Italy Archives and Libraries

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Italy

Archives and Libraries

• Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm.
• If you plan to visit a repository, contact them and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees. Ask if they require you to have a reader’s ticket (a paper indicating you are a responsible researcher) to view the records, and ask how to obtain one.
• Although the records you need may be in an archive or library, the FamilySearch Library may have microfilmed and/or digitized copies of them.

Archives

National Archives

Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS)
Piazzale degli Archivi, 27
00144 Roma, Italy

Telephone: +39 06 545481
E-mail: acs@beniculturali.it

State (Provincial) Archives--Archivio di stato

In 2011, FamilySearch contracted to digitize the civil registration (civil status registers) and draft lists, in collaboration with the individual State Archives. Records are available to search here.

• Ancestral Portal: Browse by State or Search by name
• FamilySearch Historical Records Italy, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records Microfilmed, digitized, and indexed by FamilySearch

Records of genealogical value at state archives include:

• Church records (some)
• Civil registration
• Census
• Court records
• Military records
• Notarial records

Church Archives

Diocesan Archives

• FamilySearch Digitized Records for some dioceses

Some dioceses of the Catholic Church have gathered duplicates of their older church records into a diocesan archive. You can write to these archives and request brief searches of their records. See Italy Church Records: Church Archives.

Parish Archives

Catholic records are usually kept by the local parish. You can write to local parishes and church archives for information. See Italy Letter Writing Guide.

Libraries

• OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) Collective catalog of libraries of the National Library Service.

The OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) of the National Library Service (SBN) allows for bibliographic searches in the collective catalog of Italian libraries

• OPAC Clickable map and directory of libraries in Italy

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Some of the sources you will want to use are also available in major libraries in Italy. These sources include local histories, ancient manuscripts, and unpublished works regarding heraldry and genealogy. Even smaller local libraries might have collections of newspaper clippings, biographies of prominent local citizens, family histories, etc. Contact these libraries and ask about their collection, hours, services, and fees.

Central National Library of Florence
Piazza dei Cavalleggeri, 1
50122 Florence, Italy
Telephone: +39 055 24919 96-97
Website

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Central National Library of Rome
Viale Castro Pretorio, 105
00185 Roma RM, Italy
Telephone:+39 06 49891
Email: bnc-rm@beniculturali.it

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A good source regarding Italian libraries and their collections is:

• Annuario delle biblioteche italiane (Yearbook of Italian libraries). Three Volumes. Roma, Italy: Fratelli Palombi, 1958. (FS Library book EUROPE 945 J5an, 1958; film 962678, item 1–2.)

Museums

Google: Italy Museums

Historical and Genealogical Societies

Italy has some organized historical and genealogical societies. Some of these societies maintain libraries and archives that collect valuable records. For more information, including addresses, see Italy Societies.

Record Offices

• Civil Registration Online Records for States: Microfilmed, digitized, and indexed by FamilySearch

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• In Italy, all records created by the local government since 1865, including birth, death, and marriage records, are kept in local civil offices. These records are available to the public. Civil offices are comparable to town halls in the United States.
• Duplicates are kept at the tribunale. You can get information or copies of the records kept at the comune or tribunale by correspondence. You can find a list of archival addresses in:

Archivum; revue internationale des archives publié e avec le concours financier de l’Unesco et sous les auspices du Consil internationale des archives (International review on archives published by the International Council of Archives with the financial aid of Unesco). Paris, France: Presses Universitaires de France, 1952. (FS Library book EUROPE REF 020.5 Ar25 v. 38.)

• For more information about civil offices and their records, see Italy Civil Registration.