Ticino is a canton of Switzerland primarily inhabited by an Italian population, and comprises most of the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. Of all the ethnically Italian regions located outside of Italy, Ticino is unique because it is the only Italian region situated within a majority non-Italian country whose language, culture and identity is still Italian. This is in contrast to regions such as Istria or Grigioni, whose Italian populations have been greatly diminished over the last couple centuries.
In ancient times the area of southern and eastern Switzerland was inhabited by a group of tribes known as the Rhaetians. The Rhaetians were the descendants of Etruscans who had settled in the Alps after being driven out of Italy by Gallic invaders in the 4th century BC. The Rhaetians derived their name from Retus or Rhetus, an Etruscan leader from ancient Tuscany who led his people into exile across the Rhaetian Alps. The area inhabited by the Rhaetians included what is today the Canton of Grigioni (also known as Graubunden or Grisons), Trentino, Tyrol and other Alpine areas stretching from northeastern Italy to southern Germany.
What is today the Canton of Ticino was in part inhabited by a Rhaetian tribe called the Brenni or Breuni, who lived near Bellinzona and in Valle di Blenio. They were possibly related to the tribe that inhabited the Brenner region. However, Ticino was primarily inhabited by a tribe known as the Lepontii or Lepontians. Although it is popular today to regard them as Celts — a vestige of the 19th century "Celtomania" movement — the Lepontii were historically regarded as either a Rhaetian tribe or a Ligurian tribe. Linguistic and archaeological evidence ties them to the Ligurians of northwestern Italy, although their alphabet certainly derived from Etruscan, which suggests a connection to the Rhaetians.
In any case, despite being partly inhabited by Rhaetians, the area of Ticino was never part of the Rhaetian province. Ticino — which was already Romanized by the time of Augustus — was instead part of ancient Italy, included in the 11th region of Italy known as Transpadana. The Romans established settlements in what is now Mendrisio, Locarno, Lugano, Riva San Vitale, Bioggio and Minusio, and founded the city of Bellinzona, which is today the capital of Ticino. Ticino remained part of Italy for the next several hundred years; even after the fall of Rome, Ticino remained part of Italy during the Gothic period (5th-6th century), the period of the Justinian reconquest (6th century), the Longobard period (6th-8th century) and the Carolingian period (8th-9th century). Ticino was part of Italy during the period of the independent Kingdom of Italy (9th-10th century) and still remained part of the Kingdom of Italy after Italy's incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire (962). In the 12th and 13th centuries Ticino was fought over by the communes of Como and Milan, and in the 14th century Ticino became part of the Duchy of Milan.
Also in the 14th century a new confederation of allied states emerged known as the Swiss Confederacy, comprised of three small German-speaking cantons in the Alps known as Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. Beginning in the 15th century the canton of Uri began attempting to conquer the lands of the Duchy of Milan, namely those Milanese lands which now form Ticino. Over the course of the next century, Uri and the other Swiss cantons conquered Ticino in a series of military campaigns, taking its three most important cities: Bellinzona, Lugano and Locarno. These military campaigns were a result of the aggressive expansionist policy of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss cantons partook in the Italian Wars and gained not only Ticino, but also some other Italian territories which today are part of Lombardy. This may seem ironic given Switzerland's present-day reputation as a land of pacifism, diplomacy and permanent neutrality, but in fact Switzerland was born of warfare and bloodshed, and its territory grew through aggressive wars of expansion and imperial conquest against its neighbours. Indeed the Swiss cantons were in an almost constant state of war from 1315 until 1847, including numerous civil wars amongst themselves.
The Swiss conquest of Ticino was completed by 1515. Apart from Vaud, Ticino was the last territory to be conquered by the Swiss Confederacy. Ecclesiastically, however, these conquests were not recognized: the area continued to be viewed by the Church as part of the Dioceses of Como and Milan (and it remained so all the way up until 1859). Prior to the modern era, Ticino did not exist as an organized canton and it was not a member of the Swiss Confederacy. Instead, the lands of Ticino were divided into vogteien or condominiums, i.e. dominions or possessions of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and the other Swiss cantons. These territories were ruled as subjects and therefore did not have the same rights or status as the Swiss cantons. In 1755 the Italian population of the Leventina Valley unsuccessfully revolted against Uri in a bid for independence. The revolt was suppressed and the leaders Giovan Antonio Forni, Lorenzo Orsi and Giuseppe Sartore were beheaded.
In 1798 the Swiss Confederacy was conquered by Napoleon. The area of modern Ticino, together with the other Swiss cantons, formed part of the short-lived Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) — a client state of Napoleon's French Empire. The territory of Ticino was initially divided into two cantons: the Canton of Bellinzona and the Canton of Lugano. This Italian region — subjected to the Swiss cantons for nearly three centuries — became equal in status to the other Swiss cantons for the first time. However, the Italians were not entirely content: a movement was founded in the region by local Italian patriots who wanted these cantons to be annexed to the Italian Cisalpine Republic. Their wishes were ignored. With the Act of Mediation in 1803, the two cantons of Bellinzona and Lugano were organized into a single canton for the first time, known as the Canton of Ticino, which became a member of the restored Swiss Confederation—another client state of Napoleon's French Empire.
From 1810-1813 Italian troops, led by General Achille Fontanelli, occupied Ticino with the intention of annexing it to the Kingdom of Italy. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, Ticino was returned to the Swiss Confederation, which adopted a decentralized political system. Between 1815-1830 Ticino attempted to rule autonomously within the Confederation. Ticino was affected by the Liberal Revolution of 1830, and for the remainder of the century the canton suffered from political struggles between conservatives and liberals. Many monasteries were closed, religious education was suppressed and Ticino was secularized by the liberal government. For this reason, despite being historically and nominally Catholic, Ticino did not join the 1845-1847 Sonderbund (a league of conservative Catholic cantons which sought independence from the liberal Protestant cantons). The liberals of Ticino, however, did support the Italian Risorgimento, which caused the Austrians to impose an economic blockade against Ticino and expel more than 6,000 Ticinese residents from Austrian-ruled Lombardy in 1853.
Modern Switzerland was created in 1848 as a federal state, after the end of the Sonderbund Civil War of 1847, with Ticino as one of its 25 cantons. Since that date Ticino has remained part of Switzerland and has come to be regarded as "Swiss". Today, the cantons of Ticino and Grigioni form Svizzera Italiana or Italian Switzerland.
Attempted Germanization of Ticino
Historically, the Old Swiss Confederacy established in the 13th century was composed only of German-speaking cantons. But over the course of the next few centuries, the German cantons expanded and conquered Francophone, Italian and Romansh-speaking territories. The Germans formed much of the ruling political class and the majority of the federal government; they favoured the centralization of the State and German immigration to the Romance cantons, and in the 20th century assured that German became the dominant language of the mass media, business and popular culture in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the Canton of Ticino has retained its Italian heritage and identity.
Geographically Ticino is situated in the Italian peninsula and forms part of the region of Lombardy; the entire canton is located south of the Alps and is cut off from the rest of Switzerland by a spine of mountains, and is accessible only through the San Gottardo Pass. The town of Campione d'Italia forms an Italian exclave, administratively part of the Province of Como, Italy, but located within Ticino. Ticino's location has had a decisive impact on its history and culture. Today Italian is the only official language of Ticino and the cantonal constitution explicitly states that the culture and identity of Ticino is Italian. However, this is not due to a lack of effort to eliminate the Italian character of the region. Many attempts have been made over the years by the Swiss government to Germanize Ticino and eliminate its Italian character, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The first major assault came in 1859, when the federal government of Switzerland abruptly rejected the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishops of Como and Milan without the consent of the Holy See. The churches of Ticino were part of the dioceses of Como and Milan since time immemorial, and had always remained part of these two dioceses without interruption up until this time period. However, in an attempt to bring Ticino under the Swiss-German diocese of Basel-Solothurn and suppress the influence of the Risorgimento (and thus prevent the anticipated annexation of Ticino to Italy), the Swiss federal government refused to recognize the authority of Como and Milan over the churches in Ticino. This decision was eventually acknowledged by Pope Leo XIII, who detached Ticino from Como and Milan in 1884 and authorized the creation of the Diocese of Lugano-Basel in 1888, thereby officially ending the millennial ecclesiastical link between Ticino and Lombardy. The Diocese of Lugano did not become separated from Basel until 1971.
For the first several decades of the 20th century the Swiss federal government — dominated by a German majority — persistently interfered in the affairs of Ticino and attempted to limit Ticino's cantonal autonomy and authority. The Swiss government also began to persecute Italian patriots. During World War I, many Swiss-Italians volunteered in the Italian Army. In response, the Swiss government enacted surveillance against Italians in Ticino, who became subjected to fines, censorship, home searches, arbitrary arrests, systematic violation of private mail and charges of espionage. The Swiss-German authorities also banned pro-Italian gatherings. On May 26, 1915 an Italian crowd defied the ban by gathering in Lugano and shouting "Long live Italy!". The Swiss military intervened, which almost led to a massacre of Italian civilians. In 1934 Italian nationalists organized the "March on Bellinzona", an unarmed demonstration expressing desire for unification with Italy. In this same time period the Swiss government renewed their persecution of Italian patriots, such as the Swiss-Italian journalist Teresina Bontempi. Her journal L'Adula was suspended several times for denouncing Germanization, and in 1935 she was imprisoned by the Swiss government on charges of "treason" for promoting irredentism in Ticino. She was exiled to Italy in 1936.
Another method of attempted Germanization in the 20th century was the migration of Germans into Ticino. In 1880 the total population of Ticino was 130,777; Germans were only 0.8% of the population (1,054 Germans), while Italians were 98.9% (129,409 Italians). But in 1930, a mere 50 years later, the German population rose to 7.3% (11,622 Germans), while the Italian population dropped to 91% (145,347 Italians). By 1941 the German population in Ticino swelled to 8.15% (13,209 Germans) and had taken over a disproportionate amount of top positions in the local economy. This increase of German-speakers in the early-to-mid 20th century was not a natural progression; it transpired due to the rapid influx of German immigrants and the accelerated use of the German language in public affairs, leading to ethnic tension between the native Italians, the German immigrants and the Swiss government. German immigration to Ticino intensified in the 1950's and reached its peak in 1980 when Germans became 11.1% of the population, before dropping back down to 8.3% in 2000.
Ticino today has a very large foreign immigrant population (94,366 foreigners, equal to 27.2% of the population). However, nearly half of them are fellow Italians from the neighboring provinces of Italy. Italians therefore are still 85% of the population. Thanks to its proximity to Italy and isolation from the other cantons, the Canton of Ticino has managed to escape the same fate as the neighboring Grigioni, where the Italian and Romansh-speakers — who previously formed 64% of Grigioni's population in 1803 and 50% in 1910 — have become a minority in their own land. Ticino, on the other hand, is still strongly Italian by comparison.
Measures have been taken by the local cantonal government to defend and preserve the Italian character of Ticino. The Constitution of Ticino, Article 1 states:
Notable Italians
Many notable Italians came from Ticino, especially architects. Ticino has a very strong architectural tradition and has produced more architects per capita than any other region in the world, and in a record span of time (most of them lived between the 15th and 19th centuries), and while living in oppressive conditions as subjects of the Swiss. Ticino's architects includes men who revolutionized the history of architecture, and men who worked all over Europe and achieved international fame.
Some of the most important Italians from Ticino:
• Francesco Borromini - Architect; one of the founders of baroque architecture
• Luigi Canonica - Architect and urban planner; official architect of the Cisalpine Republic
• Carlo Maderno - Architect; one of the founders of baroque architecture; designed the facade of St. Peter's Basilica
• Domenico Gilardi - Architect; helped rebuild Moscow after its destruction by Napoleon
• Giovanni Battista di Quadro - Architect; helped build and rebuild Poznan in Poland
• Giovanni Battista Trevano - Architect; introduced the baroque style to Poland
• Francesco Boffo - Architect; helped build Odessa in Ukraine
• Ippolit Monighetti - Architect; worked in Russia
• Cosimo Morelli - Architect; worked in the Papal States
• Pietro Nobile - Architect; leading architect of the Habsburg court
• Francesco Righetti - Architect; worked in Argentina
• Domenico Rossi - Architect; worked in Venice
• Luigi Rusca - Architect; worked in Russia and Ukraine
• Gaetano Matteo Pisoni - Architect; worked in Belgium and Switzerland
• Giovanni Antonio Viscardi - Architect; worked in Bavaria
• Pietro Morettini - Architect and military engineer; worked in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands
• Bernardacci Brothers - Architects; worked in Russia
• Fossati Brothers - Architects; renovated Hagia Sophia
• Lafranchini Brothers - Stuccoists; worked on the palladian houses of Ireland
• Giuseppe Artari - Stuccoist; worked in Germany and Great Britain
• Giovanni Pietro Magni - Stuccoist; worked on the Würzburg Cathedral
• Antonio Raggi - Sculptor and stuccoist
• Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte - Sculptor
• Grazioso Rusca - Sculptor
• Camillo Rusconi - Sculptor
• Vincenzo Vela - Sculptor
• Giovanni Battista Bagutti - Painter
• Carlo Bossoli - Painter
• Antonio Ciseri - Painter
• Francesco Antonio Giorgioli - Painter
• Giuseppe Antonio Orelli - Painter
• Vincenzo Angelo Orelli - Painter
• Giuseppe Antonio Petrini - Painter
• Francesco Innocenzo Torriani - Painter
• Giuseppe Antonio Maria Torricelli - Painter
• Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino - Military engineer
• Domenico Reina - Tenor
• Gian Battista Mantegazzi - Composer
• Maestro Martino da Como - Gastronomist and chef; the world's first celebrity chef
• Carlo Gatti - Entrepreneur; the first to make ice cream available to the general public
• Carlo Ponti - Photographer and optician; inventor of the alethoscope and megalethoscope
• Nicolò Rusca - Priest and martyr; tortured and murdered by Protestants
• Romano Amerio - Theologian and critic against the Second Vatican Council
• Teresina Bontempi - Journalist and irredentist
• Francesco Chiesa - Poet and teacher; co-founded the Ticinese branch of the Dante Alighieri Society
• Leonardo Conti - Doctor, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer and Reich Health Leader of National Socialist Germany
There have also been several architectural and artisan families from Ticino:
• Adamini Family - Family of architects who worked in St. Petersburg, Russia. The most prominent was Domenico Adamini (1792-1860). Other members were Leone (1727/1728-1764), Agostino (1752-1792), Tommaso (1763/1764-1828), Leone (1789-1854), Antonio (1792-1846) and Tommaso Adamini (1823-1850), all of whom worked in Russia; some of them were nominated master builders of the Imperial Court. Giuseppe Antonio Adamini (1756) was an architect for the Royal Court in Lisbon, Portugal and in India. Later members of the family were Bernardo (1834-1900), Clemente (1832-1907), Tommaso (1829-1887) and Emilio Adamini (1854-1914), all of whom were hydraulic and railway engineers who specialized in the construction of railroads.
• Albertolli Family - Family of architects, stuccoists and painters from Bedano who worked in Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Members of the family included Francesco Saverio Albertolli (1701-1761), architect; Michele Albertolli (1732-1761), architect; Grato Albertolli (1740-1812), stuccoist; Giocondo Albertolli (1743-1839), architect, painter, sculptor, stuccoist and knight of the Iron Crown; Gian Giacomo Albertolli (1761-1805), professor of civil architecture; Raffaele Albertolli (1770-1812), painter, engraver and stuccoist; Ferdinando Albertolli (1780-1844), architect and professor of design; and Fedele Albertolli (1789-1832), painter. They were possibly related to the 16th century architect Giovanni Albertalli of Grigioni.
• Agustoni Family - Family of architects who worked in Genoa, Germany, Czechia and the Papal States. The most important was Lazaro Agustoni (1570-1642), who remodeled Würzburg Cathedral and built many churches in Germany and Prague with his brother Francesco. His nephew Giacomo Agustoni (1668-1735) built baroque structures in Bohemia. His other nephew Domenico Agustoni (1606-1681) was a foreman in Prague. Battista Agustoni (1565-1616) and Agostino Agustoni (1570-1616) were master builders in Genoa. Antonio Agustoni (1669-1729) worked as a stuccoist in Copenhagen. Pietro Agustoni (1741-1815) worked in the Papal States. One branch of the family became known as the Cantone or Cantoni family, represented by the architects Antonio Cantone, Bernardino Cantone (1505-1576/1580) and Pietro or Pier Francesco Cantone (1585-1657). Other members included Francesco Maria Cantoni (1685-1712), Pietro Cantoni (1710-1785), Gaetano Cantoni (1745-1827) and Simone Cantoni (1739-1818), who was one of the major neoclassical architects in Italy.
• Aostalli Family - Family of architects who worked in Prague. The most important members of the family were Giovanni Maria Aostalli (1500-1567), Giovanni Battista Aostalli (1510-1575) and Ulrico Aostalli de Sala (1525-1597).
• Bagnato Family - Family of master builders who worked in Switzerland and Germany. The most important members of the family were Paolo Bagnato (1660-1704), Giovanni Gaspare Bagnato (1696-1757) and Francesco Antonio Bagnato (1731-1810).
• Brenni Family - Family of stuccoists and architects from Salorino who helped introduce Late Baroque style to Germany. There were over a dozen members of the family who worked around Europe. The most famous were Carlo Enrico Brenno (1688-1745), who worked in Germany and Denmark, and Vincenzo Brenna (1747-1820), who was the leading court architect of Tsarist Russia.
• Bussi Family - Family of painters and stuccoists from Bissone who worked in Austria, Bavaria and Czechia. The most notable members were Carlo Antonio Bussi (1658-1690), a painter who worked in Passau Cathedral and decorated many churches in Austria, and Santino Bussi (1664-1736), a stuccoist who worked in many castles in Austria and Czechia.
• Carabelli Family - Family of artisans from Castel San Pietro who worked in Portugal, Italy and Ticino. Members of the family included Giovanni Albino Carabelli (1690-1766), sculptor and engraver of the Royal Court of Portugal; Giuseppe Carabelli (1722-1803), woodcarver; Francesco Carabelli (1737-1798), sculptor who worked in Milan; Donato Carabelli (1760-1839), sculptor and stuccoist who worked in the Milan Cathedral; Casimiro Carabelli (1774-1840), stuccoist.
• Carlone Family - The Carlone or Carloni was a prolific artisan family composed of architects, master builders, stuccoists and painters who worked in Central Europe and Italy in the Baroque and Rococo periods. The family was divided into two main branches: the Carlone di Scaria in Lombardy and the Carlone di Rovio in modern Ticino. Most of them were itinerant artists. Members of the Ticino branch included: Antonio Carlone (1470-1520), architect and sculptor; Michele Carlone (1468-1519), architect and sculptor; Giovanni Carloni (1510-1576), sculptor; Taddeo Carlone (1543-1615), architect and sculptor; Giovanni Bernado Carlone (1584-1631), painter; Giovanni Battista Carlone (1603-1684), painter; Giovanni Andrea Carlone (1639-1697), painter; Giovanni Carlone (1636-1717), painter; Giovanni Battista Carlone (1580/90-1645), architect; Giuseppe Maria Carlone (1646-1695), architect and sculptor.
• Casella Family - Family of sculptors and stuccoists from Carona who worked in Italy. The most notable member was Daniele Casella (1557-1646), one of the most important sculptors of Genoa in the 16th and 17th centuries. Other members included Donato Casella (c. 1505-1560), Alvise Casella (1525-1590), Francesco Casella (1540-1602), Giovanni Battista Casella de Annibale (1623-1678), Giovanni Battista Casella de Monora (c. 1620-1679) and many others.
• Castello Family - The Castello or Castelli was a family of stuccoists and architects from Melide who worked in Germany and Austria. The most notable member was Matteo Castelli (1555-1632), official architect of the Royal Court of Poland who co-designed the Royal Castle in Warsaw..
• Colomba Family - Family of architects, painters and stuccoists from Arogno who worked in Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Ticino and Prague. Members of the family included Andrea Colomba (1567-1627), stuccoist; Giovanni Antonio Colomba (1585-1650), stuccoist; Cristoforo Colomba (1625-1680), architect and stuccoist; Giovanni Battista Colomba (1638-1693), architect, painter and stuccoist; Luca Antonio Colomba (1674-1737), painter; Giovanni Battista Innocenzo Colomba (1717-1793), architect, painter and stage designer.
• Contin Family - Family of architects and sculptors who worked in Venice in the 16th and 17th centuries. The family produced four artisans who each worked in architecture and sculpture: Bernardino Contin (1530-1596) and his three sons Antonio Contin (1566-1600), Tommaso Contin (1570-1634) and Francesco Contin (1585-1654). Bernardino Contin was the son of Venetian architect Antonio da Ponte (1512-1597). Antonio Contin assisted his grandfather in the construction of the Rialto Bridge in Venice.
• Fontana Family - One of the most prolific and important architectural families from Ticino. The most notable members of the family were Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), who completed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and his nephew Carlo Fontana (1638-1714), who introduced classicism to Baroque architecture. Other members included Giovanni Fontana (1540-1614), architect, engineer and Dominican friar; Giulio Cesare Fontana (1580-1627), architect and engineer; Baldassarre Fontana (1661-1733), architect and stuccoist who worked in Bavaria, Moravia and Poland; Francesco Fontana (1668-1708), architect and engineer; Giovanni Maria Fontana (1670-1712), architect who worked in Russia; Giuseppe Fontana (1676-1739), architect who worked in Poland; Jacopo Fontana (1710-1773), architect of the Royal Court of Poland; Giovanni Antonio Fontana (1738-1803), architect; Luigi Fontana (1824-1894), architect who worked in Russia. A branch of the family in Valsolda included Paolo Fontana (1696-1765), architect who worked in Poland and helped introduce Baroque architecture to Ukraine.
• Gagini Family - Family of architects and sculptors who worked in Italy. The family produced a dozen sculptors between the 15th and 18th centuries. The most important were Domenico Gagini (1420-1492) and Antonello Gagini (1478-1536), who worked on the Palermo Cathedral. Other notable members were Giacomo Gagini (1517-1598), Fazio Gagini (1520-1567) and Vincenzo Gagini (1527-1595).
• Lombardo Family - Family of architects and sculptors from Carona who worked primarily in Venice. They were a branch of the Solari or Solaro Family who changed their name to Lombardo after moving to Venice. The most notable members were Pietro Lombardo (1435-1515), Tullio Lombardo (1455-1532), Antonio Lombardo (1458-1516) and Sante Lombardo (1504-1560). They designed many Venetian tombs and churches.
• Lucchese Family - Family of architects, stuccoists, painters and geometers. The family was ivided into two branches: one from Pambio and one from Melide. The most notable member of the Melide branch was Filiberto Lucchese (1606-1666), one of the main architects of the Viennese court in the 17th century. He also worked in Bohemia and Moravia. He was in charge of the fortifications of Vienna and the eastern border of the Habsburg Empire. His grandfather Alberto Lucchese (c. 1545-1600) was court architect in Innsbruck.
• Lucchini Family - Family of architects from Collina d'Oro. Members of the family included Luca Lucchini (1720-1788), architect who worked in the Bergamo area; Giovanni Francesco Lucchini (1755-1826), architect who worked in Bergamo; Giuseppe Lucchini (1756-1829), architect who worked in Russia; and Pasquale Lucchini (1798-1892), architect and engineer who designed tunnels and roads in Ticino and was one of the founders of the Bank of Italian Switzerland.
• Maggi Family - Family of architects from Bruzella who worked in Czechia and Italy. The most notable members of the family were Giacomo Antonio Maggi (1636-1706), Pietro Maggi (1642-1709) and Pietro Maggi (1756-1816).
• Maraini Family - Family of artists, architects, intellectuals and entrepreneurs in Italy and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most notable members of the family were: Adelaide Pandiani Maraini (1835-1917), sculptress; Clemente Maraini (1838-1905), engineer and building contractor; Emilio Maraini (1853-1916), deputy of the Kingdom of Italy and founder of the Italian sugar industry; Enrico Maraini (1855-1938), banker and building contractor; Otto Maraini (1863-1944), architect; Carolina Maraini Sommaruga (1869-1959), countess; Antonio Maraini (1886-1963), artist and deputy of the Kingdom of Italy; Fosco Maraini (1912-2004), anthropologist, ethnologist, mountaineer, photographer and writer. Descendants of the family still exist today.
• Pellegrini Family - A prolific family from Coglio which attained prominence in Savoy, Italy, France and Argentina. The founder of the family was Bernardo Pellegrini (born 1758). His sons included Jean Claude Pellegrini (1787-1854), Chief Engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads in France; Barthélemy Charles Gaétan Pellegrini (1790-1832), military engineer in Metz; Jean Bernard Pellegrini (1794-1865), architect; and Charles Henri Pellegrini (1800-1875), engineer, lithographer, painter and architect. His grandsons included the architect Charles-Bernard Pellegrini (1819-1864) and the President of Argentina Carlos Pellegrini (1846-1906).
• Pozzi Family - Family of architects, painters and stuccoists from Bruzella who worked in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Members of the family included Francesco Pozzi (1704-1789), architect, painter and stuccoist; Giuseppe Antonio Pozzi (1732-1811), stuccoist; Carlo Luca Pozzi (1734-1812), sculptor and stuccoist; Domenico Pozzi (1745-1796), painter and historian; Giovanni Domenico Francesco Pozzi (1755-1796), painter; Carlo Ignazio Pozzi (1766-1842), architect, painter and stage designer; and Massimiliano Giuseppe Pozzi (1770-1842), sculptor.
• Solari Family - The Solaro or Solari was a family of architects and sculptors from Carona who worked primarily Italy, but also in Russia and France. Members of the family included Marco Solari (1355-1405), master builder who worked on the Milan Cathedral and the Certosa di Pavia; Giovanni Solari (1400-1482), architect and engineer who worked on the the Milan Cathedral and the Certosa di Pavia; Guiniforte Solari (1429-1481), architect, engineer and sculptor; Francesco Solari (1430-1475), architect and sculptor; Pietro Antonio Solari (1445-1493), architect and sculptor who worked in Moscow; Andrea Solari (1465-1524), painter who worked in France and Italy; and Cristoforo Solari (1468-1524), architect and sculptor. A branch of the Solari Family moved to Venice and changed their name to Lombardo.
• Tencalla Family - Family of artists and architects from Bissone who worked in Auastria, Germany, Poland, Czechia and Italy. Members of the family included Giovanni Giacomo Tencalla (1591-1653), architect and sculptor of the royal courts of Vienna and Poland; Costante Tencalla (1593-1646), architect of the Royal Court of Poland; Carpoforo Tencalla (1623-1685), painter who helped introduce Early Baroque style in Central Europe; Giovanni Pietro Tencalla (1629-1702), architect and sculptor of the Royal Court of Vienna; Giacomo Tencalla (1644-1689), painter who worked in Czechia; and Carpoforo Mazzetti Tencalla (1685-1743), painter, sculptor and stuccoist in Venice.
• Trefogli Family - Family of painters, artisans, architects and engineers from Torricella who worked in Piedmont and Peru in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most notable member of the family was Marco Antonio Trefogli (1782-1854), painter and stuccoist. He had 11 children, including Michele Trefogli (1838-1928), architect, engineer and State Architect of Peru; Bernardo Trefogli, painter; Paolo Trefogli, architect and engineer; and Camillo Trefogli, merchant.
• Trezzini Family - Family of architects from Astano who worked in Russia in the 18th century. The most important member of the family was Domenico Trezzini (1670-1734), who introduced the baroque style to Russia. Other members included Pietro Antonio Trezzini (1692-1760), Carlo Giuseppe Trezzini (1697-1768), Pietro Trezzini (1710-1734), Matteo Trezzini (1710-1750) and Giuseppe Trezzini (1732-1785). The last notable member was Angelo Trezzini (1827-1904), painter, lithographer and illustrator in Milan.
In ancient times the area of southern and eastern Switzerland was inhabited by a group of tribes known as the Rhaetians. The Rhaetians were the descendants of Etruscans who had settled in the Alps after being driven out of Italy by Gallic invaders in the 4th century BC. The Rhaetians derived their name from Retus or Rhetus, an Etruscan leader from ancient Tuscany who led his people into exile across the Rhaetian Alps. The area inhabited by the Rhaetians included what is today the Canton of Grigioni (also known as Graubunden or Grisons), Trentino, Tyrol and other Alpine areas stretching from northeastern Italy to southern Germany.
What is today the Canton of Ticino was in part inhabited by a Rhaetian tribe called the Brenni or Breuni, who lived near Bellinzona and in Valle di Blenio. They were possibly related to the tribe that inhabited the Brenner region. However, Ticino was primarily inhabited by a tribe known as the Lepontii or Lepontians. Although it is popular today to regard them as Celts — a vestige of the 19th century "Celtomania" movement — the Lepontii were historically regarded as either a Rhaetian tribe or a Ligurian tribe. Linguistic and archaeological evidence ties them to the Ligurians of northwestern Italy, although their alphabet certainly derived from Etruscan, which suggests a connection to the Rhaetians.
In any case, despite being partly inhabited by Rhaetians, the area of Ticino was never part of the Rhaetian province. Ticino — which was already Romanized by the time of Augustus — was instead part of ancient Italy, included in the 11th region of Italy known as Transpadana. The Romans established settlements in what is now Mendrisio, Locarno, Lugano, Riva San Vitale, Bioggio and Minusio, and founded the city of Bellinzona, which is today the capital of Ticino. Ticino remained part of Italy for the next several hundred years; even after the fall of Rome, Ticino remained part of Italy during the Gothic period (5th-6th century), the period of the Justinian reconquest (6th century), the Longobard period (6th-8th century) and the Carolingian period (8th-9th century). Ticino was part of Italy during the period of the independent Kingdom of Italy (9th-10th century) and still remained part of the Kingdom of Italy after Italy's incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire (962). In the 12th and 13th centuries Ticino was fought over by the communes of Como and Milan, and in the 14th century Ticino became part of the Duchy of Milan.
Also in the 14th century a new confederation of allied states emerged known as the Swiss Confederacy, comprised of three small German-speaking cantons in the Alps known as Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. Beginning in the 15th century the canton of Uri began attempting to conquer the lands of the Duchy of Milan, namely those Milanese lands which now form Ticino. Over the course of the next century, Uri and the other Swiss cantons conquered Ticino in a series of military campaigns, taking its three most important cities: Bellinzona, Lugano and Locarno. These military campaigns were a result of the aggressive expansionist policy of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss cantons partook in the Italian Wars and gained not only Ticino, but also some other Italian territories which today are part of Lombardy. This may seem ironic given Switzerland's present-day reputation as a land of pacifism, diplomacy and permanent neutrality, but in fact Switzerland was born of warfare and bloodshed, and its territory grew through aggressive wars of expansion and imperial conquest against its neighbours. Indeed the Swiss cantons were in an almost constant state of war from 1315 until 1847, including numerous civil wars amongst themselves.
The Swiss conquest of Ticino was completed by 1515. Apart from Vaud, Ticino was the last territory to be conquered by the Swiss Confederacy. Ecclesiastically, however, these conquests were not recognized: the area continued to be viewed by the Church as part of the Dioceses of Como and Milan (and it remained so all the way up until 1859). Prior to the modern era, Ticino did not exist as an organized canton and it was not a member of the Swiss Confederacy. Instead, the lands of Ticino were divided into vogteien or condominiums, i.e. dominions or possessions of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and the other Swiss cantons. These territories were ruled as subjects and therefore did not have the same rights or status as the Swiss cantons. In 1755 the Italian population of the Leventina Valley unsuccessfully revolted against Uri in a bid for independence. The revolt was suppressed and the leaders Giovan Antonio Forni, Lorenzo Orsi and Giuseppe Sartore were beheaded.
In 1798 the Swiss Confederacy was conquered by Napoleon. The area of modern Ticino, together with the other Swiss cantons, formed part of the short-lived Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) — a client state of Napoleon's French Empire. The territory of Ticino was initially divided into two cantons: the Canton of Bellinzona and the Canton of Lugano. This Italian region — subjected to the Swiss cantons for nearly three centuries — became equal in status to the other Swiss cantons for the first time. However, the Italians were not entirely content: a movement was founded in the region by local Italian patriots who wanted these cantons to be annexed to the Italian Cisalpine Republic. Their wishes were ignored. With the Act of Mediation in 1803, the two cantons of Bellinzona and Lugano were organized into a single canton for the first time, known as the Canton of Ticino, which became a member of the restored Swiss Confederation—another client state of Napoleon's French Empire.
From 1810-1813 Italian troops, led by General Achille Fontanelli, occupied Ticino with the intention of annexing it to the Kingdom of Italy. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, Ticino was returned to the Swiss Confederation, which adopted a decentralized political system. Between 1815-1830 Ticino attempted to rule autonomously within the Confederation. Ticino was affected by the Liberal Revolution of 1830, and for the remainder of the century the canton suffered from political struggles between conservatives and liberals. Many monasteries were closed, religious education was suppressed and Ticino was secularized by the liberal government. For this reason, despite being historically and nominally Catholic, Ticino did not join the 1845-1847 Sonderbund (a league of conservative Catholic cantons which sought independence from the liberal Protestant cantons). The liberals of Ticino, however, did support the Italian Risorgimento, which caused the Austrians to impose an economic blockade against Ticino and expel more than 6,000 Ticinese residents from Austrian-ruled Lombardy in 1853.
Modern Switzerland was created in 1848 as a federal state, after the end of the Sonderbund Civil War of 1847, with Ticino as one of its 25 cantons. Since that date Ticino has remained part of Switzerland and has come to be regarded as "Swiss". Today, the cantons of Ticino and Grigioni form Svizzera Italiana or Italian Switzerland.
Attempted Germanization of Ticino
Historically, the Old Swiss Confederacy established in the 13th century was composed only of German-speaking cantons. But over the course of the next few centuries, the German cantons expanded and conquered Francophone, Italian and Romansh-speaking territories. The Germans formed much of the ruling political class and the majority of the federal government; they favoured the centralization of the State and German immigration to the Romance cantons, and in the 20th century assured that German became the dominant language of the mass media, business and popular culture in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the Canton of Ticino has retained its Italian heritage and identity.
Geographically Ticino is situated in the Italian peninsula and forms part of the region of Lombardy; the entire canton is located south of the Alps and is cut off from the rest of Switzerland by a spine of mountains, and is accessible only through the San Gottardo Pass. The town of Campione d'Italia forms an Italian exclave, administratively part of the Province of Como, Italy, but located within Ticino. Ticino's location has had a decisive impact on its history and culture. Today Italian is the only official language of Ticino and the cantonal constitution explicitly states that the culture and identity of Ticino is Italian. However, this is not due to a lack of effort to eliminate the Italian character of the region. Many attempts have been made over the years by the Swiss government to Germanize Ticino and eliminate its Italian character, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The first major assault came in 1859, when the federal government of Switzerland abruptly rejected the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishops of Como and Milan without the consent of the Holy See. The churches of Ticino were part of the dioceses of Como and Milan since time immemorial, and had always remained part of these two dioceses without interruption up until this time period. However, in an attempt to bring Ticino under the Swiss-German diocese of Basel-Solothurn and suppress the influence of the Risorgimento (and thus prevent the anticipated annexation of Ticino to Italy), the Swiss federal government refused to recognize the authority of Como and Milan over the churches in Ticino. This decision was eventually acknowledged by Pope Leo XIII, who detached Ticino from Como and Milan in 1884 and authorized the creation of the Diocese of Lugano-Basel in 1888, thereby officially ending the millennial ecclesiastical link between Ticino and Lombardy. The Diocese of Lugano did not become separated from Basel until 1971.
For the first several decades of the 20th century the Swiss federal government — dominated by a German majority — persistently interfered in the affairs of Ticino and attempted to limit Ticino's cantonal autonomy and authority. The Swiss government also began to persecute Italian patriots. During World War I, many Swiss-Italians volunteered in the Italian Army. In response, the Swiss government enacted surveillance against Italians in Ticino, who became subjected to fines, censorship, home searches, arbitrary arrests, systematic violation of private mail and charges of espionage. The Swiss-German authorities also banned pro-Italian gatherings. On May 26, 1915 an Italian crowd defied the ban by gathering in Lugano and shouting "Long live Italy!". The Swiss military intervened, which almost led to a massacre of Italian civilians. In 1934 Italian nationalists organized the "March on Bellinzona", an unarmed demonstration expressing desire for unification with Italy. In this same time period the Swiss government renewed their persecution of Italian patriots, such as the Swiss-Italian journalist Teresina Bontempi. Her journal L'Adula was suspended several times for denouncing Germanization, and in 1935 she was imprisoned by the Swiss government on charges of "treason" for promoting irredentism in Ticino. She was exiled to Italy in 1936.
Another method of attempted Germanization in the 20th century was the migration of Germans into Ticino. In 1880 the total population of Ticino was 130,777; Germans were only 0.8% of the population (1,054 Germans), while Italians were 98.9% (129,409 Italians). But in 1930, a mere 50 years later, the German population rose to 7.3% (11,622 Germans), while the Italian population dropped to 91% (145,347 Italians). By 1941 the German population in Ticino swelled to 8.15% (13,209 Germans) and had taken over a disproportionate amount of top positions in the local economy. This increase of German-speakers in the early-to-mid 20th century was not a natural progression; it transpired due to the rapid influx of German immigrants and the accelerated use of the German language in public affairs, leading to ethnic tension between the native Italians, the German immigrants and the Swiss government. German immigration to Ticino intensified in the 1950's and reached its peak in 1980 when Germans became 11.1% of the population, before dropping back down to 8.3% in 2000.
Ticino today has a very large foreign immigrant population (94,366 foreigners, equal to 27.2% of the population). However, nearly half of them are fellow Italians from the neighboring provinces of Italy. Italians therefore are still 85% of the population. Thanks to its proximity to Italy and isolation from the other cantons, the Canton of Ticino has managed to escape the same fate as the neighboring Grigioni, where the Italian and Romansh-speakers — who previously formed 64% of Grigioni's population in 1803 and 50% in 1910 — have become a minority in their own land. Ticino, on the other hand, is still strongly Italian by comparison.
Measures have been taken by the local cantonal government to defend and preserve the Italian character of Ticino. The Constitution of Ticino, Article 1 states:
"The Canton Ticino is a democratic republic of Italian culture and language."The Communication by the Canton Ticino on December 20, 1984 concerning the revision of the Constitution states:
"As well as referring to the democratic form and the Italian language, as a characteristic of the Canton, the Constitution also refers explicitly to Italian culture: the fact that the Canton Ticino belongs not only to the Italian language region but also to the Italian cultural region is a fundamental element of its history and an essential component of its identity. Furthermore, that clear reference to Italian language and culture is not mere rhetoric: it represents a significant commitment which the Ticino authorities and people must give to an increasingly effective promotion of their Italianity."
Notable Italians
Many notable Italians came from Ticino, especially architects. Ticino has a very strong architectural tradition and has produced more architects per capita than any other region in the world, and in a record span of time (most of them lived between the 15th and 19th centuries), and while living in oppressive conditions as subjects of the Swiss. Ticino's architects includes men who revolutionized the history of architecture, and men who worked all over Europe and achieved international fame.
Some of the most important Italians from Ticino:
• Francesco Borromini - Architect; one of the founders of baroque architecture
• Luigi Canonica - Architect and urban planner; official architect of the Cisalpine Republic
• Carlo Maderno - Architect; one of the founders of baroque architecture; designed the facade of St. Peter's Basilica
• Domenico Gilardi - Architect; helped rebuild Moscow after its destruction by Napoleon
• Giovanni Battista di Quadro - Architect; helped build and rebuild Poznan in Poland
• Giovanni Battista Trevano - Architect; introduced the baroque style to Poland
• Francesco Boffo - Architect; helped build Odessa in Ukraine
• Ippolit Monighetti - Architect; worked in Russia
• Cosimo Morelli - Architect; worked in the Papal States
• Pietro Nobile - Architect; leading architect of the Habsburg court
• Francesco Righetti - Architect; worked in Argentina
• Domenico Rossi - Architect; worked in Venice
• Luigi Rusca - Architect; worked in Russia and Ukraine
• Gaetano Matteo Pisoni - Architect; worked in Belgium and Switzerland
• Giovanni Antonio Viscardi - Architect; worked in Bavaria
• Pietro Morettini - Architect and military engineer; worked in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands
• Bernardacci Brothers - Architects; worked in Russia
• Fossati Brothers - Architects; renovated Hagia Sophia
• Lafranchini Brothers - Stuccoists; worked on the palladian houses of Ireland
• Giuseppe Artari - Stuccoist; worked in Germany and Great Britain
• Giovanni Pietro Magni - Stuccoist; worked on the Würzburg Cathedral
• Antonio Raggi - Sculptor and stuccoist
• Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte - Sculptor
• Grazioso Rusca - Sculptor
• Camillo Rusconi - Sculptor
• Vincenzo Vela - Sculptor
• Giovanni Battista Bagutti - Painter
• Carlo Bossoli - Painter
• Antonio Ciseri - Painter
• Francesco Antonio Giorgioli - Painter
• Giuseppe Antonio Orelli - Painter
• Vincenzo Angelo Orelli - Painter
• Giuseppe Antonio Petrini - Painter
• Francesco Innocenzo Torriani - Painter
• Giuseppe Antonio Maria Torricelli - Painter
• Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino - Military engineer
• Domenico Reina - Tenor
• Gian Battista Mantegazzi - Composer
• Maestro Martino da Como - Gastronomist and chef; the world's first celebrity chef
• Carlo Gatti - Entrepreneur; the first to make ice cream available to the general public
• Carlo Ponti - Photographer and optician; inventor of the alethoscope and megalethoscope
• Nicolò Rusca - Priest and martyr; tortured and murdered by Protestants
• Romano Amerio - Theologian and critic against the Second Vatican Council
• Teresina Bontempi - Journalist and irredentist
• Francesco Chiesa - Poet and teacher; co-founded the Ticinese branch of the Dante Alighieri Society
• Leonardo Conti - Doctor, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer and Reich Health Leader of National Socialist Germany
There have also been several architectural and artisan families from Ticino:
• Adamini Family - Family of architects who worked in St. Petersburg, Russia. The most prominent was Domenico Adamini (1792-1860). Other members were Leone (1727/1728-1764), Agostino (1752-1792), Tommaso (1763/1764-1828), Leone (1789-1854), Antonio (1792-1846) and Tommaso Adamini (1823-1850), all of whom worked in Russia; some of them were nominated master builders of the Imperial Court. Giuseppe Antonio Adamini (1756) was an architect for the Royal Court in Lisbon, Portugal and in India. Later members of the family were Bernardo (1834-1900), Clemente (1832-1907), Tommaso (1829-1887) and Emilio Adamini (1854-1914), all of whom were hydraulic and railway engineers who specialized in the construction of railroads.
• Albertolli Family - Family of architects, stuccoists and painters from Bedano who worked in Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Members of the family included Francesco Saverio Albertolli (1701-1761), architect; Michele Albertolli (1732-1761), architect; Grato Albertolli (1740-1812), stuccoist; Giocondo Albertolli (1743-1839), architect, painter, sculptor, stuccoist and knight of the Iron Crown; Gian Giacomo Albertolli (1761-1805), professor of civil architecture; Raffaele Albertolli (1770-1812), painter, engraver and stuccoist; Ferdinando Albertolli (1780-1844), architect and professor of design; and Fedele Albertolli (1789-1832), painter. They were possibly related to the 16th century architect Giovanni Albertalli of Grigioni.
• Agustoni Family - Family of architects who worked in Genoa, Germany, Czechia and the Papal States. The most important was Lazaro Agustoni (1570-1642), who remodeled Würzburg Cathedral and built many churches in Germany and Prague with his brother Francesco. His nephew Giacomo Agustoni (1668-1735) built baroque structures in Bohemia. His other nephew Domenico Agustoni (1606-1681) was a foreman in Prague. Battista Agustoni (1565-1616) and Agostino Agustoni (1570-1616) were master builders in Genoa. Antonio Agustoni (1669-1729) worked as a stuccoist in Copenhagen. Pietro Agustoni (1741-1815) worked in the Papal States. One branch of the family became known as the Cantone or Cantoni family, represented by the architects Antonio Cantone, Bernardino Cantone (1505-1576/1580) and Pietro or Pier Francesco Cantone (1585-1657). Other members included Francesco Maria Cantoni (1685-1712), Pietro Cantoni (1710-1785), Gaetano Cantoni (1745-1827) and Simone Cantoni (1739-1818), who was one of the major neoclassical architects in Italy.
• Aostalli Family - Family of architects who worked in Prague. The most important members of the family were Giovanni Maria Aostalli (1500-1567), Giovanni Battista Aostalli (1510-1575) and Ulrico Aostalli de Sala (1525-1597).
• Bagnato Family - Family of master builders who worked in Switzerland and Germany. The most important members of the family were Paolo Bagnato (1660-1704), Giovanni Gaspare Bagnato (1696-1757) and Francesco Antonio Bagnato (1731-1810).
• Brenni Family - Family of stuccoists and architects from Salorino who helped introduce Late Baroque style to Germany. There were over a dozen members of the family who worked around Europe. The most famous were Carlo Enrico Brenno (1688-1745), who worked in Germany and Denmark, and Vincenzo Brenna (1747-1820), who was the leading court architect of Tsarist Russia.
• Bussi Family - Family of painters and stuccoists from Bissone who worked in Austria, Bavaria and Czechia. The most notable members were Carlo Antonio Bussi (1658-1690), a painter who worked in Passau Cathedral and decorated many churches in Austria, and Santino Bussi (1664-1736), a stuccoist who worked in many castles in Austria and Czechia.
• Carabelli Family - Family of artisans from Castel San Pietro who worked in Portugal, Italy and Ticino. Members of the family included Giovanni Albino Carabelli (1690-1766), sculptor and engraver of the Royal Court of Portugal; Giuseppe Carabelli (1722-1803), woodcarver; Francesco Carabelli (1737-1798), sculptor who worked in Milan; Donato Carabelli (1760-1839), sculptor and stuccoist who worked in the Milan Cathedral; Casimiro Carabelli (1774-1840), stuccoist.
• Carlone Family - The Carlone or Carloni was a prolific artisan family composed of architects, master builders, stuccoists and painters who worked in Central Europe and Italy in the Baroque and Rococo periods. The family was divided into two main branches: the Carlone di Scaria in Lombardy and the Carlone di Rovio in modern Ticino. Most of them were itinerant artists. Members of the Ticino branch included: Antonio Carlone (1470-1520), architect and sculptor; Michele Carlone (1468-1519), architect and sculptor; Giovanni Carloni (1510-1576), sculptor; Taddeo Carlone (1543-1615), architect and sculptor; Giovanni Bernado Carlone (1584-1631), painter; Giovanni Battista Carlone (1603-1684), painter; Giovanni Andrea Carlone (1639-1697), painter; Giovanni Carlone (1636-1717), painter; Giovanni Battista Carlone (1580/90-1645), architect; Giuseppe Maria Carlone (1646-1695), architect and sculptor.
• Casella Family - Family of sculptors and stuccoists from Carona who worked in Italy. The most notable member was Daniele Casella (1557-1646), one of the most important sculptors of Genoa in the 16th and 17th centuries. Other members included Donato Casella (c. 1505-1560), Alvise Casella (1525-1590), Francesco Casella (1540-1602), Giovanni Battista Casella de Annibale (1623-1678), Giovanni Battista Casella de Monora (c. 1620-1679) and many others.
• Castello Family - The Castello or Castelli was a family of stuccoists and architects from Melide who worked in Germany and Austria. The most notable member was Matteo Castelli (1555-1632), official architect of the Royal Court of Poland who co-designed the Royal Castle in Warsaw..
• Colomba Family - Family of architects, painters and stuccoists from Arogno who worked in Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Ticino and Prague. Members of the family included Andrea Colomba (1567-1627), stuccoist; Giovanni Antonio Colomba (1585-1650), stuccoist; Cristoforo Colomba (1625-1680), architect and stuccoist; Giovanni Battista Colomba (1638-1693), architect, painter and stuccoist; Luca Antonio Colomba (1674-1737), painter; Giovanni Battista Innocenzo Colomba (1717-1793), architect, painter and stage designer.
• Contin Family - Family of architects and sculptors who worked in Venice in the 16th and 17th centuries. The family produced four artisans who each worked in architecture and sculpture: Bernardino Contin (1530-1596) and his three sons Antonio Contin (1566-1600), Tommaso Contin (1570-1634) and Francesco Contin (1585-1654). Bernardino Contin was the son of Venetian architect Antonio da Ponte (1512-1597). Antonio Contin assisted his grandfather in the construction of the Rialto Bridge in Venice.
• Fontana Family - One of the most prolific and important architectural families from Ticino. The most notable members of the family were Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), who completed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and his nephew Carlo Fontana (1638-1714), who introduced classicism to Baroque architecture. Other members included Giovanni Fontana (1540-1614), architect, engineer and Dominican friar; Giulio Cesare Fontana (1580-1627), architect and engineer; Baldassarre Fontana (1661-1733), architect and stuccoist who worked in Bavaria, Moravia and Poland; Francesco Fontana (1668-1708), architect and engineer; Giovanni Maria Fontana (1670-1712), architect who worked in Russia; Giuseppe Fontana (1676-1739), architect who worked in Poland; Jacopo Fontana (1710-1773), architect of the Royal Court of Poland; Giovanni Antonio Fontana (1738-1803), architect; Luigi Fontana (1824-1894), architect who worked in Russia. A branch of the family in Valsolda included Paolo Fontana (1696-1765), architect who worked in Poland and helped introduce Baroque architecture to Ukraine.
• Gagini Family - Family of architects and sculptors who worked in Italy. The family produced a dozen sculptors between the 15th and 18th centuries. The most important were Domenico Gagini (1420-1492) and Antonello Gagini (1478-1536), who worked on the Palermo Cathedral. Other notable members were Giacomo Gagini (1517-1598), Fazio Gagini (1520-1567) and Vincenzo Gagini (1527-1595).
• Lombardo Family - Family of architects and sculptors from Carona who worked primarily in Venice. They were a branch of the Solari or Solaro Family who changed their name to Lombardo after moving to Venice. The most notable members were Pietro Lombardo (1435-1515), Tullio Lombardo (1455-1532), Antonio Lombardo (1458-1516) and Sante Lombardo (1504-1560). They designed many Venetian tombs and churches.
• Lucchese Family - Family of architects, stuccoists, painters and geometers. The family was ivided into two branches: one from Pambio and one from Melide. The most notable member of the Melide branch was Filiberto Lucchese (1606-1666), one of the main architects of the Viennese court in the 17th century. He also worked in Bohemia and Moravia. He was in charge of the fortifications of Vienna and the eastern border of the Habsburg Empire. His grandfather Alberto Lucchese (c. 1545-1600) was court architect in Innsbruck.
• Lucchini Family - Family of architects from Collina d'Oro. Members of the family included Luca Lucchini (1720-1788), architect who worked in the Bergamo area; Giovanni Francesco Lucchini (1755-1826), architect who worked in Bergamo; Giuseppe Lucchini (1756-1829), architect who worked in Russia; and Pasquale Lucchini (1798-1892), architect and engineer who designed tunnels and roads in Ticino and was one of the founders of the Bank of Italian Switzerland.
• Maggi Family - Family of architects from Bruzella who worked in Czechia and Italy. The most notable members of the family were Giacomo Antonio Maggi (1636-1706), Pietro Maggi (1642-1709) and Pietro Maggi (1756-1816).
• Maraini Family - Family of artists, architects, intellectuals and entrepreneurs in Italy and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most notable members of the family were: Adelaide Pandiani Maraini (1835-1917), sculptress; Clemente Maraini (1838-1905), engineer and building contractor; Emilio Maraini (1853-1916), deputy of the Kingdom of Italy and founder of the Italian sugar industry; Enrico Maraini (1855-1938), banker and building contractor; Otto Maraini (1863-1944), architect; Carolina Maraini Sommaruga (1869-1959), countess; Antonio Maraini (1886-1963), artist and deputy of the Kingdom of Italy; Fosco Maraini (1912-2004), anthropologist, ethnologist, mountaineer, photographer and writer. Descendants of the family still exist today.
• Pellegrini Family - A prolific family from Coglio which attained prominence in Savoy, Italy, France and Argentina. The founder of the family was Bernardo Pellegrini (born 1758). His sons included Jean Claude Pellegrini (1787-1854), Chief Engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads in France; Barthélemy Charles Gaétan Pellegrini (1790-1832), military engineer in Metz; Jean Bernard Pellegrini (1794-1865), architect; and Charles Henri Pellegrini (1800-1875), engineer, lithographer, painter and architect. His grandsons included the architect Charles-Bernard Pellegrini (1819-1864) and the President of Argentina Carlos Pellegrini (1846-1906).
• Pozzi Family - Family of architects, painters and stuccoists from Bruzella who worked in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Members of the family included Francesco Pozzi (1704-1789), architect, painter and stuccoist; Giuseppe Antonio Pozzi (1732-1811), stuccoist; Carlo Luca Pozzi (1734-1812), sculptor and stuccoist; Domenico Pozzi (1745-1796), painter and historian; Giovanni Domenico Francesco Pozzi (1755-1796), painter; Carlo Ignazio Pozzi (1766-1842), architect, painter and stage designer; and Massimiliano Giuseppe Pozzi (1770-1842), sculptor.
• Solari Family - The Solaro or Solari was a family of architects and sculptors from Carona who worked primarily Italy, but also in Russia and France. Members of the family included Marco Solari (1355-1405), master builder who worked on the Milan Cathedral and the Certosa di Pavia; Giovanni Solari (1400-1482), architect and engineer who worked on the the Milan Cathedral and the Certosa di Pavia; Guiniforte Solari (1429-1481), architect, engineer and sculptor; Francesco Solari (1430-1475), architect and sculptor; Pietro Antonio Solari (1445-1493), architect and sculptor who worked in Moscow; Andrea Solari (1465-1524), painter who worked in France and Italy; and Cristoforo Solari (1468-1524), architect and sculptor. A branch of the Solari Family moved to Venice and changed their name to Lombardo.
• Tencalla Family - Family of artists and architects from Bissone who worked in Auastria, Germany, Poland, Czechia and Italy. Members of the family included Giovanni Giacomo Tencalla (1591-1653), architect and sculptor of the royal courts of Vienna and Poland; Costante Tencalla (1593-1646), architect of the Royal Court of Poland; Carpoforo Tencalla (1623-1685), painter who helped introduce Early Baroque style in Central Europe; Giovanni Pietro Tencalla (1629-1702), architect and sculptor of the Royal Court of Vienna; Giacomo Tencalla (1644-1689), painter who worked in Czechia; and Carpoforo Mazzetti Tencalla (1685-1743), painter, sculptor and stuccoist in Venice.
• Trefogli Family - Family of painters, artisans, architects and engineers from Torricella who worked in Piedmont and Peru in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most notable member of the family was Marco Antonio Trefogli (1782-1854), painter and stuccoist. He had 11 children, including Michele Trefogli (1838-1928), architect, engineer and State Architect of Peru; Bernardo Trefogli, painter; Paolo Trefogli, architect and engineer; and Camillo Trefogli, merchant.
• Trezzini Family - Family of architects from Astano who worked in Russia in the 18th century. The most important member of the family was Domenico Trezzini (1670-1734), who introduced the baroque style to Russia. Other members included Pietro Antonio Trezzini (1692-1760), Carlo Giuseppe Trezzini (1697-1768), Pietro Trezzini (1710-1734), Matteo Trezzini (1710-1750) and Giuseppe Trezzini (1732-1785). The last notable member was Angelo Trezzini (1827-1904), painter, lithographer and illustrator in Milan.