







This concise historical presentation is intended not as an exhaustive sociological treatise, but as a general introduction for the layman. It is presumed that the reader has already reviewed Italian Heraldry, Nobility & Genealogy. Because of the highly individual nature of genealogical and heraldic projects, many of these observations are necessarily generalities.Italian nobiliary practices ca...
Investigative and genealogical research pertaining to adopted ancestors or those ancestors born outside marriage presents particular challenges. While each case is unique, certain generalities can be considered based upon the nature of social conditions, as well as available records. For the most part, we shall consider such generalities as related to civil (vital statistics) records, as opposed t...
Culture & Traditions
There has been a strong custom in Italy that determines how children are named:The first male is named after his paternal grandfather.The second male is named after his maternal grandfather.The first female is named after her paternal grandmother.The second female is named after her maternal grandmother.The subsequent children could be named after the parents, a favorite aunt or uncle, a saint or ...
Culture & Traditions
Italians have not invented coffee, yet the passion they have for it makes the rest of world believe they discovered it. Around the end of the sixteen century, it was Venice where coffee was first introduced. Thanks to its trade relationship with the Eastern countries.Initially, coffee was considered a valuable beverage due to its high price, but when the plantations began to proliferate, it became...
The name Italia, probably a Graecized form of Italic Vitelia (='calf land'), was originally restricted to the southern half of the 'toe' but was gradually extended. By 450 B.C. It meant the region subsequently inhabited by the Bruttii; by 400 it embraced Lucania as well. Campania was included after 325, and by Phyrhus' day Italia as a geographical expression meant everything south of Liguria and C...
Which conditions may have an effect - positive or negative - on your Italian family history project. The following insights, based on many years of experience in Italy, pertain to factors that have very little to do with Italian genealogy per se, but involve vast cultural differences that influence archival access, documentation and research progress. Research conducted in Italian records (such as...


Yesterday : s. Vittorio Today : s. Rita da Cascia Tomorrow : s. Desiderio