How to trace your Italian ancestors

Discovering the history of your Italian ancestors

After finding a very old family photo album, you feel like going over the history of your ancestors and discovering the names of your forebears, and why not, sometimes you want to go back to your roots and regain the citizenship of your origins. With a bit of luck you can do it, without spending a cent and without using anything more than your computer or your mobile phone, if you prefer.

Online ancestor search portals

Here I will give you some instructions to discover how to trace back to your ancestors using the power of the Web, or rather the vast databases of some online services in which users enter their family data to create "public family trees" and find relatives all over the world. These databases contain detailed information, such as the date and place of birth of each person, the identity of the parents, place of residence and much more. In addition, many profiles contain "extra" content, such as photographs, birth certificates and other documents that can make it easier to identify a close or distant relative. The search is not always successful. On the contrary, as mentioned above, a good dose of patience and luck is needed to obtain noteworthy results, but when you succeed, the satisfaction is truly invaluable. Try it, in most cases it costs nothing, and if you don't succeed we are here to help you.

THE ANTENATI PORTAL

The first site I want to tell you about is Antenati. It is a portal maintained by the Dirección General de Archivos and the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, thanks to which documents can be found in the State Archives to carry out research and family history. It is completely free and requires no registration. To search for documents related to your ancestors on the Antenati portal, click on the link on the latter's home page and click on the Search names item located at the top right. Then, fill in the form provided by indicating as much information as possible (first name, last names, type of record you are looking for, municipality/place of origin and year) and click the Search button to see the results. When the search results appear, click the Open button under the name that interests you to view the documents available on the Antenati portal. If you wish, you can consult the list of institutes and archives reproduced, sorted by location, by clicking on the "Browse records" link located at the top of the page.

THE FAMILY SEARCH PORTAL

Another site that allows you to trace your ancestors is FamilySearch. If you have never heard of it, I think you should give it a try. FamilySearch is a free online service that, based on the archives and contributions of millions of people around the world, allows anyone to discover their ancestors by searching a database full of names, dates of birth and death, places and even documents attesting to the identities of the selected persons. It also includes the documents available on the portal of the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, so it is very well stocked. To use FamilySearch all you have to do is log in to its home page and click on the Search button at the top center of the screen. Then, fill in the search form by entering all the data you want to enter to find your ancestors (first name, last names, country, etc.) and click the Search button to see the list of people found in the site's archives. To see all the details about a person, including their family relationships (mother, father, etc.) and documents such as birth certificates, simply click on their name. To see the documents from the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali website, click on the corresponding item. There is no need to register to view personal information and documents; registration with FamilySearch should only be done if you wish to contribute to the site by entering your data and that of your relatives (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.) by creating an online family tree. For more information, take a look at the FamilySearch presentation videos. The service is also available as an app for Android and iOS.

THE MYHERITAGE PORTAL

Another site that allows you to build family trees and trace your ancestors is MyHeritage, but it is subject to a fee. Access to the service's database is paid, however, you can activate a free trial that allows you to search among historical records and family trees for a period of 14 days. To use MyHeritage, go to its home page, fill in the form on the right with your personal data and your parents' names and click the Start button. Then begin building your family tree by entering all the personal data of your parents, press the Next button and repeat the operation with the personal data of your grandparents. Once you have entered all the necessary information, click the Finish button, wait a few seconds for MyHeritage to search for possible links with other users of the service who are building their own family tree online, and set a password to access the site. Once this operation is done, link to the advanced search page of MyHeritage and enter the details of an ancestor you want to locate. Of course, the more data you enter, the more precise the search will be, but often a surname and a city of origin are enough to obtain interesting results. However, once you have entered all the information you consider necessary, click the Search button and you will be shown the names of all the people who match the profile you are looking for. To see detailed information about a person and access the documentation attached to their profile (for example, the birth certificate), click on their name. If you want to refine your search and make it more precise, use the options available in the left sidebar. From there you can set their place of birth, year of birth, father's name, mother's name and other data that will make your search less scattered. If you have not yet subscribed to a paid plan on MyHeritage, you will be asked to activate the 14-day free trial to see a person's full profile. You will then need to enter your credit card details, your phone number and a security code that will be given to you by phone. Once you have activated your account, you will have free access to all the historical documents and family trees available on the site. In each profile, as already mentioned above, you will find information such as the person's date and place of birth, any date of death, name of the parents, etc. You can also view scans of birth certificates and other documents associated with the person. MyHeritage, as well as the service mentioned above, is also available as an app for Android and iPhone. This means you can also access it from your smartphone or tablet, without any problem.

THE ANCESTRY PORTAL

Ancestry is a service very similar to the two we have already seen together. It allows you to create a family tree of your family, follow your ancestors in a historical archive and access numerous documents from around the world. Except for the family tree building function, which is free, the service is exclusively paid: to access the family trees of other users of the site and Italian historical documents you have to pay while to activate the search in international archives you have to subscribe. If you want to subscribe to Ancestry, go to the home page and click on the Sign up button at the top right. Then, choose the plan you want to subscribe to, click Continue and fill in the forms provided by entering first your personal data and then those of your credit card. At the end of your registration, you will be free to carry out your research in the service's archives.THE ALTREITALIE PORTALThe website of the Centro Altreitalie sulle Migrazioni Italiane allows you to search for information about Italians who emigrated to the United States between 1880 and 1891, to Argentina between 1882 and 1920 and to Brazil between 1858 and 1899. It is completely free, but requires a small registration to be able to use it. To create your account on the website of the Centro Altreitalie, link to the latter's home page and click on the Registration item at the top right. Then, fill in the registration form for the service by entering your personal data, put a check mark next to the two items at the bottom and click the Send button to complete the operation. Now go back to the Services > Search your roots page, choose whether you want to search among the names of people who emigrated to the USA, Argentina or Brazil and fill in the form provided with all the information in your possession (first name, last name, city of origin, port of embarkation, etc.). Then, click the Search your roots button and check the search results.

THE COGNOMIX PORTAL

When searching for your ancestors online, have you reached a point where you would need to know the spread of a certain surname in the various regions or provinces of Italy? Then you can contact Cognomix, a free website that allows you to carry out this type of search. To find out the level of spread of a surname in our country, simply enter the surname you want to "analyze" in the corresponding search field, select Italy, Region or Province in the adjacent drop-down menu (depending on the type of search you want to carry out) and click the Search button below. Then, you can click on the map to learn more about the percentage spread of a surname in various regions and provinces.