Genealogy Services in Italy

Ascendancy research is the classic family-history project: starting from a known Italian ancestor — a grandparent who emigrated, a great-grandmother named in a marriage record — and moving backward, generation by generation, for as long as the records permit.

Descendancy research turns the usual direction of genealogy around. Instead of asking where did I come from?, it asks what became of everyone else? — the brothers and sisters who stayed behind when one sibling emigrated, and the families they built.

The history of a family lives in its documents. I locate original birth (baptism), marriage and death records in Italian civil and church registers and provide copies — as digital files or printed copies, whichever suits you.

A record you cannot read is only half a discovery. I translate documents and letters from Italian and from Latin — the records I find during research, and the papers already in your family’s possession.

When one member of a family emigrated, the rest usually stayed. Their descendants are very often still living in the same town, or nearby, today. I help identify them.

There is a moment in many research projects when the documents are no longer enough, and you want to stand in the street where your great-grandparents lived. I would be glad to help you plan, organise and carry out a trip to Italy — to meet your relatives, or to stay with your family, in the pleasure of discovering your origins.

Research results do not have to arrive only as a folder of documents. I offer an artistic public presentation of the results, also via video conference such as Skype: a multimedia meeting in which the family can relive the atmosphere of your ancestors’ lives. Anecdotes, pictures, memories — all the ingredients of a unique family reunion.

An Italian surname carries information of its own. Its form may point to a trade, a place, a father’s given name or a nickname; its distribution across Italy may point to a region even before any record has been found.

For a better and more complete knowledge of your family, I gladly provide a historical overview of your town, province and region in Italy: the context in which your ancestors lived, worked, married and, in many cases, decided to leave.

Genealogical research is sometimes needed for practical reasons: establishing who the heirs are, or documenting relationships for a legal proceeding. I offer assistance in obtaining an inheritance and with other matters that involve an attorney — supplying the records and the documented relationships that such matters require.

Not every request calls for a full research project. If you know exactly which record you need, I can obtain that specific record as requested — a single birth, marriage or death record, for example — and provide it as a digital file or printed copy.