Cevio Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Cevio 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.



This map of Cevio is from 2007, after it was merged with Bignasco and Cavergno.

Geography
As of 1997, Cevio has an area of 151.42 square kilometers (58.46 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Vallemaggia district. It is the center of the Rovana sub-district and is located at the junction of the Maggia and Rovana rivers. Cevio includes a number of scattered settlements. Of particular interest is the hamlet Boschetto (almost abandoned), which has maintained the structure of the rural seventeenth-century village intact. Cevio is postioned 23 km (14 mi) northwest of Locarno in the upper Vallemaggia. The mountain Pizzo Alzasca overlooks the village.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 0.4% - agricultural purposes
 * 6.3% - forested
 * 0.5% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.6% - rivers or lakes
 * 1.9% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Cevio was in 1335 as Zevio.

In 1858, the municipality of Linescio was divided from Cevio. On 22 October 2006, Cavergno and Bignasco were consolidated into Cevio municipality.

The population history of Cevio is: 1591 - 700 inhabitants (with Linescio) 1761 - 500 inhabitants 1801 - 491 inhabitants 1850 - 927 inhabitants 1860 - 602 inhabitants (without Linescio) 1900 - 398 inhabitants 1920 - 326 inhabitants 1950 - 504 inhabitants 1970 - 562 inhabitants 1990 - 413 inhabitants 2000 - 497 inhabitants 2006 - 1264 inhabitants

Cevio has always been the capital of the valley; one finds there the offices of the district, the secondary school and the hospital, inaugurated in 1922. The old community (vicinia) is recorded since 1230. In the 15th century, Cevio, Cavergno, Bignasco and the communes of the valley di Campo formed the so-called Rovana Superior community.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Cevio can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Cevio 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)