Gordola Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Gordola 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, Gordola has an area of 7.04 square kilometers (2.72 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Locarno district at the end of the Verzasca valley on the left bank of the river. It includes the village of Gordola and a portion of Terricciole.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 24.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 61.2% - forested
 * 16.6% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 6.8% - rivers or lakes
 * 1.4% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Gordola was in 1200 as Gordora. Later in 1219, it was mentioned as Gordolla/e.

The population history of Gordola is: 1596 - 150 hearths 1741 - 400 inhabitants (with the hamlet of Mondacce, municipality of Minusio) 1850 - 290 inhabitants 1880 - 866 inhabitants 1900 - 550 inhabitants 1950 - 1419 inhabitants 2000 - 3878 inhabitants

Gordola was the only village cooperative (vicinia) within the Locarno region who could choose their own pastor. The former parish church of SS Peter and Vincenzo was in Tenero and formed a kind of exclave, until 1898, when the provost was relocated to the church of S. Antonio Abate. The church of S. Antonio Abate had existed since the 16th Century, but was destroyed in 1829 by a flood and then was later restored. There was a mixed Humiliati order monastery (Santa Maria) in Gordola that was founded in the 12th Century and then dissolved around the late 15th Century.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Gordola can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Gordola 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)