Faido Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Faido 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 2007 map shows Faido after it had been merged with Calonico, Chiggiogna, and Rossura.

Geography
The city and municipality of Faido is in the Leventina district and the Ticino canton. It is the capital of the Leventina district. It is located at the gorges of Monte Piottino in the center of the Leventina valley. The area of Faido has grown with multiple mergers of other municipalities.
 * 2006 - Chiggiogna, Rossura, and Calonico were added
 * 2012 - Anzonico, Calpiogna, Campello, Cavagnago, Chironico, Mairengo and Osco were added
 * 2016 - Sobrio was added

Faido has an area of 25.4 km² (9.8 square miles). The land use (1997) was divided up as follows:
 * 3.4% - agricultural purposes
 * 9.3% - forested
 * 3.1% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.3% - rivers & lakes
 * 0.2% - non-productive

History
In 1171, Faido was first mentioned with the name of Faedo. It was also previously known as Feit or Pfaid in German. Faido is in the Leventina district and the Ticino canton. Faido has grown through multiple mergers as follows:
 * Municipalities merged on 29 January 2006 include
 * Calonico
 * Chiggiogna
 * Rossura
 * Municipalities merged on 1 April 2012 include
 * Anzonico
 * Calpiogna
 * Campello
 * Cavagnago
 * Chironico
 * Mairengo
 * Osco
 * Municipality merged on 10 April 2016 includes
 * Sobrio

The population history of Faido is: 1567 - 50 hearths 1639 - 255 inhabitants 1745 - 383 inhabitants 1850 - 704 inhabitants 1860 - 661 inhabitants 1870 - 734 inhabitants 1880 - 1,293 inhabitants 1890 - 928 inhabitants 1900 - 860 inhabitants 1910 - 1,045 inhabitants 1920 - 1,023 inhabitants 1930 - 1,066 inhabitants 1940 - 1,065 inhabitants 1950 - 1,173 inhabitants 1960 - 1,441 inhabitants 1970 - 1,866 inhabitants 1980 - 1,844 inhabitants 1990 - 1,660 inhabitants 2000 - 1,548 inhabitants 2005 - 1,527 inhabitants 2006 - 2,030 inhabitants 2010 - 1,942 inhabitants 2011 - 1,949 inhabitants 2012 - 3,181 inhabitants 2015 - 2,908 inhabitants 2016 - 2,978 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 76.8% were Roman Catholic
 * 2.4% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 17.0% belong to another church

In 1171, the Church of St. Cyr of Mairengo was first mentioned and provided the baptistery. During the 13th century, the Saint-André church in Faido was first mentioned. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1331. In 1579, it became a parish church. It expanded in 1830. In 1459, the chapel of Saint-Bernardin-de-Sienne was mentioned. In 1607, the Capuchin monastery was founded. It includes the Saint-François church which was built in 1608 and rebuilt in 1785.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Faido can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Faido 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)