Civil registration records are an invaluable resource in searching for your Italian roots. They contain a wealth of information, depending on the type of record and the time period in which the event occurred. Italy’s civil records today are a result of a standardized registration system introduced in 1806, after the annexation of many Italian regions to the French Empire and Napoleon’s implementation of the new Civil Code. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (southern Italy) and in the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, civil registry was established in 1809, and in some areas of Italy records can be found as early as 1804. Each birth, marriage, and death was recorded in duplicate at the comune’s ufficio di stato civile (the equivalent of a town hall or vital statistics office) – one copy was kept there and one was sent to the provincial archives. While standardized printed forms were created, many records are hand-written. Some areas of Italy abandoned the system when Napoleon was ousted in 1815.
Records created during the Napoleanic time period (1809-1815) are known as stato civile napoleonico. From 1816-1865, the records are known as stato civile della restaurazione (restoration). Stato civile italiano officially began between 1860 and 1870 when Italy was unified as the country we know today. Many areas ceased using the printed forms (or ran out) and records will be written out in long hand, especially during the 1870s. New printed formats were eventually implemented. In other words, a variety of formats were used at various times across the country.
Most birth, marriage, and death records were indexed, though the indexes themselves vary from town to town. They may be located at the beginning of a volume or at the end. Early indexes were often organized by given name or chronologically by date of the event; later indexes are usually organized by surname. Marriage records are indexed by the groom’s name. Some indexes contain the names of the parents while others do not. In later years, especially in larger comuni, it is more time-consuming to piece together families for this reason. There are also some decennial indexes that cover a ten year period.
Laws regulate the use of civil vital records, which include a seventy-five year privacy restriction. The records in many areas of Italy have been microfilmed by the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) and have been digitized and made available either through http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?lang=en or at your local Family History Center https://www.familysearch.org/locations/. Digitizing is ongoing process and not all records are available online.
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