Castel San Pietro Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Castel San Pietro 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, Castel San Pietro has an area of 11.83 square kilometers (4.57 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Mendrisio district. It covers much of the land below Monte Generoso, including the summit station of the Monte Generoso Railway, but not the mountain summit itself, which is in the municipality of Rovio. The municipality includes the village of Castel San Pietro, which is made up of the sections of Corteglia, Gorla, Loverciano, Obino as well as others. Since 2004, the former municipalities of Casima and Monte as well as the settlement of Campora (formerly part of the municipality of Caneggio) have been included in Castel San Pietro.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 17.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 39.4% - forested
 * 6.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.3% - rivers or lakes
 * 1.4% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Castel San Pietro was in 1171 as Castellum Sancti Petri.

The population history of Castel San Pietro is: 1643 - 479 inhabitants 1685 - 563 inhabitants 1696 - 541 inhabitants 1769 - 623 inhabitants 1801 - 610 inhabitants 1850 - 874 inhabitants 1900 - 898 inhabitants 1950 - 1131 inhabitants 1970 - 1500 inhabitants 2000 - 1728 inhabitants

A settlement near the village was mentioned in 865, when an Imperial knight named Sigeradus, donated the area to the monastery of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. The municipality was originally part of the Vicinanza of Balerna. By 1270, it had an Imperial palace and it was given to Como Cathedral. During the war between Milan and Como (1118–1127) a castle was built in Castel San Pietro, which was the origin of the municipality's name. In the 15th century, it became part of the Pieve of Balerna. Bishop Boniface built a church in the Castle in 1343 and was later called the "Red Church" in memory of the bloody dispute between the Bosia and Rusconi in 1390. Since 1626, Castel San Pietro, has had its own parish. The parish church of Saint Eusebio was mentioned in 1270, but the existing building dates from the 17th–18th centuries and was restored in 1912.

Politically the following municipalities were part of the Pieve of Balerna:
 * Balerna
 * Boffalora
 * Castel San Pietro
 * Chiasso
 * Coldrerio
 * Novazzano
 * Pedrinate
 * Seseglio
 * Vacallo
 * Valle di Muggio
 * Villa

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Castel San Pietro can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Castel San Pietro 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)