Croglio Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Croglio 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, Croglio has an area of 4.38 square kilometers (1.69 sq mi). The former municipality is located in the Lugano district in the middle Malcantone valley. It consists of the settlements of Croglio, Castelrotto, Ronco, Madonna del Piano, Barico, Purasca and Biogno-Beride. Biogno and Beride were originally two independent municipalities with a shared administration. In 1907, they merged into a single municipality. In 1976 this municipality merged into Croglio. Between 1953-76 the municipality of Croglio was known as Croglio-Castelrotto.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 20.3% - agricultural purposes
 * 70.5% - forested
 * 14.4% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.5% - rivers or lakes
 * 1.1% - unproductive land

On 18 April 2021, the following municipalities merged to form the new municipality of Tresa.
 * Croglio
 * Monteggio
 * Ponte Tresa
 * Sessa

History
The first mention of Croglio was in 1335 as burgus de Crolio.

The population history of Croglio is: 1626 - 479 inhabitants 1801 - 614 inhabitants 1850 - 959 inhabitants 1900 - 821 inhabitants 1950 - 610 inhabitants 2000 - 865 inhabitants 2010 - 861 inhabitants 2020 - 861 inhabitants

Towards the end of the ten-year war between Como and Milan (1118-1127), the Milanese troops destroyed Albeleto Castle, which belonged to Como in 1126. According to tradition, their ruins gave rise to the name Castelrotto (Castrum Ruptum). The current parish church of San Nazzaro stands on the site of the destroyed castle. Another castle probably existed above the village of Croglio. The Bishop of Como owned a farm there, recognized in 1328. In addition to the parish church built between 1635 and 1670 on the remains of a previous building, there are numerous chapels in the various districts of the former municipality. The Saint-Bartholomé de Croglio church contains particularly interesting frescoes painted in 1411.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Croglio can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Croglio 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)