Catania, Sicily, Italy Genealogy

Guide to Catania 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 Catania, 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.'''

History
Catania Province (Wikipedia)

City of Catania
In the 14th century Catania gained importance as it was chosen by the Aragonese as a Parliament and Royal seat. Here, in 1347, was signed the treaty of peace that ended the long War of the Vesper between Aragonese and Angevines. Catania lost its capital role when, in the early 15th century, Sicily was turned into a member of the Crown of Aragon, and kept its autonomy and original privileges specially during the period from 1282 to 1410. With the unification of Castile and Aragon in the early 16th century, Sicily became part of the Spanish Empire. It rebelled against the foreign government in 1516 and 1647. In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi's expedition of the Thousand conquered Sicily for Piedmont from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Since the following year Catania was part of the newly unified Italy, whose history it shares since then.

Catania (Wikipedia)

Municipalities in Catania
Aci Bonaccorsi, Aci Castello, Aci Catena, Aci Sant'Antonio, Acireale, Adrano, Belpasso, Biancavilla, Bronte, Calatabiano, Caltagirone, Camporotondo Etneo, Castel di Iudica, Castiglione di Sicilia, Catania, Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Giarre, Grammichele, Gravina di Catania, Licodia Eubea, Linguaglossa, Maletto, Maniace, Mascali, Mascalucia, Mazzarrone, Militello in Val di Catania, Milo, Mineo, Mirabella Imbaccari, Misterbianco, Motta Sant'Anastasia, Nicolosi, Palagonia, Paternò, Pedara, Piedimonte Etneo, Raddusa, Ragalna, Ramacca, Randazzo, Riposto, San Cono, San Giovanni la Punta, San Gregorio di Catania, San Michele di Ganzaria, San Pietro Clarenza, Sant'Agata li Battiati, Sant'Alfio, Santa Maria di Licodia, Santa Venerina, Scordia, Trecastagni, Tremestieri Etneo, Valverde, Viagrande, Vizzini, Zafferana Etnea

Locating Town of Origin in Italy
In order to research your family in Italy, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from. You must know the city, town, or parish that they came from. it will be difficult to identify the place of origin by going directly to Italy sources. Therefore, you will need to search in United States (or other country of arrival) sources first. See Italy Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin to learn how to search for the Italian place of origin in United States records. =Accessing the Records=

1. Antenati (Ancestors Portal)
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.
 * Find Your Italian Ancestors Online Through Portale degli Antenati Tutorial. Class Handout
 * Browse the Archives
 * Antenati Search Engines for all of Italy, by browsable registries or indexes (incomplete)
 * FAQ

2. Online Digital Records for Civil Registration
For some localities, digital copies of civil registration can be searched online:
 * 1820-1905 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images.
 * 1861-1941 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images.
 * 1861-1941 Italy, Catania, Caltagirone, Civil Status (Court), 1861-1941, images, ($).
 * 1866-1929 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images.

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

3. Microfilm or Digital Copies of Civil Registration Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Italy, Catania.
 * b. Click on "Places within Italy, Catania" 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. This is also necessary for more recent records. Recent records are covered by privacy laws, so they are not released for microfilm or online. But relatives are allowed 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 Catania Format for address for 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:CT)
 * Italy


 * Find the Italian postal code here.

Address for provincial office:
 * Ufficio dello Stato Civile
 * Provincia di Catania
 * 95124 Catania CT
 * 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: "Battesimi" are infant baptisms, which are used for birth information. "Matrimoni" are marriages.  "Morti" are deaths.
 * 1502-1942 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images, incomplete.
 * 1515-1941 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images, incomplete.
 * 1560-1950 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; free, browsable images, incomplete.

2. Digital Online and Microfilm Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Italy, Catania.
 * b. Click on "Places within Italy, Catania" 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. 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. 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:CT)
 * 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:


 * 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

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

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 known 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.