Palermo, Sicily, Italy Genealogy

Italy Palermo, Sicily, Italy Genealogy

A genealogy guide to Palermo, Sicily, Italy civil registration and church records to trace ancestry and compile family history.

'Most of your genealogical research for Palermo, Sicily 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.'''

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. Don't worry; you will be able to search these foreign languages by learning just a few typical words such as those for mother, father, born, name, bride, groom, married, etc. More help with this is given later in this article.


 * 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- Vital Records.

1. Online Digital Records for Civil Registration
For some localities, digital copies of civil registration can be searched online:
 * 1866-1910 -, free, browseable images. Records will eventually be indexed online.
 * 1862-1910 - ,free, browseable images. Records will eventually be indexed online.

"Nati" are births. "Matrimoni" and "allegati" are marriages.  "Morti" are deaths. "Indici decennali" is the 10-year index.

2. Microfilm Copies of Civil Registration Records Searched at a Family History Center

 * a. Click on this link to a see list of records for Italy, Palermo.
 * b. Click on "Places within Italy, Palermo" 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. Any film without the index icon is not covered in the online records listed in #1 above. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm. Clicking on the microfilm reel will lead to information on how to rent the film. Family History Center staff will assist you in ordering the film.

3. 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. 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.

Use this address as a guide, replacing the information in parentheses:

Address for local office:


 * Sindaco
 * Comune di (name of the locality)
 * (Street address, if known)
 * (postal code) (city) (Province abbreviation:PA)
 * Italy


 * Find the Italian postal code here.

Address for provincial office:
 * Ufficio dello Stato Civile
 * Provincia di Palermo
 * 52, Piazza Giulio Cesare
 * 90127 Palermo (PA)
 * 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 is 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
 * International reply coupon, available from large post offices (optional).

If your request is unsuccessful, search for duplicate records that may have been filed in other archives or search in church registers.

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.

1. Online Digital Records for Church Records
For some localities, digital copies of Catholic church records can be searched online:
 * 1513-1998 -, free, browseable images, incomplete.

"Battesimi" are infant baptisms, which are used for birth information. "Matrimoni" are marriages.  "Morti" are deaths.

2. Microfilm Copies of Church Records Searched at a Family History Center

 * a. Click on this link to a see list of records for Italy, Palermo.
 * b. Click on "Places within Italy, Palermo" 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.
 * 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. Any film without the index icon is not covered in the online records listed in #1 above. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm. Clicking on the microfilm reel will lead to information on how to rent the film. Family History Center staff will assist you in ordering the film.

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. Italy has no single repository of church records. Write your request in Italian whenever possible. '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:PA)
 * 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 is this Italy Letter Writing Guide.''' When requesting information, 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
 * International reply coupon, available from large post offices (optional).

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 interactive slideshow lessons are available to help you learn to read these records:
 * Reading Italian Handwritten Records Lesson 1: Italian Letters
 * Reading Italian Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Words and Phrases
 * Reading Italian Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading Italian Records. In this lesson, you will explore several types of Italian genealogical records, including birth, baptismal, marriage, and death records.
 * Italian Script Tutorial

Civil Registration Tips

 * In many areas during the earliest years of civil registration, records were indexed by the given names. Therefore, you must search every entry in the index to make sure you find every individual who had a certain surname.


 * Eventually, however, indexes were alphabetized by surname. Women are always found in the indexes under their maiden names.


 * Births were generally registered within a day or two of the child’s birth, usually by the father of the family or by the attending midwife. Corrections to a birth record may have been added as a marginal note. In later records, marginal notes' are frequently found, providing marriage and death information.


 * After 1809 Napoleonic law required that the marriage ceremony be performed first by a civil authority and then, if desired, by a church authority. At first, some people resisted this law and had their marriages performed by church authority only. Later when it became legally necessary for their children to be recognized as legitimate, a civil ceremony was performed. In rare cases, you may find a marriage record for a couple in their 50s who were actually married 30 years earlier. In most cases you may find marriages recorded in both civil and church records.


 * Marriages were usually performed and recorded where the bride lived.


 * Do not overlook the importance of death records. Death records are especially helpful because they may provide important information about a person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Civil death records often exist for individuals for whom there are no birth or marriage records.

Church Record Tips

 * Effective use of church records includes the following strategies:
 * 1) When you find an ancestor’s birth or baptismal record, search for the births of siblings.
 * 2) Search for the parents’ marriage record. Typically, the marriage took place one or two years before the oldest child was born.
 * 3) Search for the parent’s birth records. On the average, people married in their early 20s, so subtact 25 or so years from the marriage date for a starting year to search for the parents' birth records.
 * 4) If you do not find earlier generations in the parish registers, search neighboring parishes.
 * 5) Search the death registers for all family members.


 * If the original church records that you need have been lost or destroyed or are illegible, you may be able to find a duplicate church record. Unfortunately it was not standard practice to keep duplicate records until the 1900s. But some dioceses started making duplicates as early as 1820. Duplicates, when they exist, are normally located at the curia vescovile (diocesan archives).
 * In Italy, the parish priest was often required to collect taxes. He would sometimes record information about his parishioners and the tax in church censuses (stato delle anime or status animarum). If the censuses do exist for your parish, the registers list all family members living in a household and their ages or birth dates. Deceased children were not listed. Married children, if living in the same household, were recorded with the family but as a separate household. Familial relationships and addresses were also noted.