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.

National Archives
Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS) Piazzale degli Archivi, 27 00144 Roma, Italy Telephone: +39 06 545481 E-mail: acs@beniculturali.it State Archives by Region Hall of the Heraldry and Special Collections ARCHIVES OF FAMILIES AND PEOPLE Numerous sources, both public and private, are kept in the State Archives, which are indispensable for genealogical research and for the history of individual families and individuals. The main ones are:
 * The civil status with the relative original annual and ten-year indices;
 * The documentation relating to military enrollment and career;
 * The notarial archives;
 * Family and personal archives;
 * Nominative sources and sources for emigration;
 * all other archives and individual documents, public and private, that the State owns or has received as a gift or deposit, such as archives of families, businesses, religious corporations and non-state public bodies.

State (Provincial) Archives--Archivio di stato]
Records of genealogical value at state archives include:
 * State Archives by Region
 * Ancestors Portal This is a helpful site for searching indexes of multiple Italian state archives for civil records. You can search ancestors by names and dates and find the records online.
 * Church records (some)
 * Civil registration
 * Census
 * Court records
 * Military records
 * Notarial records

The state archives of Italy are open to the public. In addition, the FamilySearch Library has microfilm copies of many of the records from these archives. There are forty state archive sections in the country.

Diocesan Archives
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.
 * FamilySearch Digitized Records for some dioceses

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) SBN: 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

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 - 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.)

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
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.