Contone Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Contone 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
The former municipality of Contone is in the Locarno district and the Ticino canton. It is located on the eastern edge of the Gambarogno region in the Magadino valley. Contone has an area of 2.32 km² (0.90 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 60.8% - agricultural purposes
 * 26.3% - forested
 * 17.7% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.9% - rivers & lakes
 * 0.9% - non-productive

History
In 1152, Contone was first mentioned with the name of Gondono. Contone is in the Locarno district and the Ticino canton. Contone merged into a new municipality of Gambarogno on 25 April 2010. Other former municipalities merged include:
 * Caviano
 * Gerra (Gambarogno)
 * Indemini
 * Magadino
 * Piazzogna
 * San Nazzaro
 * Sant'Abbondio
 * Vira (Gambarogno)

The population history of Contone is: 1591 - 70 inhabitants 1683 - 71 inhabitants 1795 - 71 inhabitants 1850 - 139 inhabitants 1900 - 199 inhabitants 1950 - 305 inhabitants 1990 - 430 inhabitants 2000 - 703 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 85.1% were Roman Catholic
 * 4.8% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 7.7% belong to another church

In 1104, a church was built for the Benedictine monastery of St. Giorgio in Quartino. It was dedicated to St. Nicholas and became part of the Locarno parish in 1152. It was closed in 1769 In the 16th century, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church was built and became the Contone parish church.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Contone can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Contone 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)