For people learning Italian
Italian for Visiting Your Family’s Town in Italy
The trip is usually the same shape: a small town, an office that closes at noon, and a moment you did not prepare for.
Before you go: the letter
A short email in Italian to the ufficio anagrafe or ufficio di stato civile of the comune gets answered far more often than one in English. It does not need to be elegant. It needs the surname, the approximate year, and one clear request.
- Gentile Ufficio di Stato Civile, sto ricercando i miei antenati.
- Mio bisnonno, Giuseppe Rossi, dovrebbe essere nato nel vostro comune intorno al 1890.
- Sarebbe possibile ottenere una copia dell’atto di nascita?
- Vi ringrazio molto per la disponibilità.
At the counter
| l’ufficio anagrafe | the registry office |
| lo sportello | the counter |
| l’orario di apertura | opening hours — often mornings only |
| la copia integrale | the full copy, which shows everything |
| il certificato | the short certificate, which usually does not |
| la marca da bollo | the duty stamp some documents require |
| l’archivio parrocchiale | the parish archive |
| il parroco | the parish priest, who holds the pre-1866 records |
| il cimitero | the cemetery |
| la tomba di famiglia | the family tomb |
Ask for the copia integrale, not the certificato. The certificate confirms a fact; the full copy contains the names, occupations, witnesses and margin notes you actually came for.
The conversation you did not prepare for
In a town of two thousand people, saying your surname in the bar produces relatives. This is the part nobody rehearses, and the part everyone remembers.
- Mi chiamo Rossi. La mia famiglia veniva da qui.
- Il mio bisnonno è emigrato in America nel 1905.
- Sto cercando notizie della mia famiglia.
- Conosce qualcuno con questo cognome?
- Scusi, parlo poco italiano. Può parlare più lentamente?
That last sentence is the most useful one on this page. Learn it before anything else.
Getting ready properly
Six months of one lesson a week will get most people to the point where this trip works. For the documents side, see Italian for genealogy research; for the language of the family, Italian for Italian Americans.
Reading helps more than people expect, because it puts the vocabulary of small-town life in front of you: Verga, Deledda, and the rest of the graded series.
