Campo (Vallemaggia) Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Campo (Vallemaggia) 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, Campo (Vallemaggia) has an area of 43.27 square kilometers (16.71 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Vallemaggia district, in the upper Valle di Campo. It includes the villages of Campo (Mezzo), Cimalmotto (1,405 m (4,610 ft)), Piano, and Niva (955 m (3,133 ft)). The villages are all geographically separated from each other.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 2.5% - agricultural purposes
 * 44.4% - forested
 * 0.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 1.8% - rivers or lakes
 * 39.8% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Campo (Vallemaggia) was in 1313 as Briono.

The population history of Campo (Vallemaggia) is: 1626 - 190 inhabitants 1709 - 185 inhabitants 1769 - 142 inhabitants 1801 - 153 inhabitants 1850 - 284 inhabitants 1900 - 362 inhabitants 1950 - 653 inhabitants 2000 - 1825 inhabitants

In the 15th century, the Valle di Campo along with Cevio, Bignasco and Cavergno formed the Roana Superior, a kind of administrative district. Until 1513, Campo belonged to the parish of Cevio. Cimalmotto and Niva separated from Campo's church in 1767 to form an independent parish. They also formed independent political municipalities until the beginning of the 19th century. The church of S. Bernardo in Campo was probably built in the 14th century. It was enlarged in the first half of the 16th century, in 1620 and 1740-1745.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Campo can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Campo 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)