Cresciano Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Cresciano 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, Cresciano has an area of 17.23 square kilometers (6.65 sq mi).

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 4.5% - agricultural purposes
 * 58.0% - forested
 * 3.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 2.0% - rivers or lakes
 * 30.5% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Cresciano was in 1269 as Crazano.

The following municipalities merged on On 2 April 2017 into the new municipality of Riviera:
 * Cresciano
 * Iragna
 * Lodrino
 * Osogna

The population history of Rivera is: 1769 - 320 inhabitants 1801 - 316 inhabitants 1850 - 400 inhabitants 1880 - 755 inhabitants 1900 - 524 inhabitants 1950 - 879 inhabitants 2000 - 1415 inhabitants

An Imperial charter from 978 mentions a cortis Crissianicum owned by the monastery of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia. Like the neighboring communities, Cresciano was owned by the Cathedral of Milan. In the 14th century it was placed, together with Osogna and Claro, under the jurisdiction of a representative of the Visconti. In the 15th century, Milan granted the village the right to choose a community leader. The parish church of San Vincenzo was first used in the 13th century.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Cresciano can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Cresciano 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)