Melide Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Melide 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, Melide has an area of 1.67 square kilometers (0.64 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Lugano district, on the western shore of Lake Lugano at the end of the Melide dam. It includes the village of Melide and, since 1863, part of Capo San Martino.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 13.2% - agricultural purposes
 * 62.9% - forested
 * 34.1% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.6% - rivers or lakes
 * 0.6% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Melide was in 1034 as Melede.

The population history of Melide is: 1567 - 115 hearths 1745 - 510 inhabitants 1850 - 707 inhabitants 1880 - 2147 inhabitants 1900 - 768 inhabitants 1950 - 820 inhabitants 1970 - 1389 inhabitants 2000 - 885 inhabitants 2010 - 848 inhabitants

It was originally ruled by Como. After ownership transferred to Milan in the first half of the 15th Century, Melide was required to furnish five soldiers for the Duke of Milan. In 1482, a toll and customs station is first mentioned in Melide. Until 1427 it was part of the parish of Lugano, followed by the parish of Carona. It became an independent parish in 1525. As the excavations of 1991-92 showed, the parish church of SS Quirico e Giulitta developed in several construction stages during the 6th and 7th Centuries. It was rebuilt in 1590 by Domenico Fontana. The S. Spirito Hospital was first mentioned in 1498 and was affiliated with Church of the S. Spirito Hospital in Rome. It was later abandoned and demolished in 1911. The Chapel of S. Croce is from 1626.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Melide can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Melide 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)