Finding the records

Stato Civile Napoleonico (Napoleonic civil registration)

Births, marriages (with banns and supporting documents) and deaths. Early indexes are often arranged by given name.

Where: Original registers in the comune; duplicate copies in the provincial Archivio di Stato
Years: Kingdom of Naples (southern mainland) 1809-1815; Piemonte 1804-1814; Papal States 1810-1814; Lombardy and Veneto about 1806-1815. None for Sicily, Sardinia or South Tyrol.
How to access: Browse images by town on the Antenati portal or in FamilySearch collections. Identify the exact comune first.

Stato Civile della Restaurazione / Borbonico (Restoration civil registration)

Births, marriages and deaths, plus marriage supporting files (processetti or allegati) that can include the couple's birth records and the death records of deceased parents or former spouses. Pre-unification marriages may include a 'solemn promise' form.

Where: Comune and Archivio di Stato
Years: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 1816-1865 (Sicily from 1820). Tuscany and Abruzzo also continued registration after 1815.
How to access: Antenati portal (browse by Archivio di Stato, then comune and year) and FamilySearch.

Stato Civile Italiano (Italian civil registration)

Annual registers of births, marriages and deaths with annual indexes. 'Parte II' volumes transcribe events recorded elsewhere, including abroad, and may appear years after the event.

Where: Ufficio dello Stato Civile in each comune; second copy at the tribunale or Archivio di Stato
Years: 1866 to present (Veneto from 1871). Ten-year indexes (indici decennali) cover 1866-1875, 1876-1885, 1886-1895 and 1896-1905.
How to access: Older registers are on Antenati and FamilySearch. Newer records must be requested from the comune.

Atti di nascita (birth records)

Child's name, sex, birth date and place, and parents' names. Later records add the parents' ages, occupations and birthplaces and the mother's maiden name, and the baptism date is usually noted.

Where: Comune / Archivio di Stato
Years: From 1809 in the South, 1820 in Sicily, 1866 or 1871 elsewhere
How to access: Antenati / FamilySearch, or request an estratto from the comune.

Atti di matrimonio and pubblicazioni (marriages and banns)

Marriage date; names, ages, birthplaces, residences and occupations of bride and groom; parents' names; witnesses; and often the church ceremony date. Banns (pubblicazioni) can reveal where the marriage actually took place.

Where: Comune / Archivio di Stato
Years: Same as civil registration
How to access: Antenati / FamilySearch. Also look for allegati or processetti (supporting documents).

Atti di morte (death records)

Name, date and place of death. After about 1815, usually also age, birthplace, residence, occupation, informant, parents and spouse. Details can be inaccurate because informants were not always well informed.

Where: Comune / Archivio di Stato
Years: Same as civil registration
How to access: Antenati / FamilySearch

Registri parrocchiali (parish registers)

Baptisms (parents, legitimacy, godparents), marriages (often with parents and birthplaces), burials, and the stato delle anime (parish census of households). Usually in Latin.

Where: Parish church; duplicates, where they exist, at the diocesan archive (curia vescovile)
Years: From the Council of Trent reforms (1563); most parishes from about 1595
How to access: Write in Italian to 'Il parroco di [parish], [town], [province]' and include the search fee, or check the FamilySearch Catalog under ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - CHURCH RECORDS.

Portale Antenati

As of April 2026, more than 154 million images and nearly 2 million registers from 98 State Archives, with partial name indexes. FamilySearch, a partner since 2011, agreed in 2026 to supply at least 5 million images a year.

Where: antenati.cultura.gov.it (Italian Ministry of Culture, Direzione generale Archivi)
Years: Mostly early 1800s civil records onward, with some older material
How to access: Free online. Search by name or browse by archive, then fondo (Napoleonic, Restoration or Italian civil registration), comune, year and record type.

Archivio di Stato (State Archive)

Census returns up to 1991 and, in many provinces, duplicate civil registers (much of this is published on Antenati). Passport registers and military draft lists more than 75 years old are also found in state and provincial archives.

Where: One in each provincial capital
Years: Varies
How to access: Many civil registers are on Antenati. For other series, contact the archive and make an appointment.

Estratto / certificato from the comune

Extracts or full copies of birth, marriage and death acts, and family status certificates.

Where: Ufficio dello Stato Civile (and anagrafe) of the comune
Years: Mainly records not yet transferred to the State Archive or online
How to access: Find the comune's official website for contact details. Write in Italian if possible and include the person's name, approximate dates, parents if known, your relationship and purpose, and ask for an 'estratto completo' (complete extract). FamilySearch's Italy Letter Writing Guide has sample sentences.

Stato di famiglia / anagrafe (household and residence registers)

Household groupings often covering three generations, with relationships, birth and death details, and departure dates of members who moved or emigrated.

Where: Comune anagrafe; historical versions at the provincial office
Years: Varies by comune
How to access: Request from the comune. Access policies vary.

Liste di leva and ruoli matricolari (military conscription records)

Name, parents, birth date and place, residence, occupation, physical description and the draft board decision. They often note if a man had emigrated, with date and destination.

Where: Military district archives; copies at the tribunale, transferred to the provincial archives after 75 years
Years: From 1865 (men born about 1850 onward); liste di leva prepared until 1923
How to access: Write to the provincial archive, or check the FamilySearch Catalog under ITALY, [PROVINCE] - MILITARY RECORDS.

Italian censuses (censimenti)

Returns before 1911 are of limited genealogical use. From 1911 they list each household member's name, age, occupation, relationship and birthplace.

Where: Archivio di Stato (up to 1991); comune anagrafe for about 1911/1921-1991
Years: 1861, 1871, 1881, 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931, 1936, 1951 (none in 1891 or 1941)
How to access: Usually staff searches only, and survival varies by town.

Catholic sacramental records (U.S.)

Baptisms (parents, birth and baptism dates, godparents, residence), marriages and burials

Where: The parish; closed parishes' records at the diocesan archive
Years: Varies by parish
How to access: Determine the town and the parish the family most likely attended, then write to that parish, or to the diocesan archive if the parish has closed.

Grandparent naming pattern

Families traditionally named the first son after the paternal grandfather, the second son after the maternal grandfather, the first daughter after the paternal grandmother and the second daughter after the maternal grandmother. Treat the pattern as a clue to grandparents' names, not as proof.

Reusing a deceased child's name

If a child died, the name was often given to the next child of the same sex, so one family may have several children with the same name. Check death records before assuming duplicates are the same person.

Several given names; civil vs. church records

Children often received several given names at baptism. Civil records may list only the first name, while church records list all of them. In some areas the name used in daily life differed from the baptismal name.

Women keep their maiden names

Italian records normally identify women by their maiden surnames even after marriage, and civil registration indexes list women under their maiden names.

'fu' and 'di' in records

'Fu' means 'late' (deceased), so 'Pietro fu Filippo' signals that Pietro's father Filippo had died by the time of the record. 'Di' means 'of', as in 'figlio di' (son of) and 'figlia di' (daughter of).

Patronymic surnames

Many surnames began as patronymics joined by 'di' (Pietro di Giovanni), and many still carry 'di' or 'd'' (for example d'Alberto). Surnames became hereditary over two or three centuries, first among nobles, then townspeople, then rural families.

Alias surnames ('detto')

In some towns a second surname introduced by 'detto' or 'vulgo' was added to tell apart branches of a family that had lived there for generations.

Foundling surnames

Foundling homes gave abandoned infants surnames, and a child could receive a new surname when placed with a wet nurse or foster family. The Italian genealogical word list gives 'proietti' and 'trovatello' for foundlings.

Latin in church records

Catholic parish registers were kept in Latin into the twentieth century, so names appear in Latin forms. For example, Giovanni is Joannes, Francesco is Franciscus and Lorenzo is Laurentius.

Gender endings

Masculine given names generally end in -o and feminine names in -a, so Giuseppe/Giuseppina and Francesco/Francesca are male/female pairs.

The Ellis Island name-change myth

Passenger lists were created abroad, starting near the immigrant's home when the ticket was bought, and Ellis Island inspectors worked from those lists. Inspectors were not allowed to change a name unless the immigrant asked or the original information was shown to be wrong. Stories that 'they changed it at Ellis Island' are seldom supported by research.

How names really changed

Most changes came later and informally, through employers, teachers, landlords or personal choice. Documentation of name changes in U.S. naturalization has been required only since 1906, and each transcription between the home town and the destination could introduce spelling changes.

Passenger lists: women, children and spelling

Passenger lists were usually filled out at the embarkation port, so the spelling there often matches Italian records. Women often traveled under their maiden names, and minor children under the father's surname.

Search under the Italian form

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation advises searching ethnic spellings, for example 'Giuseppe' rather than 'Joseph'. Immigrants were not given new names on arrival, although clerical errors were possible.

Americanized names are not always translations

Some English names adopted in America were not true equivalents but came from a prominent syllable or sound, such as Guy or Tom for Gaetano, or James for Vincenzo. Do not rule out a match because the English name looks unrelated.

Autosomal DNA

Autosomal tests read many markers across chromosomes 1-22, inherited from both parents. They are the main test for finding cousins on all lines and give a more complete picture than Y-DNA or mtDNA.

Ethnicity estimates are estimates

Ancestry percentages come from comparing your DNA to reference databases, and some populations are under-represented. Estimates differ between companies and change as databases grow. Use matches and records, not percentages, to prove relationships.

Shared cM ranges (Shared cM Project v4)

Average (and range) of shared centimorgans: parent/child 3485 (2376-3720); full sibling 2613 (1613-3488); half sibling 1759 (1160-2436); grandparent 1754 (984-2462); aunt/uncle 1741 (1201-2282); first cousin 866 (396-1397); first cousin once removed 433 (102-980); second cousin 229 (41-592); third cousin 73 (0-234); fourth cousin 35 (0-139).

Overlapping relationships

Different relationships can share similar amounts of DNA. Half siblings, grandparents and aunts/uncles all average about 1,750 cM, so a cM figure alone cannot tell them apart. Combine it with ages, trees and shared matches. Third and fourth cousins can share no detectable DNA at all.

Y-DNA for the surname line

The Y chromosome passes from father to son with very few changes, so it follows the paternal surname line (for example Martocci or Martoccio men). Y-STR tests are used in surname projects, and SNP tests assign a paternal haplogroup. Women can ask a father, brother, paternal uncle or same-surname male cousin to test.

mtDNA for the direct maternal line

Mitochondrial DNA traces only the direct maternal line (mother's mother's line). Anyone can take the test.

Triangulation basics

Segment triangulation uses a DNA segment shared by a group of matches (three or more people sharing the same overlapping segment) to identify the ancestor who passed it down. Tree triangulation reviews the pedigrees of a cluster of matches to find a common ancestor. Segment triangulation works best alongside chromosome mapping, with tools such as GEDmatch.