Finding my mother’s roots in Velo D’astico Veneto

I don't have any info on a driver, an option would be a 16 minute train Padua-Vincenze then a rental to Velo d'Astica around 35 minutes.

There are 9 churches in the immediate area, just google "churches in Velo d'Astica". The one in town is Santi Martino e Giorgio. I'd try to contact them with any info you have. DOB-DOD, children, Including immigration records. Basicly anything you can dig up. Then have it translated to Italian and send records.

If this area was impacted by the war, you may find little information remains.

My family is also from a town (actually 2 small towns that are both part of Cornedo Vicentino) northwest of Vicenza. My dad and I visited several years ago to locate records of his parents and see where they came from. We did not use a driver but rented a car to visit the area. Our strategy was to go to the municipal building to start. We were able to get copies of birth certificate information for each of my grandparents and they also provided us with the address where my grandfather lived before he emigrated. The staff were so very kind and helpful. They spoke minimal English, I had only a little Italian, and my dad could speak only some of the area dialect that had been his first language but somehow we were able to communicate!

From there, we went to the Catholic church in each town where we had learned my grandparents had been born. (This was different info than what my dad had thought.) The priests again were so helpful. They located my grandparent's baptismal records in very old ledgers and made copies for us. The priest from my grandfather's town was quite determined to help us find relatives - they still lived on the same land that my grandfather had left as a teenager! As a result, we discovered and met a cousin of my dad's that he never knew about. We have returned for another visit and both my dad and his cousin were so thrilled to spend time together.

I know this doesn't answer your questions about guides, drivers, or genealogy services but I hope it provides some encouragement as you plan your trip. Good luck and I hope you and your mother and family have as wonderful an adventure as we had.

We hired a local guide in Sicily in advance we found through Viator. We gave him the information we had and he did some prior planning, driving us to the village He made appointments with the local municipal records office. If we had just shown up unannounced, they would've been too busy to see us. They were also not that impressed about our being there ( a lot of Americans apparently come through there with same quest), and were in a hurry to get to their other business. We got copies of all the records we asked for, but we had to have all the specific information - names, dates, type of document - etc. They were not going to research a family tree for us, just look up the names we specifically asked for. So I'm just suggesting that you have your ducks in a row as much as you can. It was surprising how many people have the same combinations of first and last names, so you need to know parents names as well, to confirm you found the right one.

Agree about researching as much as you can ahead of time. You may be able to find records on the free genealogy website Familysearch.org I was able to find photocopies of the Civil Registration for my great grandparents marriage in 1873 in a small town north of Milan. That listed their parents names but I've not gotten further back than that. The GG grandparents emigrated to the US in 1875 (him) and 1880 (her). I was also able to track down the GG grandmother's entry to the US thru an index on the Family Search site called United States Italians to America Index 1855-1900. I also found digital record of the entry and found her son and brother in law listed below her but their names were spelled incorrectly so I had not been able to find them.

Italians to America Index:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2110811

Big changes in my plans since Covid- my two nurse relatives can not go. However my 84 year old mother still wants to go to Italy. Our flight on Alitalia still on/ but nurses flights cancelled.
Since Covid decided to get rental car. Advice on rental car driving - driving from Rome to Padua 4 nights (day trip to Velo D’astico) Then drive to Florence 3 nights then back to Rome.
Advice on parking in these towns?
Any other word on Italy in September?

Can't help with car info. Check timeanddate.com for actual, historical, day-by-day weather statistics for your destinations. The website usually has about 10 years' worth of data; I always check at least the most recent three years. That will give you a better idea of the range of weather you may encounter.

If you wish to see the Scrovegni Chapel (highly recommended), you need to book it at least one day in advance. I don't think it necessarily sells out all the time, but they do not sell same-day tickets. At the time of my visit (2015) there was a Padua Card that was a good value for someone spending a decent amount of time in the city. As I recall it included the Chapel.

Padua has a very nice, good-sized, wandering-worthy historic district as well as several very interesting sights. I enjoyed it a lot. The area immediately around the train station isn't especially attractive, though; don't choose a hotel there (if there are any).

I think Padua will keep you pretty busy, but if you have extra time, Vicenza is a short hop on the train and is a very nice and known for Paladian architecture.

Several years ago there was a long report here by someone who did something similar with a number of very good recommendations. Not sure how to find that posting since I am not sure what the key words might be. Might try genealogy and see what comes up. However, because this is something similar to what we want to do I made a number of notes that applied to us. A couple of key items --
1.. Do as much local research as you can specifically to name spelling (variations - the name you are using today may not be the same spelling as the name they had when the left Italy), birth dates, locations, etc., You cannot do too much prior research.
2. Even more important - hire a local genealogist. It may cost a couple hundred bucks but the time savings and frustration avoided will be more that worth it. The local genealogist will know how and where to look with greater efficiency AND, most important, will know how to read old Italian script. And they will have useful contact and partially will double as a local guide - within limits.

3. I have limited experience with Ancestry.com and no experience with the international portion but I would pay for a couple of months of service and use it. Our local genealogy club is a big fan of the international site. There are also free sites you can use but they all have different data bases so you need to work with all of them.

4. Most towns/regions have a web site and most likely a reference to genealogical service. You are not the first person to go looking for dead relatives in Italy.

PS. Just reread your posting and realized that I overlooked some of your other questions.

Then drive to Florence 3 nights then back to Rome. Personally I would dump the car in Florence and take the train back to Rome. Florence is notorious for No Drive zones, lanes, etc., resulting in expensive traffic tickets about a year after your return.
Advice on parking in these towns? Parking is generally available but crowded. Often it is outside the walls or in large parking garage and may be some distance from where you want to go. Be prepared to walk.

Any other word on Italy in September? Good luck. We were planning on being in Italy in late Sep, early Oct and everything has been cancelled. Personally think that anything in Italy in Sept would be close to zero. But who knows???

Not to be the doomsayer, the U.S. currently is still one of the most actively rising COVID 19 case venues in the world, along with Brazil and Russia. We are, not to put too fine a point on it, still below the peak. I doubt that any U.S. visitors will be welcomed as disease free, given our current rate of infection. As places like Italy and France begin to open up, the problem with your trip may be that your family members traveling to Europe may be viewed as bad risks for contagion. I would expect quarantine.

hey hey psteiner1
have you bought an airline ticket yet? if not, look for a multi city USA to venice-rome to USA. with venice being closer to padua, less traveling for you. take a cab/taxi to hotel in padua or vicenza to settle in first night without backtracking to rome.
ask hotel if they have a name of person to do tour to velo d'astico. like others have mentioned, get all your ducks in a row with geneolagy, not waiting till last minute. also if you plan to rent a car, make sure you have an IDP (translation of driver's license) at AAA/CAA. cost is about $25 with 2 passport size photos, good for one year. make sure about traveling to italy, if you need to be quarantined and how long, are you allowed to travel within country.
don't know what your budget is to spend for guide, like stan says he hired someone thru viator, tourhq.com has some, withlocals.com email them and ask questions. it would help you to have someone who speaks italian and english, and may do some research before you get there. keep correspondence with them and be prepared with all that is of interest to you.
if renting car, don't keep luggage within view, is this a day trip, is there parking allowed at hotel and cost. since you want to see bigger cities that have ZTL zones, don't want a surprise letter in mail once you've have arrived home to say you owe $$$ cuz you went somewhere you weren't suppose to be, and parking issues everywhere, i think the train is a better option for you. trains run city center to city center, look for hotels near them, if mobility issues with your mom, ground floor or hotels with elevators, no shared bathrooms, cancellations restrictions, read fine print. wear comfy shoes, lots of walking, what do you want to see and do, make reservation early, wait times, how crowded places are.
if interested see if there are any festivals happening while you are there, so much fun to attend. eat drink and be merry. lots to think about and research to help you out. posters here will give you good bad and ugly and up to you to decide what's important and what's not. good luck have fun enjoy
aloha

Seldom in Italy the guides have even the licence for driving a car with tourists: this licence is called NCC and is quite expensive. Is much more usual have two different person do each one his job: a guide and a driver. Sometimes it's even more useful: imagine when a parking lot is far from the historical center, a driving guide has to park far and you spend time walking a lot to reach the place for the visit. With a driver he leaves you in front of the place and while you are doing the visit with the guide he go to park and come back when you have finished.
Unfortunately I don't know any guide in Vicenza Province who can help you, but you can try to search for Federica Argentin. She works as tour leader based middle way between Velo d'Astico and Venice, so she can help you to arrange your activity.
About driving in Italy, you can even think to flight closed to Padua, to avoid the long driving from Rome that could be quite tiring. Venice, Verona and Bologna are airports only 1 hour far.