Chronology to 1798: lakes, passes and Lombard commerce
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This part of the chronology of Lugano and Ticino as a financial centre covers 87 entries. Each entry names the chapter of the book in which the event is discussed.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 9th–4th century BC | The Golasecca culture flourishes, linking the Alpine valleys with the Etruscan and Celtic world of the Po plain. Large cemeteries at Giubiasco and Castione. (Chapter A.I) |
| c. 6th–1st century BC | Lepontic inscriptions in the so-called "alphabet of Lugano" record one of the oldest written Celtic languages. (Chapter A.I) |
| 59 BC | Caesar strengthens Comum (Como) with colonists. The southern part of the later Ticino is attached to its municipal district after the conquest. (Chapter A.I) |
| 16–15 BC | Campaigns of Drusus and Tiberius under Augustus secure the Alpine passes and valleys. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1st–4th century AD | A Roman vicus at Muralto, beside the later Locarno, prospers, as its buildings, cemeteries and glass finds show. (Chapter A.I) |
| 22 November 643 | The Edict of King Rothari regulates the liability of the magister commacinus building "with his colleagues", the first legal trace of the lake builders. (Chapter A.III) |
| Late 8th century | Charlemagne's reforms fix the system of one lira equal to 20 soldi or 240 denari, which governs Lombard accounting for a thousand years. (Chapter A.I) |
| 948 | By tradition, a bequest of Bishop Atto of Vercelli brings Blenio, Leventina and Riviera (the Tre Valli ambrosiane) to the cathedral chapter of Milan. (Chapter A.I) |
| Late 10th or early 11th century | The bishops of Como exercise comital rights over Bellinzona and parts of the Sopraceneri, collecting tolls and market dues. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1118–1127 | The Ten Years' War between Milan and Como ends with the capture and partial destruction of Como. (Chapter A.I) |
| From the 12th century | Rural vicinanze and valley communities are documented in notarial deeds, and the Lombard notariat records sales, loans, dowries and wills in the region. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1162 | Emperor Frederick Barbarossa destroys Milan and confirms Como's rights over Lugano and the routes to the passes. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1164 | Frederick Barbarossa grants Locarno a market. In 1186 its inhabitants receive imperial immediacy. (Chapter B.I) |
| 1182 | Pact of Torre: the men of Blenio and the Leventina swear to besiege the da Torre castle of Curterio and tolerate no new fortifications in the valleys. (Chapter A.I) |
| c. 1150–1230 (probably c. 1200) | The Schöllenen gorge is made passable by a bridge and the Twärrenbrücke walkway, and the Gotthard becomes a through route between Basel and Lombardy. (Chapters A.I, A.IV) |
| 1231 | King Henry VII places Uri directly under the empire. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1237 | A hospice on the Gotthard summit is attested. A village ordinance of Osco in the Leventina dates from the same year. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 1335 | Franchino Rusca surrenders Como to Azzone Visconti, lord of Milan. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1340 | The Visconti take Bellinzona after a siege, bringing the whole territory south of the Alpine valleys under Milanese lordship. (Chapter A.I) |
| After 1360 | Uri takes over the imperial toll at Flüelen in stages. It becomes the canton's principal revenue. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 11 May 1395 | King Wenceslas grants Gian Galeazzo Visconti the ducal title of Milan for 100,000 florins. The investiture follows on 5 September 1395. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1403 | After Gian Galeazzo's death, Uri and Obwalden take the Leventina under their protection. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1419 | Uri and Obwalden buy Bellinzona from the lords of Sax-Misox. (Chapter A.I) |
| c. 1420 | Bellinzona's great fair of St Bartholomew (24 August) is first attested. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 30 June 1422 | A Milanese army retakes Bellinzona and defeats the Confederates at Arbedo, halting their advance for more than half a century. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1426 | In the first Milanese capitulation Uri and Obwalden renounce Bellinzona and the southern valleys in exchange for freedom from tolls on the road to Milan. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1441 | The duke of Milan pledges the Leventina to Uri, leaving the title with Milan and government with Altdorf. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1450 | Francesco Sforza takes Milan and founds a new ducal dynasty. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1452 | The Medici bank of Florence opens a Milan branch under Pigello Portinari. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1467 and 1477 | Capitulations with the Sforza fix toll privileges and access to Lombard grain and salt for the Confederates. (Chapter A.IV) |
| From 1468 | Galeazzo Maria Sforza promotes the planting of mulberry trees, laying the basis of the Lombard silk economy. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1474 | First striking of the Milanese silver testone worth 20 soldi, the first lira in coin form. (Chapter A.I) |
| 28 December 1478 | A small force from Uri and the Leventina defeats the Milanese army at Giornico. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1480 | Peace confirms Uri's sovereignty over the Leventina. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1483 | The Monte di Pietà of Milan is established at the wish of Ludovico il Moro. It receives its statutes in 1496. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1487 | The cathedral chapter of Milan gives up its claims to the Leventina, which remains a bailiwick of Uri alone until 1798. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1490–1492 | Pietro Antonio Solari builds towers of the Moscow Kremlin wall. An inscription of 1491 names him. (Chapter A.III) |
| 1493–1503 | The Lucerne Zentnerzoll registers show an average of about 170 tonnes of goods a year crossing the Gotthard, against about 4,500 tonnes on the Brenner. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 1495 | Uri, Schwyz and Lucerne occupy the Riviera and the Val Blenio. (Chapter A.II) |
| April 1500 | Ludovico il Moro is captured at Novara. Bellinzona places itself under the protection of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden. (Chapter A.I) |
| 1500–1798 | |
| 1503 | Treaty of Arona: Louis XII cedes Bellinzona, the Riviera and Blenio to Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden, which govern them jointly until 1798. (Chapters A.I, A.II) |
| 1512–1513 | In the Pavia campaign the Confederates occupy Lugano, Locarno, the Vallemaggia, Mendrisio and the Ossola. Locarno castle surrenders after the battle of Novara in June 1513. (Chapters A.I, A.II) |
| 1515 | The Fifth Lateran Council approves the Monti di Pietà and their fixed charges on loans. (Chapter B.III) |
| 13–14 September 1515 | Defeat at Marignano costs the Confederates Milan and the Ossola. (Chapter A.II) |
| 29 November 1516 | Perpetual Peace of Fribourg: Francis I recognizes Confederate possession of Lugano, Locarno and the Vallemaggia. The Confederates decline 300,000 crowns offered for the bailiwicks. (Chapters A.I, A.II) |
| 1517–1522 | Mendrisio and Balerna pass definitively to the Confederates (recognized by France in 1521), and a landfogto resides at Mendrisio from 1522. (Chapters A.I, A.II) |
| 20 November 1531 | The Second Landfrieden after the Second War of Kappel regulates religion in the common lordships in favour of the Catholic side. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1535 | The Duchy of Milan passes under Spanish rule, which lasts until 1706. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1535 | The Capuchins build their first convent on Swiss soil at Bigorio above Lugano. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1535–1536 | Giovanni Beccaria takes over the Latin school of Locarno. Reformed sympathies spread among the Orelli, Muralto, Duno and other families. (Chapter B.I) |
| 1542 | Reorganization of the Roman Inquisition. Ochino, Vermigli and Curione flee Italy, and Italians from Lucca, Genoa, Cremona and Milan seek refuge in Switzerland. (Chapter B.I) |
| July and November 1554 | Two Diets at Baden. An arbitral award obliges the Reformed of Locarno to recant or leave by early March 1555, with the right to sell their property. (Chapter B.I) |
| 3 March 1555 | Over a hundred Locarnese Reformed leave the town. They cross the San Bernardino and reach Zurich in May 1555. (Chapter B.I) |
| 1557–1558 | Aloisio Orelli opens a shop in Zurich and adds silk fabrics and velvet from 1558. Evangelista Zanino begins satin weaving in 1558 and Milanese fustian in 1565. (Chapter B.II) |
| 1560 | Carlo Borromeo becomes administrator of the archdiocese of Milan and Protector Helvetiae at the papal court. He resides in Milan from 1565. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1561 | The Dazio Grande at Rodi is built as toll station for the Piottino road. It remains a customs post until 1834. (Chapter A.IV) |
| December 1563 | The Council of Trent closes. Its decrees require seminaries and parish registers. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1567–1582 | Borromeo visits the Swiss parishes of the archdiocese (1567, 1570, 1571, 1577, 1582) and holds six provincial councils and eleven synods by 1582. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1569 | Pius V regulates the annuity contract (censo) by the bull Cum onus, the basis of rural credit in the bailiwicks until the nineteenth century. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1571 | The bull In eam condemns "dry" and fictitious exchange. Pius V suppresses the Humiliati. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1575 | David and Heinrich Werdmüller found a textile enterprise in Zurich with 6,000 florins. From 1582 they process silk waste with the merchant Lodovico Ronco. (Chapter B.II) |
| 1579 | The Genoese exchange fairs "of Besançon" settle in Piacenza, where bankers meet four times a year to settle bills of exchange. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 1579 | Borromeo founds the Collegio Elvetico in Milan with fifty scholarships for Swiss clerics. Joseph II confiscates its building in 1786, and Napoleon suppresses the college in 1797. (Chapter B.III) |
| October 1584 | The Collegio Papio in Ascona, founded on Bartolomeo Papio's bequest of 25,000 scudi (1580), opens. Borromeo dies on 3 November 1584. (Chapter B.III) |
| 10 September 1586 | Fontana's team re-erects the Vatican obelisk in front of St Peter's in a single day. (Chapter A.III) |
| 5 October 1586 | Seven Catholic cantons conclude the Borromean League in Lucerne. The papal nunciature in Lucerne opens the same year. (Chapter B.III) |
| 1587 | Spain extends the Milanese capitulations into an alliance with the Catholic cantons that brings pensions and grain. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 1603 | Carlo Maderno of Capolago completes the façade of Santa Susanna and is appointed architect of St Peter's. The basilica's façade bears the date 1612. (Chapter A.III) |
| 1606–1611 | Johannes Muralt founds the silk firm Muralt an der Sihl, the family's move from surgery into manufacturing. (Chapter B.II) |
| 1 November 1610 | Canonization of Carlo Borromeo, patron saint of Catholic Switzerland. (Chapter B.III) |
| c. 1619 | Francesco Borromini of Bissone goes to Rome and joins Maderno's workshop. His San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane follows from 1634. (Chapter A.III) |
| 3 September 1639 | Spain concludes the Capitolato di Milano with the Three Leagues of the Grisons, restoring the Valtellina to them. Austria confirms it on 24 October 1726. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 1662 | Zurich creates a commercial directorate to regulate quality and wages and run the postal services to Italy and Lyon. A Pestalozzi is elected to it. (Chapter B.II) |
| 1679 | After refusals in 1606, 1639 and 1673, the Grand Council grants the Orelli full citizenship rights. Daniel Orelli becomes a city judge. (Chapter B.II) |
| 1703–1704 | Peter the Great calls Domenico Trezzini of Astano to Russia. He becomes the principal architect of St Petersburg until his death in 1734. (Chapter A.III) |
| 1706 | Austrian rule over Milan begins (confirmed by treaty in 1714). (Chapter A.II) |
| 1707–1708 | Pietro Morettini of Cerentino cuts the Urnerloch, about 64 metres long and regarded as the first road tunnel through the Alps. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 1750 | Caspar and Hans Conrad Schulthess found a silk-trading house in Zurich that later becomes the private bank Rahn+Bodmer. (Chapter B.II) |
| 1752 | The treaty of Varese fixes the border between the bailiwicks and Austrian Lombardy and targets contraband. (Chapter A.IV) |
| 15 April 1755 | Leu & Co., a public bank under treasurer Johann Jacob Leu, opens in the Zurich city hall. It is later described as the oldest bank in Switzerland. (Chapter B.II) |
| 8 May 1755 | Revolt of the Leventina: rebels seize Uri's landfogto. (Chapter A.II) |
| 2 June 1755 | The revolt's leaders Forni, Sartore and Orsi are executed at Faido. Uri abolishes the valley's parliament. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1764 | Cesare Beccaria publishes Dei delitti e delle pene, criticizing torture and pecuniary justice of the kind practised in the bailiwicks. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1770–1771 | Famine across Switzerland and central Europe. Grain prices multiply in the bailiwicks. (Chapter A.II) |
| 1770 | Merger forming "Orell, Gessner, Füssli & Cie.", which founds the Zürcher Zeitung in 1780 (from 1821 Neue Zürcher Zeitung). (Chapter B.II) |
| 1791 | The Piedmontese Jacobin Giovan Antonio Ranza arrives in Lugano, the first of the political exiles from Italy. (Chapter C.II) |
| 29 June 1797 | Bonaparte proclaims the Cisalpine Republic in Milan. It annexes the Valtellina and occupies Campione. (Chapter C.I) |
For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.