Calabria, Italy Genealogy

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

History
In 1442 the Aragonese took control under Alfonso V of Aragon who became ruler under the Crown of Aragon. In 1501 Calabria came under the control of Ferdinand II of Aragon who is famed for sponsoring the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Calabria suffered greatly under Aragonese rule with heavy taxes, feuding landlords, starvation and sickness.

After a brief period in the early 1700s under the Austrian Hapsburgs, Calabria came into the control of the Bourbons in 1735.At the end of the 18th century the French took control and in 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte gave the Kingdom of Naples to his brother-in-law Joachim Murat. Murat controlled the kingdom until the return of the Bourbons in 1815.

Calabria experienced a series of peasant revolts as part of the European Revolutions of 1848. This set the stage for the eventual unification with the rest of Italy in 1861, when the Kingdom of Naples was brought into the union by Giuseppe Garibaldi. The unification was orchestrated by Great Britain in an attempt to nationalize the production of sulfur from the two volcanoes located in Naples and Sicily respectively. The Aspromonte was the scene of a famous battle of the unification of Italy.

Jurisdictions
The region of Calabria is divided into five provinces (similar to counties in the United States):
 * Catanzaro
 * Cosenza
 * Crotone
 * Reggio Calabria
 * Vibo Valentia

Learn more about Calabria jurisdictions.

Research Tools
The State Archive (Ufficio dello Stato Civile) of each province is located in the provincial capital. Municipalities provided the state archives with copies of their original civil registration during the years 1809-1865.

Websites

 * Archivio di Stato - Vital records of births, deaths, marriages and military*
 * Regione Calabria - Official region website (In Italian)
 * Ancestors of Podargoni and Schindilifà, Italy (1809 - 1910) - This data base covers all family events (births,​ marriages and deaths).