Torre Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Torre 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
Torre is situated in the central Blenio Valley at an altitude of around 800 m east of the Grumascio. In 1927, Torre merged with Grumo.

On 22 October 2006, Blenio was formed into a new municipality when the following municipalities were merged:
 * Aquila
 * Campo Blenio
 * Ghirone
 * Olivone
 * Torre

History
The first mention of Torre was in 1182 as Tower.

The population history of Torre is: 1602 - 600 inhabitants 1801 - 804 inhabitants 1850 - 1040 inhabitants 1900 - 719 inhabitants 1950 - 627 inhabitants 2000 - 487 inhabitants 2005 - 519 inhabitants

In the Middle Ages, Torre was part of one of the three fiscal and electoral constituencies that comprised the Val Blenio ( fagia of the middle or of Aquila). Spiritually, the parish of Torre included Grumo and Lottigna (until 1555, then from 1927). The parish church of Santo Stefano, first mentioned in the 12th century, was mostly rebuilt in 1732.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Torre can be accessed here. The census for the community of Grumo can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Torre 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)