Rovio Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Rovio 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
The municipality of Rovio is in the Lugano district and the Ticino canton. It is located on the left side of the Valmara valley. It is on the border with Italy and includes the Swiss side of Mount Generoso. Rovio (as of 1997) had an area of 5.53 km² (2.14 square miles). The land use was divided up as follows:
 * 9.4% - agricultural purposes
 * 78.7% - forested
 * 6.3% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.2% - rivers or lakes
 * 7.6% - unproductive land

History
In 852, Rovio was first mentioned with the name of Rovi. Rovio is in the Lugano district and the Ticino canton. Rovio merged into the municipality of Val Mara on 10 April 2022. Other former municipalities merged include:
 * Maroggia
 * Rovio

The population history of Rovio is: 1591 - 62 inhabitants 1801 - 396 inhabitants 1850 - 384 inhabitants 1860 - 359 inhabitants 1870 - 340 inhabitants 1880 - 360 inhabitants 1890 - 314 inhabitants 1900 - 375 inhabitants 1910 - 401 inhabitants 1920 - 405 inhabitants 1930 - 441 inhabitants 1941 - 382 inhabitants 1950 - 376 inhabitants 1960 - 347 inhabitants 1970 - 450 inhabitants 1980 - 535 inhabitants 1990 - 579 inhabitants 2000 - 673 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 74.0% were Roman Catholic
 * 8.2% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 13.7% belong to another church

Until 1213, Rovio belonged to the Riva San Vitale parish church when it became an independent parish. In 1213, the parish church of Saints-Vital-et-Agatha was first mentioned. It was rebuilt in 1613. In the first half of the 11th century, the Saint-Vigile oratory was built.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Rovio can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Rovio 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)