing in the 19th century, the population of Comologno increased rapidly. However, in the following century, the decline of farming, animal husbandry and straw craft led to a rapid population decline. Most of the working population works in industrial or service enterprises in the valley or commute to work in the agglomeration of Locarno. Many residents emigrated to other countries in search of work. Several families became wealthy in foreign countries, and used that wealth to build stately mansions in Comologno. The largest is from the Remonda family, who in the second half of the 18th century, became wealthy in France. Another notable mansion is the Palazzo (or Castello) della Barca which was acquired in the 1930s by Vladimir Rosenbaum for his wife Aline Valangin, a writer and artist. It soon became a haven for artists and well-known anti-fascists, including Ignazio Silone, Ernesto Rossi, Kurt Tucholsky, Hans Marchwitza, Ernesto Bonaiuti, Max Terpis, Elias Canetti, Wladimir Vogel and Jean-Paul Samson. Since the early 1970s, at the suggestion of the Associazione Amici di Comologno, various artists have decorated houses in the village with frescos.