Italy Archives and Libraries
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- 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[edit | edit source]
National Archives[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
- 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. Use Italy Letter Writing Guide to help compose a request in Italian.
- However, Catholic records are usually kept by the local parish. You can write to local parishes for information. Use Parrocchie.it to find a parish address. Use Italy Letter Writing Guide to help compose a request in Italian. Depending on the local priest's willingness to help (on a monetary basis, of course) it may be possible to correspond back and forth over time.
Libraries[edit | edit source]
- OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) Collective catalog of Italian libraries of the National Library Service.
- OPAC Clickable map and directory of libraries in Italy
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
Central National Library of Rome
Viale Castro Pretorio, 105
00185 Roma RM, Italy
Telephone:+39 06 49891
Email: bnc-rm@beniculturali.it
Website
A good source regarding Italian libraries and their collections is:
- Annuario delle biblioteche italiane (Yearbook of Italian libraries). Online. In Italian. Three Volumes. Roma, Italy: Fratelli Palombi, 1958. (FS Library book EUROPE 945 J5an, 1958; film 962678, item 1–2.)
Museums[edit | edit source]
Google: Italy Museums
There are, of course, too many museums in Italy to list here. Use Google to sort through them. Generally, you are not looking for documents here, but rather learning about culture and customs.
Historical and Genealogical Societies[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
- Civil Registration Online Records for States: Microfilmed, digitized, and indexed by FamilySearch
- In Italy, all records created by the local government since 1865, including birth, death, and marriage records, are kept in local (comune) 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.
Writing to a Comune or Tribunale[edit | edit source]
1. Locate the address:
- From Comuni-Italiani click on the province.
- In the top right sidebar under "Useful pages", click on List of Municipalities of the ____ Region. Then select the comune.
- In the middle of the page under "Useful pages", click on "Official site".
- Browse the page to find the address, phone, and e-mail information. This will be different for every comune.
2. Use Italy Letter Writing Guide to help compose a letter or e-mail request in Italian.