How to find your Italian ancestor’s town
Every Italian civil record is kept by the town (comune) where the event happened, so the town is the key. Family papers usually name it; the free Portale Antenati then lets you browse digitized civil records from Italy’s State Archives to confirm names and dates.
Where the town name usually appears
- Family papers: letters, passports, marriage and death certificates abroad, religious records.
- Your country’s immigration and naturalization papers for the ancestor.
- Relatives’ memories, often with the village name in dialect or misspelled.
Use the Portale Antenati
The Italian Ministry of Culture’s Portale Antenati publishes digitized civil registers from the State Archives, free to browse, with a name search where indexes exist. Finding the entry gives you the exact date and the record number to request.
Villages, merged towns and older records
- Small villages (frazioni) are recorded by the town they belong to, not under their own name.
- Some towns have merged or changed names: the records stay with the town that holds them today.
- Records from before Italy’s civil registry are usually in the State Archives or in parish registers.
We request them in Italian, follow up until they are issued and mail you the originals. From $249.
Order recordsFrequently asked questions
What if I only know the province?
Tell us what you know. In the Ancestor Pack we search the digitized registers to find the right town before we send the request.
Is Antenati really free?
Yes, browsing the digitized records on the Portale Antenati is free.
Updated October 30, 2026. General information, not legal advice. Sources: Portale Antenati, Surnames in Italy, asking for vital records.