If you search your ancestors in Villafranca Tirrena, in the province of Messina, Sicilia region, the documents about your Italian family are stored in the City Office archives and in the parishes in the town.
Civil Records in Villafranca Tirrena
In towns and villages of Sicilia and in Messina province registry offices were established in 1809: it means that you could find your ancestors records in Villafranca Tirrena town hall archives as of that date.
(If your goal is to claim your Italian Dual Citizenship in Villafranca Tirrena follow this link).
So, if your ancestors lived in Villafranca Tirrena during the past centuries, then you should start your family research from the City Office of Villafranca Tirrena to know more: our local expert is ready to help you in your research!
Otherwise, if you think to contact the town hall by yourself, we suggest you to read our tips for your search. They are useful to search in Sicilia and of course in Villafranca Tirrena too!
Next picture shows the demographic trends in Villafranca Tirrena from the Italian Unification(1861).
This is a necessary info to understand how many people lived in the town in the past.
To proceed faster with your research is important to know if the last name you are investigating is a frequent surname in Villafranca Tirrena. As more your surname is common, as more it could be difficult to find the right branch of your ancestors family in Villafranca Tirrena archives, expecially if you have not exact dates.
It could be useful for you to know that some of the most common surnames in Messina province are:
Arena, Barbera, Calabrò, Cambria, Caruso, Costa, Costantino, Crisafulli, Cucinotta, Currò, D’Amico, De Luca, Di Bella, Donato, Fazio, Ferrara, Foti, Genovese, Giordano, Giorgianni, Gitto, Giunta, Grasso, La Rosa, Lo Presti, Lombardo, Maio, Mancuso, Mangano, Marino, Mazzeo, Merlino, Messina, Morabito, Pagano, Parisi, Pino, Puglisi, Raffa, Rizzo, Romeo, Ruggeri, Russo, Santoro, Sottile, Spadaro, Torre, Trimarchi.
Church Records in Villafranca Tirrena
Church archives in Messina province may store even older information. You will find religious records of the same events (births, marriages and deaths) but, most important, you could go further back in time!
So in case you would like to go back in centuries, it’s good for you to know that the parish registers in Messina started during 1500!
They are far less accessible from abroad (and even not easy to browse and to read if you are not used and skilled) but our local genealogist can research the church archives of Villafranca Tirrena on your behalf.
In case you want to visit churches, these are the addresses of parishes active today in Villafranca Tirrena:
S. GREGORIO MAGNO – Via Nazionale
S. MARGHERITA VERGINE E M. – 98049 CALVARUSO ME
S. MARIA CANDELORA – 98049 SERRO ME
S. NICOLO’ – Via Dante
Anyway for our experience, even if you plan to come here, we always suggest to start the research months before the arrival: in this way you will avoid to waste time in the offices or in the churches dealing with italian bureaucracy and you will have more free time to visit the town and surroundings on your ancestors footsteps, starting from the info gathered by our genealogists.
Another important source of information are the notary documents available to expert researchers in the National archive in Messina.
If you are in Sicily and you are able to decipher old italian handwritten documents you can reach the archive here:
Archivio di Stato di Messina
Address: Via Giuseppe la Farina, 293, 98124 Messina
Phone: +39090 670089
If you need a professional help from our local genealogists write to villafrancatirrena@italianside.com or follow this link.
Our expert in Villafranca Tirrena area will study your request and will reply to you with a plan and a quote for your family research.
Here below you can read the messages received from other visitors in Villafranca Tirrena forum:
if you only want to discuss with other people interested in genealogy in Villafranca Tirrena feel free to leave a message below.
My great grandfather Giovanni Merlino is from this area, he and his sisters Margareta (Barbara) and Catarina (Franchina), were all born in Italy and came to Philadelphia in 1900 1904 and 1908. We have been told that their family vineyard in this area was destroyed by an earthquake and they lived in fear long after they moved to America from what they endured.
I would love to know if any of my ancestors remain in this area, or of any information on their father and mother, Andrea/Andrew Merlino.
We are looking for an address for the Zirilli Family in Calvaruso.
Pasquale Zirilli and Maria Cardullo Zirilli.They they left there in 1909 with their
six children… Anna, Caterina, Domenica, Antonio, Giuseppa and Domenico.
On a visit to Sicily we stopped in the town but the church Santa Margherita was closed so we couldn’t get any info and we didn’t havevtome to stop in Villafranca to find any info.
We were curious to find their house or address of where they lived in Calvaruso.
We are going to return at some point but We have a family member visiting Sicily in several days and are stopping in Calvaruso. They would like to know the address of where they left from in 1909.
If you could email me as soon as possible, we would be very appreciative.
Grazie Mille!
My husband’s grandfather was Franco Puglisi who returned to Villa Franca Tirrena soon after his father was born in Massachusetts, USA in 1907. We are told he had 11 or 12 children in Sicily after he returned. Any information about him would be appreciated.