Sessa Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Sessa 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, Sessa has an area of 2.87 square kilometers (1.11 sq mi). The former municipality is situated in the Lugano district, in the mid-Malcantone. It includes the village core of Sessa and the surrounding settlements of Beredino, Bonzaglio, Costa, Lanera, and Suino.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 27.2% - agricultural purposes
 * 65.9% - forested
 * 11.5% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 1.0% - 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 Sessa was in 1335 as Sexa.

The population history of Sessa is: 1801 - 687 inhabitants 1850 - 621 inhabitants 1900 - 625 inhabitants 1950 - 452 inhabitants 1970 - 402 inhabitants 2000 - 604 inhabitants 2010 - 658 inhabitants 2020 - 673 inhabitants

The Bishop of Como lacked the landlord rights that he held in neighboring villages and Sessa tried to separate spiritually from the bishop. By the 16th Century, and perhaps even before then, they founded an independent parish that also included Monteggio, Castelrotto and Cremenaga. Cremenaga, which was in Italian territory, divided from the parish in 1842. The parish church of San Martino was first mentioned in 1288 and its present form dates back to 1630. In addition to San Martino, the city has a number of other chapels and churches, including Saint Orsola which was established 1601.

According to records from 1571, Sessa Parish was part of the Agno Pieve. The Pieve was formed from the following parishes: In Swiss territory -

In what is now Italian territory. With the exception of Cremenaga, all these parishes were separated from Agno by 1633.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Sessa can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Sessa 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)