Aquila Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Aquila Parish, Ticino, Switzerland, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, parish census, civil census, family history, area history, and military records.



Geography
As of 1997, Aquila has an area of 10.61 square kilometers (4.10 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Leventina district, near the Biaschina Loops of the Gotthard railway on the left side of the valley.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 3.7% - agricultural purposes
 * 67.8% - forested
 * 3.7% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.4% - rivers or lakes
 * 16.7% - unproductive land

On 22 October 2006, Blenio was formed into a new municipality when the following municipalities were merged:
 * Aquila
 * Campo Blenio
 * Ghirone
 * Olivone
 * Torre

History
The first mention of Aquila is in 1226 as Ançonego.

The population history of Aquila is: 1570 - 320 inhabitants 1745 - 424 inhabitants 1850 - 328 inhabitants 1900 - 244 inhabitants 1950 - 148 inhabitants 1970 - 428 inhabitants 2000 - 98 inhabitants 2010 - 107 inhabitants 2011 - 108 inhabitants

In 1229, Anzonico is listed as Degagna, of the neighborhood Giornico to which the village belonged spiritually until its own parish was created in 1602. The parish church of San Giovanni Battista, first mentioned in 1404, was destroyed by an avalanche on January 19, 1667, as was a large part of the village (88 dead). It was rebuilt in 1670 in a more sheltered place.

Census
(See here for information regarding Ticino census records.)

The 1808 Ticino census for Aquila can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Aquila prior to 1875, along with any known soprannomi. For more information about soprannomi, click here.

Related sources
The town's website (in Italian) can be found here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Ticino

Societies
Società Genealogica della Svizzera Italiana (SGSI)