Italy Handwriting: Difference between revisions

Reading old Italian records requires a knowledge of basic Italian genealogical terms and familiarity with Italian handwriting. Difficulty in reading a record may not result from a record keeper’s poor penmanship but rather from a different style of handwriting. European handwriting differs greatly from American handwriting, and ancient writing differs even more from modern handwriting. Church records in Italy were often kept in Latin. Since handwriting varies from person to person, the handwriting in your record may vary from the forms shown on the chart. This guide introduces common letters and handwriting used in Italian records, both in Italian and Latin.  

The modern Italian alphabet has no J, K, W, or Y. Earlier Italian did use the J and I interchangeably in some dialects. Latin has no K or W. Occasionally vowels will be accented which will change the pronunciation and/or meaning of a word, but not the way that word is sorted alphabetically.