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: 1591 - 197 inhabitants 1643 - 167 inhabitants 1709 - 150 inhabitants 1769 - 142 inhabitants 1801 - 158 inhabitants the 1850 - 273 inhabitants 1900 - 403 inhabitants 1950 - 775 inhabitants 2000 - 1501 inhabitants

After the change of rule from Como 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 attested in the community. Until 1427, it was subordinate to the parish of Lugano, followed by the parish of Carona, and it became an independent parish in 1525. As the excavations of 1991-92 showed, the parish church of SS Quirico e Giulitta was built in several stages during the 6th and 7th Centuries and was rebuilt in 1590 by Domenico Fontana. The S. Spirito Hospital was first mentioned in 1498, belonged to the Church of the S. Spirito Hospital in Rome, and was later abandoned and demolished in 1911. The Chapel of S. Croce dates 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)