Biella, Piedmont, Italy Genealogy

Guide to Biella Province ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

'Most of your genealogical research for Biella, Piedmont will be in two main record types: civil registration (registri dello stato civile) and church records (registri ecclesiastici''). This article will teach you methods for locating and searching these two record groups.'''

1. Antenati (Ancestors Portal)
The State Archives hold many private and public sources that are essential to the genealogical research and the history of some families and persons. The main sources are: Antenati is a direct portal to the state archives that have been digitized and indexed. Completion varies and works are in progress, so check back if necessary. A colored flag at the top left of the page indicates degree of completion. Antenati is a direct portal to the state archives that have been digitized and indexed. Completion varies and works are in progress, so check back if necessary A colored flag at the top left of the page indicates degree of completion.
 * The Civil Registry, together with the attached 1-year and 10-year origin indexes
 * Military service and army archives.
 * Notary public archives.
 * Family and personal archives.
 * Nominal sources and sources for emigration.
 * Find Your Italian Ancestors Online Through Portale degli Antenati Tutorial. Class Handout
 * State Archives of Biella
 * Antenati Search Engines for all of Italy, by browsable registries or indexes (incomplete)
 * FAQ

2. Online Digital Records for Civil Registration
Currently, there are no online civil registration records for Biella. Watch Italy, Biella, Civil Registration, State Archive - FamilySearch Historical Records for reports on progress in acquiring these records.

2. Digitized Civil Registration Records in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Italy, Vercelli (Biella was part of Vercelli until 1992).
 * b. Click on "Places within Italy, Vercelli (Biella was part of Vercelli until 1992)" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Civil Registration" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

4. Writing for Civil Registration Certificates
If the records are not online or microfilmed, civil registration records in Italy can be obtained by writing to the local civil registry. Recent records are covered by privacy laws, so they are not released for microfilm or online. But relatives are allowed to request them for genealogy. Civil officials will generally answer correspondence in Italian. Your request may be forwarded if the records have been sent to the tribunale or the provincia.

Address list for municipalities of Biella Format of address for a local office: use this address as a guide, replacing the information in parentheses:
 * Sindaco
 * Comune di (name of the locality)
 * (Street address, if known)
 * (postal code) (city) (Province abbreviation:BI)
 * Italy


 * Find the Italian postal code here.

Address for provincial office:
 * UFFICIO ANAGRAFE E STATO CIVILE<br.
 * 4, Via Battistero
 * 13900 Biella (BI)
 * Italy

After you have determined what office has jurisdiction over the records you need, write a brief request to the proper office. '''Write your request in Italian whenever possible. For writing your letter in Italian, use the translated questions and phrases in this Italy Letter Writing Guide. Send the following:'''


 * Cashier’s check or international money order (in local currency) for the search fee. See How To Send Return Postage and Money.
 * Full name and the sex of the person sought.
 * Names of the parents, if known.
 * Approximate date and place of the event.
 * Your relationship to the person.
 * Reason for the request (family history or medical).
 * Request for a complete extract of the record

1. Online Digital Records for Church Records
For some localities, digital copies of Catholic church records can be searched online:
 * 1740-1938 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images, incomplete.

2. Digital Online and Microfilm Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog
There are some microfilmed records available. Currently, they are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. In the meantime, some of them might be available at a FamilySearch Center near you. To find a microfilm:


 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Italy, Vercelli (Biella was part of Vercelli until 1992).
 * b. Click on "Places within Italy, Vercelli (Biella was part of Vercelli until 1992)" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Church Records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor. "Battesimi" are infant baptisms, which are used for birth information. "Matrimoni" are marriages.  "Morti" are deaths.


 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Writing to a Catholic Priest for Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and death records may be searched by contacting or visiting local parish or diocese archives in Italy.'This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.'

Write a brief request in Italian to the proper church using this address as guide replacing the information in parentheses:


 * Reverendo Parroco
 * (Street address, if known: consult The Catholic Directory)
 * (Postal code) (City) (Province abbreviation:BI)
 * ITALY


 * Find the Italian postal code here.

'''Write your request in Italian whenever possible. For writing your letter in Italian, use the translated questions and phrases in this Italy Letter Writing Guide.''' When requesting information, send the following:

=Understanding the Records=
 * Cashier’s check or international money order (in local currency) for the search fee. See How To Send Return Postage and Money.
 * Full name and the sex of the person sought.
 * Names of the parents, if known.
 * Approximate date and place of the event.
 * Your relationship to the person.
 * Reason for the request (family history or medical).
 * Request for a complete extract of the record

Civil Registration (registri dello stato civile)

 * Civil registration records (registri dello stato civile) are government records of births, marriages, and deaths.


 * Dates: In southern Italy, registering births, marriages, and deaths began in 1809 (1820 in Sicily). In central and northern Italy, civil registration began in 1866 (1871 in Veneto). After this date, virtually all individuals who lived in Italy were recorded.


 * Contents: For detailed descriptions of the information you might find in each record, see Information recorded in civil registers.


 * Language: The records were almost always kept in Italian, except for records kept during the rule of foreign powers such as France and Austria. In the northern regions, many records are in French and German. Some church records were transcribed into civil registration records in Latin.


 * Accessing the records: Civil registration records were and are kept at the local registrar’s office (anagrafe) in each town or city. A copy of each record is sent to the tribunale (district court).


 * Determining the locality: You must determine the town where your ancestor lived before you can find the records. Your ancestor may have lived in a village that belonged to a nearby larger town. Large cities may have many civil registration districts. You may need to use maps, gazetteers, and other geographic references to identify the place where your ancestor lived and the civil registration office that served that place. See Italy Maps and Italy Gazetteers for information on how to find civil registration offices.


 * State of the Family (Stato di famiglia): A civil record unique to Italy is the stato di famiglia, or state of the family certificate. The comune keeps a record of each family and updates each change, including births, marriages, deaths, and emigration. All individuals in a household are included. Some households include more than one family. Historical states of the family (stato di famiglia storico) are kept at the provincial archive (ufficio dello stato civile). These records document past generations of families. Not all areas have kept this record, but where they exist, they are a valuable research tool.


 * To learn more about Italian Civil Registration, read Italy Civil Registration.

Church Records (registri ecclesiastici)

 * Church records (registri ecclesiastici) are vital records kept by priests and are often called parish registers or church books. They include records of christenings (baptisms), marriages, and deaths (burials). In addition, church records may include confirmations, first communions, and church census records. The Roman Catholic Church is traditionally recognized as the state church because most Italians are Roman Catholic. Nearly every person who lived in Italy was recorded in a church record during the last 200 to 300 years.


 * Church records are crucial for research before the civil government started keeping vital records, which began about 1809 to 1820, and in some provinces, 1866 or 1871. After that, church records continued to be kept but often contain less information. It can be helpful to search both types of records, particularly if your ancestors' information seems to be missing from one or the other. Of course, in some cases you will find only church records online for a locality, which are therefore more accessible than writing for civil registration. However, they usually contain fewer details.


 * To learn more about church records, see Italy Church Records.

Reading the Records
'''
 * You do not have to be fluent in Italian to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary. Use this Italian Genealogical Word List to translate the important points in the document. If you find that the records are written in German, French, or Latin, click on that language link in this sentence.


 * Online resources are available to help you learn to read these records:
 * Italian Script Tutorial
 * Italian Birth Document Translation
 * Italian Marriage Document Translations
 * Italian Civil Death Document Translation