Geneology Research In Sicily

I have no experience with your ancestor's towns. When I went to look up my family's heritage, I had all names, birth years, maiden name of my Great Grandmother, name of my Great Grandfather, their professions, the ship they sailed on - month and year, copy of manifest and who they were going to see in Boston - their end journey.

I went to the Hall of Records or that's what they called it.

Yes, churches - recorded births and Baptisms. Hospitals. Schools.

Without knowing how far you've dug into your family history, I'd suggest you do as much as you can here before you travel. I apologize if you've already done that but many don't realize how much is available. From the Family History Library in SLC I found microfilm of the church register in the Northern Italy town of my GG Grandparents which listed their marriage.

You might read this information on the Best of Sicily website. Looks like it has some helpful suggestions and links: Genealogy

Good luck!

My cousin works for the "comune" for her locale in Sicily. One of their offices is responsible for civil registrations (Registro dello stato civile) such as births, deaths, marriages and citizenship. One of their responsibilities is to "carry out, in the acts entrusted to their care, the inquiries requested by private individuals."

Here is the website for the Comune di Ribera and their department of general affairs which includes the office of civil registrations (Ufficio Stato Civile Registrazione Atti):
http://www.comune.ribera.ag.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/12423

I would not assume that they speak English: my cousin does not, but she works for a different community. You could try sending a translated version of your inquiry.

When my dad and I got our dual Italian citizenship in 2008, we worked closely with the commune in our Sicilian village. As suggested above, it’s a good idea to translate inquiries. It took awhile, but we were eventually able to get the information needed to pursue the citizenship.

We did this recently in another village. My suggestion is that you hire a local guide who will set up appointments with the municipal offices that you want to visit for records search, as well as taking you there.

Without an appointment, we would not have gotten to the records, or had the help of the busy city workers to look. It was quite complicated as there were a few different types of records to go through. They were helpful, but no English, and not that interested in spending a lot of time helping visitors. The guide we hired said it was pretty common for people to come looking for ancestral records, and the city workers weren't always happy to have their normal work interrupted.

They were able tp provide certified copies of the birth records we wanted, that could be used to apply for (dual) citizenship, for example. We photographed other marriage records and death certificates. If you hire the right person, they can look up a lot of stuff before you get there.

You can start your research without leaving home. There are many databases of Sicilian "communi" on microfilm on various websites such as http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?lang=en (translate page).

Here is a link for the Province of Agrigento where both your towns are located. You'll see the list of towns. Click town, then type of record. These are the actual images of birth, marriage and death. You'll need to know some Italian as well as how to scan the record for what you need. These records only have the mid 19th century, so you will need to get back to the 1850-1860s on another site such as Familysearch.org. They have good Sicily records as well.

http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/v/Archivio+di+Stato+di+Agrigento/Stato+civile+della+restaurazione/

If you PM me I can give you more advice on Italian genealogical research.

I'll just add one more link from Family Search.org. They have tutorials to help you figure out handwriting and various words you might come across in records. This link is to the beginning page for Italian but of course they have them in all different languages.

https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/help/handwriting#!/lang=it&title=Alfabeto

Thank you all for the great information you posted. I have work to do!!

Good luck! I remember my excitement many years ago when I first saw the ship's manifest with all their names on it. Discovery of info took off from there.

A little TMI - In the Godfather movie, when it pans to all the travelers' faces as they approach the Statue of Liberty - a dramatic and heartfelt moment heightened by the music score. What a scene. My Grandmother was one of the youngest of eight. My Grandfather's parents came from Sicily also, but he was born in Boston. I can't recall this moment if all his brothers and one sister were all born in Boston.