Want to know if your ancestors were Italian, but don’t know where to start? Lacking detailed information about when and how they arrived in Latin America? At Tutto Ok, we’ll explain what you need to know about the best way to search for information about Italian ancestors by surname .

If your most common questions include “how to know if I have Italian ancestry” or “how to know if I am of Italian descent ,” don’t worry. We’ll help you find the answer you need!

So, how can I find out if I have Italian ancestry?

One of the benefits that people starting their Italian citizenship process from scratch currently have is that, unlike many years ago, almost all Italian records are now digitized and published on online platforms at no cost and are easily accessible .

However, if you wish to search for information about Italian ancestors by surname and conduct more in-depth research because you don’t have much data, you should keep in mind that in Italy almost all records are created locally. For this reason, it is vitally important that you know the exact location where your ancestors lived .

But how can you search for information about Italian ancestors by surname? It’s very simple! You just need to use the Italian civil registry or the Italian parish registers .

At Tutto Ok we handle this process for you : we take care of finding all the necessary information about your ancestors so you can start your process with all the data at hand.

If you wish to conduct your research using Italian civil registries, here’s what you need to know:

The Italian government, in collaboration with FamilySearch.org , has undertaken the digitization of a large number of Italian birth, death, and marriage records with the aim of making them easily accessible to anyone looking for information about their ancestors.

Thanks to this, by simply entering the name and birthplace of your relative, you can obtain the information you need about your Italian ancestors.

How can I find Italian civil registries online?

FamilySearch

To obtain the necessary information about your Italian ancestor, you must visit the FamilySearch Italy website , where you can access all Italian records; mostly from municipalities, courts, and government archives .

Another option is the catalog offered by FamilySearch , where you can find collections of Italian civil records that may not be part of the Italian research page.

Antenna Portal

Furthermore, from the Portale Antenati website you can have access to digitized Italian civil registries endorsed by the Italian government in the state archives .

One of the main advantages of this page is that it contains official documents that have been scanned and are available to users completely free of charge , so it will no longer be necessary to write letters or emails to the municipalities to obtain information.

International Center for Italian Emigration Studies

The International Center for Italian Emigration Studies (CISEI) can also assist you in your search, as it possesses information on over 10 million names and surnames of people who emigrated from Italy to Latin America between the 19th and 20th centuries. This website provides detailed genealogical information about the port records of your Italian ancestors.

MyHeritage

MyHeritage is another online portal that is very helpful when searching for information about Italian ancestors by surname, as it focuses on analyzing its users’ DNA to make connections between relatives around the world. This site contains more than 13 million documents , including birth, death, and marriage certificates.

This page is updated daily to add more and more documentation so that those interested can easily find information about their Italian relatives and even have the opportunity to find a branch of the family tree of a relative lost in Italy .

Ancestry

Finally, you can use Ancestry , a company that works specifically with everything related to creating family trees and DNA testing .

This platform is one of the most widely used, and its database even covers Latin America. Thanks to its search engine, you can find everything related to birth, death, and marriage certificates, as well as census data, ship arrivals , and more.

How can I find out if I have Italian ancestry through Italian parish records from Catholic churches?

Unlike civil registries, Italian parish registers of Catholic churches are much more difficult to find online, but their advantage is that they date back much further than those found in civil offices .

But why is this? The answer is that parish priests recorded all marriages, baptisms, and deaths that occurred after the Council of Trent in 1565. Therefore, if you need older documents, parishes are the right place to start your search, as they have records of all marriages, deaths, and births from the beginning of the 17th century.

For this reason, if you want to find information about Italian ancestors by surname using Catholic church parish registers, it’s very unlikely you’ll find what you’re looking for online because these records are scarce. In this case, your best option is to search directly in those parishes or in family history centers .

Need help finding information about Italian ancestors by surname? Tutto Ok is your solution!

If one of your most frequent questions is “how to know for sure if I am of Italian descent in order to apply for citizenship?”, at Tutto Ok we help you with all the necessary research to put together the folder that you will take to the Italian Consulate with your case.

And how do we do this? If you provide us with all the information you have about your Italian ancestor (such as birth certificate, first and last name, etc.), we will take care of finding their birth certificate for you .

But what if I only know the first and last name, but not the other details? Don’t worry! We do the exhaustive work of searching historical archives, municipal offices, dioceses, and any other necessary entity to obtain the record you need so you can continue with your paperwork. This service is called: Genealogical Research .

The steps are as follows: we evaluate your specific case and tell you which documents you need and how we can help you. Once you give us the go-ahead, we begin the search and follow up until we obtain your ancestor’s birth certificate.

Once we have the birth certificate, we’ll send it to you in PDF format and then request a physical copy to send to your home address via registered mail. Much more convenient than doing it yourself, isn’t it? Contact us if you need more information about our services or if you have any questions about the general process of searching for information about Italian ancestors by surname .

We also have a completely free guide that will show you the steps to follow to apply for your Italian citizenship.