In order to be successful in tracing your Italian heritage, you must know the village where your ancestors resided. To determine your ancestral village you must do a little detective work. Don't expect this information to be handed to you on a silver platter. You may have to work for it. Here are some brief tips in searching for the village where your ancestors walked:
TALK, LISTEN, ASK
KNOW THE COUNTRY
Talk to the oldest members of the family. Listen to what they have to say. Pay particular attention to names of people and places. Listen to their stories and record their responses either on audio tape, a VCR or take detailed notes. Ask questions about anything you don't understand. Remember, these loved ones will not be on this earth forever. When they leave, their knowledge and stories will go with them.
Become familiar with the names and locations of the 20 Regions (very much like our states) and the 103 Provinces (very much like our counties) of Italy. Within each Province are the cities, towns and villages (comunes/comuni) and within each comune there may be (frazioni/frazione), smaller villages or hamlets that have existed for centuries and are too small to support all the services of a comune.
SEARCH FOR DOCUMENTS AND PHOTOS
GET FAMILIAR WITH LDS
UTILIZE THE INTERNET AND THE WEB
SURNAME LOCATIONS IN ITALY
Search that attic or basement of yours for old photos and documents. And don't forget the attic or basement of your parents or grandparents (a lot of information might be found in these often overlooked places). Look for passports, immigration records, naturalization records, military and census documents, parish records, old letters and family bibles. Look for names, dates, locations and any other pertinent information.
Get familiar with the keeper of the world's largest genealogical collection. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has the largest collection of genealogical records in the world. The LDS church (Mormon) has been filming civil and church records from around the world for many years. Their collection is available to anyone who wishes to visit their library in Salt Lake City, Utah or any one of hundreds of Family History Centers (FHC) located in many cities across the US and overseas. Staffed by knowledgeable volunteers, the FHC make computers, microfiche and microfilm available to search their collection located in Utah. Films are then ordered for a small fee from Salt Lake City and are sent to the FHC for viewing on their readers. Visitors to the FHCs should not be concerned about being approached on the subject of religion. It will not happen.
In 1999 the LDS Church started making available much of their records online via their website FamilySearch.org.
To access FamilySearch.org, CLICK HERE.
Perhaps the greatest boon to genealogy in general has been the phenomenal growth of the Internet. Many avenues of research, unavailable heretofore, are now a click away.
One of my favorite places to visit on the WWW is Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites On The Internet. This award winning webpage has links (at last count nearly 250,000) to every possible place in cyberspace that deals with anything remotely connected to genealogy. If it is not on Cyndi's webpage, it probably doesn't exist.
To access Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites On The Internet, CLICK HERE.
Want to know how a particular surname is distributed throughout Italy? Just click on this link: CLICK HERE.
When the page loads, enter the surname you are searching for in the block titled "Cognome:"
and click on the red arrow. When the next page loads, the results will be displayed on a map of Italy and will show the distribution of that surname throughout the country.
If you click on the middle map under "Cambia Mappe", you will see a graphical representation
of the distribution of the surname by Province. As an added bonus, if you click on
the US flag under "Cerca Anche In:" you will be treated to a graphical representation
of the distribution of the surname in the United States.
CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES
The following link will allow you to locate any City, Town or Village in Italy and will give you the CAP (our equivalent of a ZIP code) which you will need if you are going to address correspondence
plus information and statistics on Italian Regions, Provinces and Municipalities including populations and maps.
To access the Cities, Towns and Villages page, CLICK HERE.
ITALIAN WHITE PAGES
Looking for possible relatives in Italy? This link will provide you with the name, address and phone number of anyone you are searching.
To access the Italian White Pages CLICK HERE.
When the page loads, enter the surname in the block titled "Cognome o nome Azienda". You may enter the given name in the block titled "Nome". In the block titled "Dove", you must enter the name of the Region or Province or City or the CAP (ZIP).
PARISH LOCATIONS
Looking for a Catholic Church in your ancestral village? This link will give you the name and address of any parish in Italy. One note of caution: Until recently, most cities, towns and villages had their own resident parish priest. Due to monetary constraints, it became necessary for the Catholic Church to reduce the number of resident priests. While the church (building) itself may still be present in some of the smaller villages, the resident priest has been replaced by a traveling priest who covers several villages.
To locate any Catholic Parish in Italy CLICK HERE.