Bellinzona Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Bellinzona 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, Bedretto has an area of 75.23 square kilometers (29.05 sq mi). Bedretto is situated in the Bedretto Valley running from the Nufenen Pass via the headwaters of the Ticino river down to Airolo. The municipality includes the village of Bedretto and the hamlets of Ronco, Villa (site of the municipal administration), and Ossasco, and forms part of the Leventina district.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 2.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 11.6% - forested
 * 0.9% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.9% - rivers or lakes
 * 55.9% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Bedretto was in 1210 as Bedoledo.

The population history of Bedretto is: 1567 - 38 hearths 1745 - 293 inhabitants 1798 - 594 inhabitants 1850 - 388 inhabitants 1900 - 257 inhabitants 1930 - 275 inhabitants 1950 - 213 inhabitants 2000 - 72 inhabitants 2010 - 64 inhabitants

In 1906, pre-Roman graves and a Roman-era villa and coins were found in Bedretto. The presumption, that it was originally part of Airolo, could not be confirmed by any available documents. In 1227, when the alpine pastures of Leventina valley were divided among the communities, Bedretto had dependent, surrounding farms and hamlets but was not given any alpine pastures. In 1227, Bedretto is also mentioned as a separate parish. The parish church of Saints Martiri Maccabei in the settlement of Villa was rebuilt after its destruction by an avalanche in 1594. The existing building dates from the 19th Century.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Bellinzona can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Bellinzona 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)