Isolation and marriage patterns in four South Tyrolean villages (Italy) from 1781 to 1920
Authors: A.Riegler, F. Marroni, C. Pattaro, P.Gueresi and P.P. Pramstaller
Summary
Background: This study is part of an ongoing genomic research program in South Tyrol. No information
was available on the marriage pattern of German speaking communities of this area.
Aim: Aim of the study is to investigate the reproductive isolation of four South Tyrolean mountain
villages and its microgeographic and temporal changes during the period 1781-1920.
Subjects and methods: Data about 3953 marriages were drawn from existing pedigrees and completed
with data from parish registers of the studied villages to calculate the following indicators: age at
marriage, endogamy, inbreeding from dispensations and from isonymy and repeated pairs of surnames
among couples.
Results: Results show high levels of endogamy (78-87%) and an elevated age at marriage in all the
studied villages. Percentages of consanguineous marriages (10-33%) vary considerably but result overall
in relatively low inbreeding values (α: 0.0015-0.0036; Ft: 0.0098-0.0138).
Conclusions: Levels of endogamy are consistent with the geographic characteristics of the area, while
inbreeding values are lower than those observed in previous studies on mountain communities. This is
due to a low frequency of marriages between close relatives probably associated to the peculiar
demographic and cultural characteristics of the studied populations that differentiate them from the Italian
speaking villages of the same dioceses.
Introduction
South Tyrol is a province in the eastern Italian Alps with approximately 69% German speakers. Within
this linguistic island, the mountain barriers created a large number of remote settlements. Previous genetic
analyses suggest a prolonged reproductive isolation in five investigated valleys of South Tyrol: Badia,
Gardena, Isarco, Pusteria and Venosta (Marroni et al. 2006).
The present study aims at analyzing marriage behaviour in four villages of the Venosta valley from 1781
to 1920. Marriage patterns are sensible indicators of environmental, cultural and economical
characteristics of a population, providing in turn information about its reproductive isolation and genetic
structure.
Three of the examined villages (Curon, Martello, and Stelvio) have already been part of a large ongoing
genomic research program (GenNova) for the identification of genetic susceptibility to diseases. Analysis
revealed an increased background linkage disequilibrium (LD), a requisite for the identification of a
susceptibility locus for Restless Legs Syndrome (Pichler et al. 2006). To further investigate marriage
patterns, we also examined a fourth village (Senales), positioned close to the other villages but peculiar
because of the inheritance practice of indivisibility adopted.
Several studies focused on the reproductive isolation of the populations of different regions of the Alps
(Friedl and Ellis 1976; Ellis and Starmer 1978; North and Crawford 1996; Boetsch et al. 2002; RabinoMassa et al. 2005). The most extensive research on the eastern Alps has been performed in valleys of the
Trentino region (Pettener et al. 1994; Martuzzi-Veronesi et al. 1996; Gueresi et al. 2001).
To our knowledge there has not been any study to date that focuses on the marriage behaviour of the
German speaking populations of South Tyrol.
1
Studied populations
The region of South Tyrol was part of the Austrian Empire from the 14th century, with a short interval
under Bavarian rule during the Napoleonic wars, until its annexation to Italy after the First World War.
The studied populations (Curon, Martello, Stelvio, Senales) are located in the western part of South Tyrol
along the Venosta valley, which extends about 70 km from the Resia pass to the city of Merano. The
valley is bisected by the Adige river and surrounded by some of the highest mountains of the Alps (Figure
1). The permanent settlement of the studied villages occurred during the high middle Ages, although the
remote valleys were known and used for hunting and gathering already during the Neolithic, as testified
by the discovery of a mummy from 3.300 B.C in the municipality of Senales (the so called “ice man” ).
Medieval documents identify a small number of names among the population, some of them in use still
today (Stolz 1939) and suggest that the permanent settlement must have been undertaken by few founder
families.
From the time of the middle ages the Venosta valley had very strong connections to the Swiss Grisons,
the whole area having belonged for centuries to the diocese of Chur in Switzerland. At the beginning of
the 19th century the western part of the valley enclosing Curon and Stelvio passed to the diocese of
Bressanone, while the eastern part with Martello and Senales went to the diocese of Trento.
(figure 1)
All valleys share the typically Germanic form of dispersed settlement. However, each valley is
administrated as a single municipality, and can therefore be considered as a single village.
The municipality of Curon (1520-1925 m above sea level) is positioned at the top of the Venosta valley
and encompasses the main settlement Curon (1520 m.), the smaller village of Resia, and the farmhouses
within the Vallelunga (long valley) that stretches 10 km to the northeast.
The village of Stelvio lies in the Solda valley at 1310 m and includes some additional settlements
distributed along the road leading to the Alpine pass toward Lombardy and Switzerland, at an altitude
ranging from 1100 to 1900 m.
Martello is a southern side valley of 20 km in length, with settlements ranging from 1088 to 1935 m. The
inhabitants live mostly in single farmhouses in the lower half of the valley, where also the biggest
settlement is located at 1312 m. Opposite Martello, the Senales valley extends towards the Austrian Alps.
The 20 km long valley contains scattered farmhouses at an altitude ranging from 806 to 2071 m and has
three larger settlements at about 1300 m.
The four side valleys show differences in geographic isolation: Curon lies on a main traffic route, Stelvio
on an increasingly important Alpine pass road, while Martello and Senales are dead-end valleys that can
be exit only by arduous footpath.
The inhabitants were Catholic and German-speaking people. The economy was based on agriculture and
cattle breeding, severe poverty led to both seasonal and permanent emigration. The most important
difference in cultural and economic features was the traditional inheritance system. In fact, while an estate
could not be divided in Senales, in Stelvio and Curon it was split between all heirs; in Martello both
systems were adopted.
According to Austrian census figures (Figure 2), in the examined area the population size remained
stable, or even diminished, over the 19th century, with the only exception of Stelvio where a slight
increase was recorded.
2
Materials and methods
Marriage data were collected from church records, stored as microfilms in the provincial archive of
Bolzano. The period studied was 1781-1920 and the total number of investigated marriages was 3953.
Records for Senales consisted of three church registers, Stelvio of two and Martello and Curon of one
each.
For the villages of Curon, Martello and Stelvio pedigrees reaching back to the 17th century had previously
been reconstructed for the purpose of genetic analysis. We used them to compute the mean age at first
marriage and a mean age for all marriages, to be compared with the data for Senales, which had to be
taken from literature (Keim 1975) and was available only for all marriages.
With the aim of evaluating the temporal changes in reproductive isolation, data for each of the villages
have been subdivided into 35 year periods. This choice was due to the very high age at marriage observed
in the villages (see Table II in the paragraph “results”).
Endogamy rate was measured according to the spouse’s place of birth (data on residence were not
available). Keeping into consideration the typically Germanic form of dispersed settlement and the length
of the side valleys, we chose to group marriage distances into six categories (0-10 km, 11-20 km, 21-30
km, 31-40 km, 41-100 km, >100 km). Distances were taken from the main settlement on roads and
footpaths because the straight-line distance does not consider the huge mountain barriers.
Consanguinity was evaluated through the percentage of consanguineous marriages and the inbreeding
coefficient (Bernstein’s α) (Cavalli-Sforza and Bodmer 1971), from ecclesiastical dispensations. A gap in
the registration of dispensations occurred in the two dependant churches of Senales during the first and
second observation period. The inbreeding coefficient for this time span has been computed only on the
main church’s data. For Curon, because of a gap in the registrations between 1851 and 1875, the third sub
period had to be excluded from the analysis.
Given that the α coefficient may underestimate the effective inbreeding, the coefficient of inbreeding
from isonymy (Ft) with its random (Fr) and non random (Fn) components (Crow 1980) was calculated.
The assumption of common origin for two individuals with the same surname can’t be assured because of
the polyphyletic origin of surnames (Crow 1980; Lasker and Kaplan 1985). However, in small
communities descending from few founder families, the assumption of common ancestry between two
individuals with the same surname can be considered satisfied (Vernay 2000).
We also computed the RP coefficient (Lasker and Kaplan 1985) with random component (RPr) according
to the method of Chakraborty (Chakraborty 1985). RP is a measure of the subdivision of a population into
sub-groups that preferentially breed among themselves. Because the values are influenced by population
size and number of different surnames, the surplus of RP compared to RPr was evaluated.
Results and discussion
figure III
The percentage of endogamous marriages shows a decreasing trend in Martello, Stelvio and particularly
in Curon. In Senales endogamy shows an increase followed by a diminishment in the last observation
period. The steep decreasing trend in Curon, together with the decrease in population size, can be related
to emigration towards Switzerland. (Altstätter 1981). The total values for birth endogamy in the four
villages (Curon: 78.1%, Senales: 80,1%, Stelvio: 83,4%, Martello: 87.5%) are similar or even higher than
those observed in other sub-valleys of the adjacent Trento province comparable in population size: e.g.
80% in Vermiglio Valley in the period 1725-1923, (Martuzzi Veronesi et al. 1996), 73% in the Rumo
3
Valley in the period 1825-1923 (Gueresi et al. 2001), 87% in the Rabbi Valley in the period 1780-1915
(Gueresi et al. 2002b), 64% and 83% respectively in the Italian and German speaking communities of the
Fersina Valley in the period 1800-1914 (Pettener et al. 1994).
(table I)
Most of the exogamic partners (tab. I) were from the close surroundings (1-10 km) in Curon and Stelvio,
lying close to other villages, and from the next distance range (11-20 km), corresponding roughly to the
length of the valleys, in the more isolated villages of Senales and Martello. The role of distant partners (>
100 km) was substantial in the communities located next to the traffic routes (Curon and Stelvio) and
increased constantly during the period of observation, while it had a minor importance in the more rural
zones of Martello and Senales. In all villages, partners came mostly from the main Venosta valley, but
marriage with neighboring German speaking North Tyrolean and Swiss partners was not infrequent in
Curon and Senales and in Curon and Stelvio respectively, while the exchange of spouses with the Italian
surroundings was irrelevant.
(table II)
As can be seen in table II, during the first half of the 19th century mean age at marriage tends to be lower
in the villages where the possession was split between heirs (Stelvio and Curon), a little higher in the
village where the mixed system was adopted (Martello) and highest in the one were the heritage was
impartible (Senales). During the following fifty years a general rising was observed for both sexes in all
villages. The age at marriage remained the highest in Senales women, but the most elevated age at
marriage for men was recorded in Curon, while Stelvio maintained the lowest values.
The increase of age at marriage may be due to the growing importance of seasonal migration, practiced
especially by unmarried men. (Mantl 1997). It has already been observed that a high age at marriage is a
common feature of the Alpine marriage behavior, regardless of the inheritance system (Viazzo 1989).
However, age at marriage in South Tyrol appears to be very high, especially in comparison with several
Italian speaking areas of the Trentino region (Wopfner and Grass 1995). The Tyrolean father refused to
give up control on his estate, or to divide it between heirs, as long as he could physically afford it (Cole
and Wolf 1974) Marriage prior to inheritance was extremely disadvantageous due to economic
constraints, and was made even more difficult by the introduction of a legal restriction in 1820. Although
the restriction was established for the entire Austrian Empire, it was applied strictly only in Tyrol, and
required couples to provide proof of economical stability to the civil authorities (Mantl 1997). A higher
age of the bride was useful for obtaining the marriage permission, because it meant fewer children.
Similarly, being older than 24 years was accepted by the Catholic Church as grounds for unions between
relatives.
(Figure 4)
α (fig.4) is lowest in the most populated settlement (Curon) and highest in the small and isolated valley of
Martello. Throughout time levels of inbreeding display some oscillations, that are most accentuated in the
small Martello. A growing tendency, according to the general trend followed by European populations
4
(Moroni 1967; Gouesse 1984) can be seen in Stelvio, while Curon follows a decreasing trend according
to its endogamy values.
Multiple consanguinity gave the major contribution to α in the most isolated Martello and Senales valleys,
while in Curon it was low or absent, except from the first period.
The portion of inbreeding due to marriages between relatives up to the second degree is quite low in all
villages: maximum values are shown by Stelvio in the last observation period and by Curon in the first
observation period (Stelvio: 22.7%; Curon: 21.8%).
Overall values for the inbreeding coefficient α are quite low compared to the percentage of
consanguineous marriages: 0.0015 and 10.7% in Curon, 0.0027 and 24.9% in Stelvio, 0.0027 and 25.6%
in Senales, 0.0036 and 32.9 % in Martello. This is confirmed by a comparison with two sub-valleys of the
Trentino region analyzed approximately in the same period: Vermiglio, 1775-1923, α 0.0041, 22% of
consanguineous unions (Martuzzi Veronesi et al. 1996); Rabbi, 1780-1915, α 0.0041, 24% of
consanguineous unions (Gueresi et al. 2002).
The subdivision of consanguineous marriages in different types (Table III) confirms that marriages
between first cousins did not play an important role in any of the villages: during the investigated period,
40-55.7% of dispensations were issued for the fourth degree of relationship against the 0.5-1.7% of the
second degree. Only one marriage between niece and uncle was recorded in the first sub-period in the
most populated parish (Curon). Multiple consanguinity (13.6-27.5 % of total dispensations) consisted
primarily of a combination of distant degrees.
An explanation for the scarcity of close relatives’ marriages may be found in the prohibitive cost of the
dispensations that these unions required (Rabino-Massa et al. 2005). The cost of a dispensation for the
second degree of relationship was 161.40 fl. in 1845. In Stelvio, the price of a two year old bull varied
from 125 to 150 fl. during the same period. By contrast, dispensations between distant relatives were
affordable for a larger part of the population. It should be also pointed out, that the attitude of local
clerics, decisive for obtaining the dispensation, was to discourage marriage between close relatives
(Bittles and Smith 1994). Another reason for the infrequency of close relative marriages could be the
awareness of the negative effects of inbreeding, acquired from experience in cattle breeding.
Although these conditions were not peculiar of the studied area, but applied also to the neighbouring
Italian speaking valleys, at a local level their influence can vary within different cultural and economic
backgrounds.
A characteristic trait of the studied South Tyrolean villages, in contrast to the nearby Trentino and Swiss
villages where both inbreeding and population were growing throughout the nineteenth century, is the
lack of population increase.
The increase in inbreeding that occurred in 19th century Europe was caused by the rising number of
marriages between close relatives. This, in turn, was connected to the population growth. Increases in
natality, or reductions in child mortality, will result in more children per family and therefore in more first
cousins amongst which to choose a partner. The correlation between inbreeding and population trend or
family size has already been pointed out in previous studies (Abelson 1980; Pettener 1985; Fuster and
Colantonio 2002; Fuster and Colantonio 2004). Marriages between first cousins were already observed to
be rare in past demographic studies on North Tyrolean mountain communities with a decreasing
population trend (Troger 1954; Lässer 1956).
Marriage with a close relative can be regarded as a strategy to prevent the fragmentation of family
property and would have been of advantage especially in the villages where equal division between heirs
was practiced. However, in Curon marriages involving first cousins were celebrated only during the first
observation period and in Stelvio during the last observation period. This pattern may be related to
5
changes in the population size that was decreasing in Curon as a result of the strong permanent migration,
and, from 1870 onwards, rising in Stelvio, where the growth of tourism reduced the emigration rate and
the relatively low age at marriage favoured natality.
(table IV)
Evidence that the low numbers of dispensations for second degree relative marriages were not due to
incomplete registration is found in the percentage of isonymous marriages (3.9- 5.6) and values of Ft
(0.0099-0.0138) and Fr (0.0076-0.0134), which tend to be lower than those observed in other alpine
isolates (Hussels 1969) (Lasker et al. 1972) (Friedl and Ellis 1974) (Pettener et al. 1994) (Martuzzi
Veronesi et al. 1996), (Gueresi et al. 2001) (Gueresi et al. 2002a).
Overall, random isonymy (Fr) showed the highest values in the most isolated valleys of Senales and
Martello (tab. IV). The non-random component (Fn) is generally low, but more pronounced in the two
larger parishes of Curon and Stelvio.
RP and RPr were higher in the less populated and most isolated valleys of Senales and Martello. Values
of the RP coefficients where substantially similar to those observed in neighbouring villages with a
centred structure (Pettener et al. 1994; Martuzzi Veronesi et al. 1996; Gueresi et al. 2001).The surplus of
RP compared to RPr is higher in the largest municipality of Curon, including the settlement of Resia and
the Vallelunga. The dispersed settlement did favour the population subdivision only where the settlements
size was large enough to allow endogamy within it.
Through time, inbreeding and RP coefficients showed little variations, without a clear tendency (not
showed).
Conclusions
South Tyrolean marriage behaviour appears to be influenced by environmental, demographic and cultural
factors that seem to be peculiar, if compared to other Alpine populations.
Levels of endogamy in the four studied villages, exceeding those measured in several alpine
communities, suggest a remarkable reproductive isolation and are due to the extreme geographic
conditions. However, despite a percentage of consanguineous marriages comparable to and at times even
higher than those observed in other studies, the values of inbreeding were relatively low, due to a very
small proportion of marriages between close relatives.
Besides economic and cultural reasons, the low incidence of this kind of unions can be explained through
the peculiar demographic trend of these settlements. While the increase in marriages between close
relatives experienced in 19th century Europe was accompanied by an increase in population and family
size (Moroni 1967), as in the case of the Italian speaking neighbouring valleys, the population size in
these South-Tyrolean villages remained stable or decreased throughout the observation period, showing a
slight increase towards the end of the century only in Stelvio. Low nuptality rates, as documented for
Austria (Viazzo and Albera 1986), high age at marriage and high emigration rate reduced the size of the
families and consequently the number of marriageable relatives.
It should also be pointed out, that in evaluation of inbreeding from ecclesiastical dispensations and from
isonymy, there may be an underestimation due to illegitimate births. During the second half of the 19th
century a peak of illegitimate births (16% of all births) was reached in the village of Martello (Winkler
6
1973). Church records give evidence, that at least in some of these cases parents of illegitimate children
had a very close consanguineous relationship.
In the examined area the biodemographic indicators pointed out microgeographical variations that are
consistent with the different degrees of geographic isolation and economic development of the single
villages. However, a difference between the communities on the northern (Curon and Senales) and
southern (Stelvio and Martello) sides of the Venosta valley should be stressed. The northern communities
had matrimonial exchange in every direction with the neighbouring North Tyrolean valleys and in the
case of Curon even with the Swiss Grisons. Stelvio and Martello, conjoining with Lombardy and Trentino
respectively, had steady commercial relationships with the Italian-speaking regions but no exchange of
partners. This shows that the linguistic barrier was very hard to overcome, and highlights the difference
between the marriage behaviours within the same dioceses.
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Figure 1: Map of the Venosta valley showing the four side valleys with their settlements. In the upper-left
picture, South Tyrol is filled in black: it is included within Austria, Switzerland and Italy; the Venosta
Valley is the western most part of South Tyrol.
10
Figure 2: Population changes in Curon (diamonds), Martello (circles), Stelvio (squares) and Senales
(triangles), from 1810 to 1930. (Source for population data: Austrian national census figures)
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
11
Table I: Marital distances according to birth place in four South Tyrolean villages (1781-1920)
km
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-100
101+
Curon %
39.1
22.2
11.7
6.0
8.9
12.1
Martello %
11.8
44.7
24.7
7.1
7.1
4.7
Senales %
8.2
45.1
29.7
9.3
7.1
0.5
Stelvio %
27.8
18.4
14.6
8.2
12.0
19.0
12
Figure 3: Changes in percentages of endogamous marriages in four South Tyrolean villages from 1781 to
1920.
100%
90%
80%
1781-1815
1816-1850
70%
1851-1885
1886-1920
60%
50%
40%
Curon
Martello
Senales
Stelvio
13
Table II Mean age at marriage and mean age at first marriage (in brackets) for men and women in four
South Tyrolean villages from 1801 to 1900. * Data for Senales were available only for the total number of
marriages for the two periods 1801-1850; 1851-1900 (Keim 1975).
men
Villages
Curon
Martello
Senales*
Stelvio
1801-1850
32.4 (30.9)
33.2 (30.4)
34.8
29.8 (28.6)
1851-1900
38.1 (37.3
35.8 (34.5)
37.3
32.6 (32.3)
1801-1850
28.2 (27.9)
29.9 (28.7)
32.6
27.6 (27.3)
women
1851-1900
31.1 (30.7)
31.1 (30.9)
34
29.1 (28.9)
14
Figure 4: Changes in inbreeding coefficient (α) with contribution of different degrees of relationship in
four South Tyrolean villages (1781-1920): I-II= uncle niece, II= first cousins; II-III= first cousins once
removed, III= second cousins, III-IV= second cousins once removed, IV= third cousins, M= multiple
consanguinity.)
0.005
Curon
Martello
Senales
Stelvio
0.0045
0.004
0.0035
M
0.003
IV
III-IV
0.0025
III
0.002
II-III
II
0.0015
I-II
0.001
0.0005
17
81
-1
18 81
16 5
-1
18 85
51 0
-1
18 88
86 5
-1
92
0
17
81
-1
18 81
16 5
-1
18 85
51 0
-1
18 88
86 5
-1
92
0
17
81
-1
18 81
16 5
-1
18 85
51 0
-1
18 88
86 5
-1
92
0
17
81
-1
18 81
16 5
-1
18 85
51 0
-1
18 88
86 5
-1
92
0
0
15
Table III: Frequency (absolute and relative) of consanguineous unions by degree of relationship in four
South Tyrolean villages (1781-1920). (I-II= uncle niece, II= first cousins; II-III= first cousins once
removed, III= second cousins, III-IV= second cousins once removed, IV= third cousins, M= multiple
consanguinity.)
I-II
II
II-III
III
III-IV
IV
M
total
N
1
1
4
29
11
43
15
104
Curon
%
0.9
0.9
4.5
29.1
10.9
40.0
13.6
Martello
N
%
0
0
4
1.7
6
2.5
29
12.1
17
7.1
118
49.2
66
27.5
240
Senales
N
%
0
0
1
0.5
2
1.1
33
18.0
17
9.3
102
55.7
28
15.3
183
N
0
3
6
58
21
111
46
245
Stelvio
%
0
1.2
2.4
23.7
8.6
45.3
18.8
16
Table IV: Mean values in coefficients of inbreeding from isonymy and repeated pairs of surnames in four
South Tyrolean villages (1781-1920).
Ft
Fr
Fn
RP
RPr
(RP-RPr)/RPr
Curon
0.0115
0.0086
0.0029
0.00169
0.00121
0.4
Martello
0.0109
0.0117
-0.0008
0.00245
0.00227
0.08
Senales
0.0138
0.0134
0.0005
0.00326
0.00282
0.16
Stelvio
0.0099
0.0076
0.0022
0.0011
0.00094
0.17
17