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Genealogy research in Sciacca, Sicily

We hope to find information about my husband's Sciacca family during a March 2023 trip. It looks like our only weekday in Sciacca will be a Friday. Does anyone know if the local government offices (birth records, etc.) will be open on a Friday? Thanks for any advice--this is our third attempt to get to Sicily...hoping for success!
Susan

Posted by
1206 posts

During my two trips to Sicily over the past several years I did not experience any notable closures on Fridays. HOWEVER if are talking about Good Friday, March 29, I would expect many closed offices, etc.

Posted by
15041 posts

I presume you will want to go to the Ufficio Anagrafe e Stato Civile of the Comune di Sciacca, located at 13 Via Roma, Sciacca (Agrigento). That would be the office that in Italy keeps the records, at least since the start of the Italian State in the 1860s.

It looks like it's open from 8:30 to 12:30 daily on weekdays, including Fridays (unless it falls on a holiday).

Whether they would be able to help you I don't know.

Posted by
8376 posts

Susan. We went to the birthtown of my wife's father on a similar quest a few years ago. Here's some tips form our experience.

First, dont assume you can just walk into a municipalities offices and expect someone will be available, speaks perfect English, and is willing to drop everything they're doing to spend hours with you helping you figure out what you need. You need to make appointments ahead of time, as there will likely be a line of local people waiting for the clerks attention. Second, dont expect that your requests are unique or you're the first ones to show up there looking for help. You're dealing with office staff who may not have an interest in your story. Go in with an understanding of what specific documents you are looking for (birth certificates, marriage certificates, emigration records, etc.). Don't assume they will be happy to photocopy everything for you so be prepared to take photos.

To cut search time down, you need to have the most specific information possible: exact names dates, villages, parishes, addresses, grandparents etc. You'd be surprised how many people have the same common names, and pass them down and across the family. The most requested service they can do is to provide a certification of your ancestors' birth, so that a direct descendant can apply for Italian (EU) citizenship and passport. So if that is a goal that may help narrow down what you're looking for. I think you needed to have your (if its you) own birth certificate showing the relation to the ancestors in question for them to do that.

My best advice is to hire a local genealogy researcher or tour guide who can translate, help set up appointments and do the prior groundwork so that you don't end up empty-handed. There's a lot of twists and turns to this business, such as changing names, or bad memories, but its still worth the effort.

Posted by
23177 posts

You best bet for efficient use of time and money is to contact the local genealogical society In Sciacca and hire someone for a couple of hours who is familiar with local records and their locations. It is also possible that the majority of the records you seek will be with the local church - assume Catholic. In the 1800s, the church is the primary record keeper of births, deaths, marriages, etc. Second, you might want to check to see if any records from Sciacca have been digitized. Many, many European records have been and continuing to be digitized. So check first. The whole world of finding family records in Europe have been have been vastly changer over the last decade. Your ability to dig through government records will be very limited if not prohibited.

Posted by
672 posts

Hi Susan,
I have done lots of online research on my Sicilian ancestors. Mine were from the province of Palermo and I was able to find both civil and church records online for free, with the church records taking me back twelve generations to the late 1400s. I also visited my grandparents" hometown and got copies of birth and marriage records at the commune office but we had mad an appointment in advance and some of my relatives still living in the town accompanied us. No one at that particular office spoke much English at all. I don't know how much specific info you already have but if not much, do your research before you go. If you find your ancestor's record online you can tell the clerk the exact volume and section/ page.

I just did a quick search for Sciacca records and civil records are online. I will send you a DM with the links. I didn't see the Sciacca church records but I didn't really do any searching for them either. As said above, go to the commune office armed with names and dates and parents' names. If you haven't already, look at the civil records online. They have tons of info. They will tell you parents' names street where person was born or died, parents' occupations and ages at time of birth, spouse's name, etc. Once you know the names of the street and house number, you can go by and see where your ancestors used to live. You might also check out the local cemetery. My mom's cousin took me there to see some family burial sites. Many of the tombs have actual photos of the person on the front.

Posted by
66 posts

Thanks to all for the information. I'm helping my spouse look for his great-grandparents home in Sciacca, that is really his only goal...but it would mean a lot. His grandmother came to the US with 2 siblings when they were quite young. Even my husband's mother did not know where, etc. in Sciacca. But it was a large family(no surprise there!) so its quite possible some descendants are still in the area. I speak good Spanish and a little Italian (trying to improve) but if we do get to the right office (thanks Roberto!) we will have our ducks in a row, written out and translated. My husband has done some online searching but will try again for Sciacca civil records. Many thanks Pat for the details of your search...I'm off now to read your DM!

Posted by
1674 posts

The immigration records from Ellis Island are available online and searchable. The entry form required an address from which the immigrant came. I used it to find the lowly farm house of my GF's birth in the mountains of Parma province.

Posted by
8376 posts

and the birth certificate should also have an address. We found my father-in-laws address, but the house had been destroyed and rebuilt after an earthquake.

Posted by
66 posts

Hi Mike and Stan....thanks! Good info...my husband has the Ellis Island info...he did not mention an address but will recheck. Sadly we do not have any birth certificates but maybe we can get them or baptism records when we get to Sciacca.

Posted by
13800 posts

Susan, I have not done research in Sicily but have done a little in Northern Italy and actually found the marriage records online. I did not go back to look for baptismal records but was shocked at how many records have been microfilmed and put on Family Search.com Your husband may have looked on there already but if not I'd recommend that as well.

Posted by
8376 posts

Susan, just another twist I remembered. There's a difference between "where are you (coming) from", 'where were you born", and "where did you live." Since some records are in Italian, and others in Latin, it helps to recognize the differences in wording. In our case immigration records referred to the port the ship departed from, e.g., Messina, whereas the family was actually from Enna.

Posted by
66 posts

Thanks to all for the helpful information about the genealogy research in Sciacca. Interesting Stan, turns out the Ellis Island information on my husbands Sciacca ancestors does only give the port of embarkation. Somehow these 3 teens got from Sciacca to Naples!

Posted by
1929 posts

Susan, this is great info. Best to hire a bonified guide--best as you can tell--that is familiar with the situation.

I didn't do that. For the little hilltown of Sant' Arsenio, about 50 km SE of Salerno, I used our BnB owner, who said he'd square it all away with the town administration, and I paid him well in advance to do it. Needless to say, it didn't happen. We walked the town and cemetery, talked to villagers and got the lay of the land, but he did nothing at the town hall. In fact, it was intimated that I would have to pay more $$$, nothing overtly stated. BnB owner blaming the town hall, etc. I didn't do it.

It was still ultra-cool just walking the streets of my ancestors' home!

Posted by
66 posts

Yes Jay...my husband might hire a guide but we both agree that just waking the streets will be wonderful. (I felt the same walking the streets of my Irish ancestors town. (Good thought to try a cemetery walk--if we find their church.)

Posted by
66 posts

Yes...we saw a recent article that Sciacca hosted him and he received the keys to the city...well deserved!