Italy - Death - 1520-1808

1. Burial Record: Church records Beginning in about 1520, churches required their clergy to keep death records. The date of death and place of burial are included, as well as the names of the parents of the deceased. Information found in a death record depends on how detailed the minister made his record.

What you are looking for Parish burial records are the best source for determining when a person was born. Burial records may not give a birth or baptism date, but they give a person's age, making it possible to determine his or her approximate birth year.

Why go to the next record Not all of the Italian parish burial records have been microfilmed, and the beginning date of these records varies from place to place.

2. Census: Census The parish priest was often required to collect taxes for the state from his parishioners. He recorded information about his parishioners and the tax in a set of volumes called "stato delle anime," meaning "state of the souls." Not all priests regularly kept the church censuses. Where they exist, the registers list all family members living in a household with their ages or birth dates and death dates. They can also help identify all the members of a family and help determine where a family originated.

What you are looking for When burial records do not exist, census records are the best source for determining when a person was born. Census records may not give a birth or baptism date, but they give a person's age, making it possible to determine his or her approximate birth year.

Why go to the next record Not all of the Italian burial records have been microfilmed, and the beginning date of these records varies from place to place.

3. Probates: Notarial records A city's notarial or probate records provide information regarding names and death dates of family members if the family owned property and if a will was written. These records mostly dealt with wealthy families.

What you are looking for Notarial probate records were the next best source for determining when a person was born. They included everyone in the community and identified the complete name of the child being born.

Why go to the next record Not all of the Italian notarial probate records have been microfilmed, and the beginning date of these records varies from place to place.