Vezia Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Vezia 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
Vezia is in the Locarno district and the Ticino canton and located at the foot of San Marino hill. Vezia has an area of 1.39 km² (0.54 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 48.9% - agricultural purposes
 * 28.1% - forested
 * 48.9% - settled (buildings or roads)

History
The population history of Vezia is: 1670 - 180 inhabitants 1850 - 302 inhabitants 1860 - 319 inhabitants 1870 - 328 inhabitants 1880 - 468 inhabitants 1890 - 369 inhabitants 1900 - 407 inhabitants 1910 - 376 inhabitants 1920 - 437 inhabitants 1930 - 424 inhabitants 1941 - 399 inhabitants 1950 - 407 inhabitants 1960 - 499 inhabitants 1970 - 1,404 inhabitants 1980 - 1,253 inhabitants 1990 - 1,480 inhabitants 2000 - 1,575 inhabitants

Vezia was initially under Lugano for spiritual needs, then Comano in 1571. Vezia became a parish in 1653. In early 1616, the parish church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation was built and then rebuilt in the 18th century and consecrated in 1826 (later restored in 1969). Per the 2000 census:
 * 78.0% were Roman Catholic
 * 7.0% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 11.75% belong to another church

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Vezia can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Vezia 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)