Genealogy

The following guidelines are designed for individuals that are just beginning their Italian family history research. If you have been collecting letters, newsclippings and photographies for years and have always wanted to begin building a family tree, then you may find these notes usefull as well. Regardless of where you are in the process, keep in mind that your pursuit is a lifelong journey and not something you should reasonably expect to finish in a few weeks or months. Most of all, enjoy where the journey takes you!

Usefull information about Italian records:

In Italy there isn't a database for all the ancient records.

"ATTI DELLO STATO CIVILE"
If you begin searching your own family information it might be important to know that you can find birth, marriage and death records inside the town halls back to 1866. Previous records are preserved inside churches.

"ATTI NEI REGISTRI PARROCCHIALI"
The first thing you have to do is to find out what's oldest Church in your originating village and ask the priest permission to consult these records. Books are listed in period of 10 years and in alphabetic order. Each church should have records dating back to 1563, from this date on priests were obliged to fill in forms to prevent illegal marriages. Probably, if you are lucky, your church might still have some previous records.

"ATTI NOTARILI"
Because it was an Italian tradition to give a baby the same name of an ancestors (for example his grandma or grandpa or uncles, etc...) you should start your research from a marriage act, then a death act and only at the end a birth act. In this way you'll be sure about the identity of who you're looking for.

When you've finished your research inside churches, there is one more step. The oldest documents and records about your family, such as notary records etc... are preserved in the state archive. If you are lucky you might find some documents about your family dating back 1300! You need to know where the main register center was at the time of your ancestors. Keep in mind the oldest individuals found in the church and then look for a notary who worked in your originating place in his career. If any documents still exist you should look for one of the surnames belonging to your family tree

Usefull information about Celle's and Faeto's records:

Because of the many earthquakes in the area, Celle and Faeto lost most of their records. Faeto has all the death records since 1680, marriage records since 1740, birth records since 1730. Celle has a part of all the records since 1850, there is a gap between 1929 and 1940.