Porza Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Porza 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, Porza has an area of 1.58 square kilometers (0.61 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Lugano district, northwest of Lugano. It included the village of Porza and the hamlets of Vira, Trevano and Belvedere along the hills, as well as Cornaredo and Resega in the valley.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 43.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 41.8% - forested
 * 43.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 1.9% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Porza was in 1297−1299 as Porza.

The population history of Origlio is: 1648 - 218 inhabitants 1698 - 168 inhabitants 1747 - 186 inhabitants 1801 - 258 inhabitants 1850 - 235 inhabitants 1900 - 241 inhabitants 1950 - 406 inhabitants 2000 - 1348 inhabitants

Porza's church belonged to the parish church San Lorenzo in Lugano until 1468, followed by the parish of Comano. In 1647, it became an independent parish. The Church of SS. Bernardino e Martino dates from the 16th Century and was rebuilt in 1974.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Porza can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Porza prior to 1900, 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)