Genealogy/ancestors Trip to Italy

Let's say you only have 9 days, 8 nights. I think Venice would be out of your way, and more importantly would take up too much valuable time you could be researching. Best to fly into Milan and out of Naples if you can make it work, spending 4 nights in the Genoa/Cinque Terre area, then taking the train down to Naples for 4 nights. Besides research, there's plenty to see at the C.T., the Amalfi Coast and Pompei if you have the chance.

RE: genealogical research, I did the same thing this last March, and it's a daunting task, so good luck. We employed the owner of a B&B to set up a meeting with the town hall in the little mountain village where my great-great grandparents were born & died, and to take us on the trip as well. It did not turn out that well, as the people working in the town hall were not interested in helping, at least for free, and I had already paid the B&B to set up the trip. But...it was still worthwhile walking around the village, speaking Italian where I could, and visiting the cemetery where I saw graves of some great-great uncles, aunts & cousins. But records prior to 1900 are going to be spotty, and that was before two world wars.

If I were doing it again--and still may with the other side of the family--I would hire someone here in the States well in advance to translate English to Italian for your query letters, with as much specific information as you have. And closer to your trip, try and set up a meeting or two.

Again, good luck to you!

..... It did not turn out that well, ...... That is common. You were just the latest pain in the butt for the local officials just like the previous week and probably the week after. You should be working through a local genealogical society who knows how to research records and, more importantly, where they are. Nearly every area has a genealogical society and will have available researchers who, for a fee, will do a lot of the work. That is where you need to start. It will add some expense but you will be surprise at the pay off especially if you have good records to get started.

Thank you Jay and Frank for your advice.

I may have to forget about Venice, maybe next trip.

Jay if you are still looking for information I can tell you what I did and there just maybe one thing you haven't tried yet. I did not have a lot of information at first about my grandparents, but searches through ancestry.com and familysearch.org, Ellis Island passenger lists got me a lot of information, especially since I did not grow up with that side of the family. Through Facebook I found cousins and a 90 year old aunt in America, that was a gold mine of information about my grandfather and had some documents that confirmed what I had found online. But.... My grandmother died young so she has been the most challenging to find out about, just this month I got a lead on this website: (Gente di Mare Italian Genealogy), there are two, so be sure to go to this one.
http://www.gentedimareitaliangenealogy.com

They helped me narrow down the town she was born. They were so helpful they crafted a letter to that town in italian and told me where to send it with a self addressed envelope, requesting her birth record, which will also confirm her parents names. I mailed it out a couple weeks ago and hope to get a reply sometime next month, it takes about 5 weeks regular mail. There was no charge for their help or sending for the document, besides postage (a little over $3). They ask for donations, which is your choice. I will check back with them for leads on translators in Italy as well. They are super nice and get back to you right away.

Thanks again, Francine

Frank--

You're right, and well before my trip I actually had access to the genealogical society for the specific area in southern Italy that I was visiting. But...the B&B owner talked a good game after receiving my info of my great-grandparents, charged me a fair amount of money for the trip & research, and then to my way of thinking pulled a bait-and-switch and sent me up there with his 70-year-old father and the caretaker of the B&B, neither of whom spoke good English to translate back to me. After we returned to the States, the son was apologetic online, saying that the town hall workers were lazy and weren't doing their jobs. I wonder in retrospect who wasn't doing their job...

It was still a wonderful experience. Francine, if & when I go again, either to Campania or to the Molise region where my ancestors from the other side of the family were from, I will check out Gente DiMare. I have used Facebook & ancestry.com but that was only good up to the generation that emigrated to the U.S., which I have pretty well documented. I was (and am) trying to find the two generations before that, my great-great grandparents & their parents who were born in Italy the early-to-mid 1800's.

Next trip maybe!

Rather than the local city hall, local churches may be of more help in terms of records of marriage and birth/baptism. My cousin in Italy traced my ancestors back to the 17th century by searching records in one church, but he was lucky in that they were farmers and stayed put in the same parish for centuries!

I would not fly out of Napoli - you will probably have to change planes at FCO (Roma Fiumicino) anyway, and that will take more time than the 1.25 hour train ride from Napoli Centrale to Roma Termini (or other station in Roma).

Zoe, it can't be because of your affinity for Roma Fiumicino!

I agree with flying out of Rome if the OP can get a direct flight back to the States, which may or may not be available. In March, we flew out of Napoli Capodochino on a Saturday morning and it was no problem, flying to Munich for a 2-hour layover, then direct back to Chicago. Five years ago, we flew into Roma Fiumicino initially, back through there on a Catania to Florence leg, then out of there to end our trip--at that time the flights to the States were nonstop. But I developed such a distaste for that airport, from constantly standing in the wrong lines to the Alitalia personnel preening & talking to each other with total disregard for passengers. And this was way before the fire in Terminal 3. I know it's an important hub--I just choose to avoid it.

Jay, the best thing about FCO is that it is close to Roma, my favorite place in the world. I haven't actually been to Fiumicino since the fire last May. I'll find out this December how things are going.

One more thing about the Genti di Mare website, http://www.gentedimareitaliangenealogy.com. Not sure if it is based out of American and Italy (sharing site), or if some of the administrators of the site are actually in Italy, but you can go to the Forum and pose a question (like this site). It also has a Surname database, which may tell you what region the name came from. Although my family names were not in the data base, it can be added.

I do plan to include the town churches in my search/travels this is why I will need a local interpreter, I do not speak Italian sadly. After the holidays I will nail my trip down and may revisit this page. Thanks again

The local town clerks are quite variable. I experienced two that couldn't be bothered to assist, and two that went out of their way to help. Church records are a real crap shoot; in my case the Mormons in the USA had by far the best Italian church records available. You should exhaust every genealogical avenue available before you reach Italy.

You might also try visiting your local library to use Ancestry Library Edition, if you are not an Ancestry subscriber. I actually found useful information there by looking at other people's family trees, and it's free. In addition to familysearch.org, this site: http://antenati.san.beniculturali.it/ may also be helpful. Best of luck to you.

if you can find a newsstand (not so easy anymore) or a large Barnes & Noble, there are magazines for folks doing genealogy and besides the articles, they are full of ads for researchers. Of course it's always a gamble but if you get some leads and then research them, you might narrow down to some firms that will do what you need.

Thanks Christine for the website, I will definitely look into it.

Also if anyone else is interested in researching genealogy, you can create an account for free at FamilySearch.org
I think this might be the library link someone in this forum was talking about above (I apologize, I could not go back and look at the person's name), but there used to be a Mormon Temple Library near me, it closed recently. I believe this is linked to their genealogy research.

and keep in the back of your mind, when someone is doing "research" for you they could also be selling you snake oil. Those who want to believe, believe. If someone tells you something you want to hear, in little pieces, you'll keep paying for more pieces. As practiced by fortune tellers everywhere.

Oh, phred-o, what a jaundiced view of the human spirit you possess. Albeit accurate.

I almost had that feeling right from the git-go but I figured well, at the very least we're getting a trip to a remote mountain village and back with a translator (kind of) for what I'm paying. And I'm really not begrudging the fact that the town officials, whether they were given a heads-up by this guy or not, didn't want to produce any work for no money. This village looked--like many others in southern Italy & Sicily as well--like it had fallen on hard times, or had always been there. When we were in Sicily in 2010 we were told that the unemployment rate was 40%.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll know better next time.