Archivio di Stato di Sondrio

From the Italian Wikipedia page

The State Archive of Sondrio was established in 1946 as an Archive section and subsequently transformed into a State Archive in 1963. It is divided into archives produced by the political, administrative and judicial institutions of the Province from its establishment to the second half of the 20th century and from documents deposited or donated by private individuals.

The State Archive of Sondrio is housed in two buildings connected by an air passer-by.

The first, located on the Lungo Mallero Cadorna, was restored after the flood of the Mallero stream in 1927, which destroyed the nineteenth-century frescoes by the Talamonese painter Giovanni Gavazzeni. Between 2008 and 2013 the property was completely renovated.

The second, Palazzo Martinengo, was built in the 16th century at the behest of the Brescia count Ulisse Martinengo, who took refuge in Valtellina during the Counter-Reformation period. The offices, study room and library of the Institute are housed on the third floor.

The documentary heritage conserved in the Sondrio State Archive occupies about six thousand linear meters of shelving.

Following the description given in the General Guide of the Italian State Archives, the following fonds are listed:

I. Ancient regimes Local Court in Chiavenna (1818-1858), the District Court of Sondrio (1818-1858), District Court Bridge (1818-1858);

II. Italian State: Prefecture of Sondrio (from 1856-1963), District Office of Direct Taxes in Sondrio (1961-1974), Provincial Treasury (1898-1913 and 1918-1929), Sondrio draft office (classes 1860-1939), Military District of Sondrio (classes 1876-1945), Magistrate 's Court of Chiavenna (1859-1930), Court of Sondrio (1864-1928), Assize Court of Sondrio (1862-1868);

III. Archives that cannot be periodized: Notaries' deeds (1321-1886), cadastres: estimo grigione (1507-1853), cadastre of communities (1773-1853 with annotations until 1856), Lombard-Veneto cadastre (1853-1940), Civil Hospital of Sondrio (1821-1953), Sondrio Municipal Assistance Body (1937-1979), Sanctuary of the Madonna di Tirano (26 parchments dated 1485-1671 and paper documents).

Archives of families and people: particularly rich section, it preserves documents of the most illustrious Valtellinesi families (XIII-XX century) such as, for example, the Delfini family (1702-1802), the Donegani of Monte Stelvio (1773-1910), the Ninatti of Villa di Tirano (1683-1919), the Visconti Venosta archive (1266-1890), the papers by Angeloantonio Bianchi (1939-1947) relating to the Second World War and the partisan struggle.

Manuscripts of the Pio Rajna Civic Library of Sondrio together with the archives of the Falcinelli di Madesimo (1660-1840), Lucini-Juvalta (1763-1869), Merizzi Parravicini (1727-1794), Pollavini (1790-1806) and Emilio Quadrio funds (1385-1899) and Romegialli (15th century-1884).

The oldest document preserved in the notarial fund is an instrument of donation plus dowry drawn up in 1254 by the notary Giovanni de Cerveno.

Considering also the non-original documents, the oldest parchment is a fifteenth-century reworking in the form of a memorial of the consecration of the church of Santa Eufemia di Teglio in 1117, intended for the conservation on display.

Among the parchments of Grosotto, purchased by the Ministry of the Interior in 1958, there is a curious document: it is the so-called "Little treatise on cows", probably a compendium of the first half of the nineteenth century of the work of François Guénon Traité des vaches laitières [ 6] (1838). It is written on the back of a 16th century parchment and represents an interesting source on the history of animal husbandry in the 19th century. The short introduction reads: "The quality of the breeds and the beauty of the shapes are generally indications of good quality of the cows ..."

Among the reuse writings we can distinguish a valuable procession of the fourteenth century. The bifolio was the cover of a notary protocol dated 1641 by Francesco Quadrio de Maria di Ponte in Valtellina, active from 1632 to 1676. [7]