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Family tree research- Italian records

12 replies

starrylights · 02/11/2023 15:37

I have decided it is time to try and work through the Italian strand of my family tree, main driver it that I think I can apply for an Italian passport Grin
I have had an ancestry membership previously, but only uk records.
Does anyone have any advice on sites etc which are good for Italian records?
I am happy to pay for ancestry membership again, but would like to check first that I am going to get what I need.
I have little info, about where it Italy, family knowledge says north Italy. It's tricky too because I have seen about 4 different spellings of names and they have been anglicised with time.
Would appreciate any wisdom for more experienced mnetters.

OP posts:
PumpkinsAndCoconuts · 02/11/2023 17:25

Ancestry worked for mine. I was very surprised!

But that was mostly due to a very dedicated "cousin" (well, we are related via my great-grandmother´s cousin IIRC) having done some rather exceptional research. I chatted with him and he apparently regularly visited the village to access local records etc.

starrylights · 02/11/2023 17:54

Thanks @PumpkinsAndCoconuts I will give ancestry a go.

OP posts:
RudolphTheRedNosedSpaniel · 02/11/2023 20:09

I'm planning to do the same thing op.
Please let me know how you get on!

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LordBuckley · 14/04/2024 00:52

There are quite a few Italian archives online now, but you need to know the location where the events took place. I'll post some links if anyone's still interested.

TurqoiseJasper · 14/04/2024 01:23

Yes please!

LordBuckley · 14/04/2024 04:04

Are you interested in any area in paerticular?

TurqoiseJasper · 14/04/2024 13:24

Sardinia, is there anythig?

LordBuckley · 14/04/2024 23:53

Nothing so far on the free State Archives website; they will be adding records from some Sardinian provinces (Cagliari and Nuoro) in future, but they don't say when:

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/esplora-gli-archivi/

Ancestry has some Italian records, but nothing for Sardinia as far as I can see.

Esplora gli Archivi - Antenati

La pagina consente di accedere alla documentazione digitalizzata degli Archivi di Stato, tramite mappa o tramite lista.

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/esplora-gli-archivi

LordBuckley · 15/04/2024 00:07

However, there are quite a few Sardinian records on the LDS site. Some records have been indexed, but not all of them.

To see what they have, you need to search the catalogue:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog

entering the place name where it says "Search by place". It's not enough to put Sardinia or Sardegna: you need the name of the town or province.

For example, if you're looking for a place in the province of Nuoro, type "Nuoro", then click on the result that says "Italy, Sardinia, Nuoro".

You then need to look for a result that includes the words "Registri dello stato civile" (Civil Registration registers, ie. registers of births, marriages and deaths).

When you click on that, you may get a result like this: "Records of Italy, Nuoro, Nuoro, Civil Registration (Tribunale) are available online, click here."

That means they've been indexed, so you can search for the name of the person you're interested in.

If they haven't been indexed, you have to find the town or village you want, then the microfilm that contains births (Nati), marriages (Matrimoni) or deaths (Morti), and then look for the year you're interested in. The records are obviously in Italian.

Some registers have an alphabetical index of names at the beginning or end of the year, which makes it quicker to search, but it's still a lengthy process if you don't know the year you want.

Explore FamilySearch Catalog of Resources — FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog

LordBuckley · 15/04/2024 00:14

The same system applies to other parts of Italy too. The FamilySearch site has indexed quite a lot of Italian records, but the process is still ongoing. I do some indexing for them myself when I have time, because I don't think they have an awful lot of Italian-speaking volunteers.

They're working in partnership with the Italian State Archives site linked to above for filming and indexing the records.

A quick way of finding out whether there's anything available for the name or place you want is to use the main FamilySearch search page, as the catalogue can be a bit daunting (click on More Options so you can choose dates, places and types of event):

https://www.familysearch.org/search/

FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

https://www.familysearch.org/search

LordBuckley · 15/04/2024 00:22

Another useful starting point if you don't know whereabouts in Italy your ancestors came from is a surname distribution search. The sites that offer these maps seem to base them on the current Italian phone book, not on old records, but at least it gives you a rough idea of where in Italy a particular surname is currently most common, and may also have been in the past.

https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani

Just enter the surname you want in the Cognome (surname) box, and click on Cerca (search).

It then tells you how many people of that name there are in each Region; click on the Region you want, and it tells you how many there are in each Province of that region. Click on the Province you want, and it tells you how many people there are in the various Comuni (towns/villages) in that Province.

Mappe dei Cognomi Italiani

Scopri la distribuzione dei cognomi in Italia attraverso una mappa interattiva di Google Maps. Inserisci il cognome e vedi la diffusione per regione, provincia e comune.

https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani

LordBuckley · 15/04/2024 00:26

Sorry if that all sounds horrifically complicated!

The people on this forum are helpful, and they do reply to messages in English:

https://www.tuttogenealogia.it

TuttoGenealogia.it - Indice

https://www.tuttogenealogia.it

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