Family names testify these origin of Italian Jews and therefore surnames are a good resource for history and for genealogy. Often family names derive from the ancestral town of the ancestor (see bibliography).

From Middle Ages Italy comes out divided into fifteen different states. Each state had its own grade of social and economic development, a different political set-up (role of nobility, influence of the Church, relation between town and country, restrictive laws for Jews, etc.) and a different administrative system. Consequently different genealogical resources.

From half of the 15th  century wars and annexations reduced the number of these states to ten.

From the beginning of 16th  century Jewish life was decided/affected by the setting up, the building and the shut in the ghettos.
In this time of restrictions, an important exception  was the total freedom that Medici gave to Jews who moved to Leghorn (see bibliography): these grants aimed to make that insalubrious area become populate and indeed thousands of immigrates arrived in following decades.

After the French Revolution, ideas of equality, local rebellions and the French military campaign produced the end of the oppression, the liberation from closure and the legal equality (1789-97).
During occupation of Napoleon and the French, the administrative system in Italy was reformed: a modern administration system based on provinces, civil and penal code was introduced in almost the whole country.
The political unification of Italy under the Crown of Savoia dynasty took about ten years (1860-1870). From then to nowadays few boundary changes occurred.
For genealogical purposes we have to keep in mind that if the researcher wish to go back before the half of the 19th century he has to orient himself in the local political system of the time he/she is researching on.
With the political unification Italian Jews had full civil and political rights. This until persecution of Fascism.
Racial persecution in Italy begun in 1938. In few months 200 Jewish teachers lost their jobs, thousands of Jewish students had to interrupt their studies.
In the Shoah of Italy perished about 8000 Italian Jews (see bibliography).

Each provincia contains many comuni (municipalities), one of which serves as the provincial capital. The name of the province and the name of its capital are the same. Thus for example Milano is capital of provincia di Milano and regione Lombardia, Firenze is capital of provincia di Firenze and regione Toscana, Napoli is the capital of provincia di Napoli and regione Campania.
Comuni are the smallest political unit with genealogical importance.
In parallel with this administrative system there is the Church administration with parrocchie (parishes), diocesi (dioceses), etc.

Sources (back to the index)

These four bibliographies are very useful tools because they are nearly exhaustive and because they have good indexes of places, subjects, names, etc.
In our research we have to cross the information we have: generally surnames and place-names. These bibliographies index both.
There is a Center in Rome which holds indexes about Jewish books, manuscripts, etc. The name is Centro Bibliografico Ebraico (Jewish Bibliographical Institute), Lungotevere Sanzio, 5 00153 - Roma Tel.: 065803690.

The system of libraries (back to the index)

Italian libraries can be divided in Biblioteche Nazionali Centrali (National Libraries), Biblioteche  universitarie (of universities) and Biblioteche comunali (of municipalities).
The libraries of universities are very specialized, but they have some access restrictions and  they generally don't allow loan.

Internet has excellent resources for the Italian bibliography.
The Italian National Service for Libraries has a web page (also in English) where you can find almost the complete catalogue of books published or stored in Italy. Here you can find also the addresses of the libraries to ask for book for an interlibrary loan.
The Department of Education has a page with a map to find libraries in Italy
Finally there is a page Alice with the addresses of the libraries, lists of CDroms, lists of journals and links to on-line libraries, that is libraries which have an extensive web page. Some "virtual libraries" offer access to digital texts, databases, etc.
Yahoo has some addresses of on-line municipal libraries.
For other internet facilities see below.
 
Archives (back to the index)

The Italian system of record depository can in broad outline subdivided in Archivi Comunali (Town Archives), Archivi di Stato (State Archives), Archivio Centrale dello Stato (the Central State Archive), Archivi Parrochiali e Diocesani (Parish and Diocesan Archives), Archivi delle Comunita' Ebraiche (Archives of the Jewish Communities), Archivi dei Distretti Militari (Militar archives). Remember then before to look for original records is important to read history in order to know in which former state and in which town your ancestors lived and learn as much as possible from published materials about the Jews of that area.

Archivi Comunali (Town Archives) (back to the index)

Most Italian records of genealogical value are maintained by the town or city, that is by the Comune (plural "Comuni").
A royal decree of 31 December 1864 asked to all the Comuni to record demographic movement. Since it was not compulsory not all the administrations executed. Just in 1971 became really compulsory for municipalities to record citizens. Because of this noncompliance and because of the annexations of new lands the municipal registration begun in different time from place to place: Veneto and part of provincia of Mantova begun registration in 1866, part of Lazio in 1870, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige begun registration only in 1918.
In the Comuni  records are kept or in the Ufficio di Stato Civile (Civil Record Repository) or in the Archivio comunale (town archive).
The  Ufficio di Stato Civile or Anagrafe di Stato Civile is not properly an archive, is the repository of the vital records and it stores the files for the actual registy and for the actual use. It keeps documents from about 1870 to nowdays under a special legal status. Here you cannot search through the registers by yourself.
Here can be asked atti di nascita (birth records), atti di matrimonio (matrimony records), certificato di morte (death records), certificato di residenza (certificate of residency) and stato di famiglia (certificate of family status) which start from the beginning of XX century and shows the composition of the family.
Archivio comunale is the second part of the local municipal resources. Almost each Comune has an Archivio comunale or Archivio Storico Comunale (town archive) generally divided in pre-unitario and post-unitario (before and after unification of Italy). Each comune has its own standard to shelve documents and not all the comuni have catalogued their archives.
The problem is that important civil records are kept by these Archivi comunali (Town archives), but each comune has today its own standard to shelve documents and not all Comuni have catalogued their archives.
Here documents are staffed for researchers and often there is assistance to historical researchers.
Since the Archivio comunale (Town Archives) depend from the local municipality, its the address can be found through the town hall.
Almost each comune has an Archivio comunale generally divided in pre-unitario and post-unitario (before and after unification of Italy). Each comune has its own standard to shelve documents and not all the comuni have catalogued their archives.
A first resource to reach a Comune is an yearbook of the town halls,  Annuario Generale, Comuni e Frazioni d'Italia (Touring Club Italiano, Milano 1968 and later), wich lists adresses of comuni of Italy in alphabetical order.

A very good on-line resource is the Official page of municipalities of Italy Comuni d'Italia, with a map of research.
For every comune this web page lists the address, telephone and fax numbers and the e-mail address; it lists the name of the mayor and the name of the chief of the municipal administration (Segretario comunale), the URP that is Ufficio rapporti con il pubblico (Office for Public Relation).
There is an official  web page which lists the Comuni which are on-line.
Since ten years some bills and laws (Legge 241/1990, Dpr 352/92, etc.) gave a punctual power to anyone to ask for a copy of any document kept by an Italian central or peripheral adminstration. These provisions give the right of examine and copy the documents with the simple refund of costs (extraction, duplication, and expedition). This right is to ask for a document, not for generic information: therefore you must give all the information you have (name, surname, date of birth or approximate date of birth, type of act you ask for) to help the research of the administration.
The problem could be how to send money to a Comune. I can suggest for a first attempt or to ask to the Comune itself how to pay the cost or to put a stamped envelope with your address, or a small amount of money. The official applications have to be sent to the Mayor or to the Ufficio Rapporti con il Pubblico (see above) by registered mail.
The success of this postal research in the town hall depends also from the official of clerk that will follow your application, but it worth the attempt.

In conclusion since most of the civil documents kept by municipalities have today a legal value, the researcher have a sort of advantage: you can ask to a clerk of a comune to search for your grand-father's certificato di matrimonio (certificate of matrimony) and mail it to you. On the contrary you can not ask in black an white to a clerk of an Archivio di Stato to make a research for you. I can send examples of letters to demand copies of documents to the Comune.

Archivi di Stato (State Archives) (back to the index)

Furthermore there are about hundred Archivi di stato: one archivio di stato in almost every provincial capital (94 out of 103). Some Archivi di Stato have a sezione (department or branch) in one or two smaller cities of the province, when the local collections are large enough to warrant such a sezione.
These archives store documents produced by the peripheral branches of the central administration of the State: Prefetture (Prefects), Questure of Ministero degli Interni (Police headquarters of Department of Interior); Intendenze di Finanza of Ministero delle Finanze (Ministry of Finance), Provveditorati of Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Ministry of Education). The Archivi di stato keeps also remarkable documents with historical importance of Comuni, banks, private families, etc.

Before researching in a section of Archivio di Stato is good to consult the  General Guide to the Italian State Archives (Ministero per i beni Culturali e ambientali, Guida Generale degli Archivi di Stato Italiani, Roma 1994), four volumes of about thousand - thousand three hundreds pages each. This is an official guide that describes town by town in broad outlines the files stored in Archivio Nazionale of that town: i fondi, le serie la consistenza (the collections, the series and the amount of the files) stored.
The Department of Culture has a page with  addresses of the Archivi di Stato (input the place name in the box "Citta'" (town) and press the button "Ricerca" (research).

Archivio Centrale dello Stato (the Central State Archive) (back to the index)