If you search your ancestors in Roccaraso, in the province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, Abruzzo region, the documents about your Italian family are stored in the City Office archives and in the parishes in the town.This is where to start your family history research.
Civil Records in Roccaraso
In towns and villages of Abruzzo and in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy province registry offices were established in 1809: it means that you could find your ancestors records in Roccaraso town hall archives as of that date.
(If your goal is to get your Italian Citizenship and you need official certificates from Roccaraso, please follow this link)
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So, if your ancestors lived in Roccaraso during the past centuries, then you should start your family research from the City Office of Roccaraso 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 advices to search in Abruzzo and of course in Roccaraso too!
Next picture shows the demographic trends in Roccaraso from the Italian Unification (1861).
This is a necessary info to understand how many people lived in the town in the past.
To go on quickly in your research is important to know if the last name you are investigating is a frequent surname in Roccaraso. As more your surname is common, as more it could be difficult to find the right branch of your ancestors family in Roccaraso archives, expecially if you have not exact dates.
It could be useful for you to know that some of the most common surnames in L’Aquila province are:
Bianchi, Bisegna, Bonanni, Centofanti, Cipriani, Colangelo, D’Alessandro, D’Amico, D’Andrea, D’Angelo, De Angelis, De Santis, Di Benedetto, Di Carlo, Di Cesare, Di Domenico, Di Felice, Di Girolamo, Di Loreto, Di Marco, Di Paolo, Di Pietro, Di Renzo, Di Stefano, Gentile, Giuliani, Graziani, Leone, Liberatore, Mancini, Mariani, Marinucci, Morgante, Pace, Paris, Parisse, Persia, Petrella, Presutti, Ricci, Rossi, Sabatini, Santilli, Santucci, Silvestri, Tarquini, Valentini, Venditti.
Church Records in Roccaraso
Church archives in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy 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 Abruzzo started during 1500!
They are far less accessible expecially from abroad and very hard to read and decipher if you are not used and skilled.
But our local genealogists, are graduated in history and archivistics so, with their expertise, they can research the church registers of Roccaraso on your behalf.
In case you want to visit churches, these are the addresses of parishes active today in Roccaraso:
S. MARIA ASSUNTA – 67037 ROCCARASO AQ
S. BARTOLOMEO APOSTOLO – 67037 PIETRANSIERI AQ
Anyway for our experience, 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 your holidays in the offices or in the churches dealing with italian bureaucracy .
(Remember that archives are not open to public and officers and priests are not required by law to give you access to the local archives)
With the results gathered by our genealogist before your arrival, you will have more free time to visit the town and surroundings on your ancestors footsteps.
Another important source of information are the notary documents available to expert researchers in the State Archives.
If you need a professional help from our local genealogist in Roccaraso area , write to roccaraso@italianside.com or fill the form here.
Our expert will study your request and will reply to you with a plan and a quote for your family research.
If you want to read this page in other languages:
– Italiano
– Espanol
– Portuguese
Here below you can read the messages received from other visitors in Roccaraso forum:
if you only want to discuss with other people interested in genealogy in Roccaraso feel free to leave a message below.
My great grandmother Anna Maria Di Virgilio made at least two trips home and returned from Roccaraso in 1898 and in 1900. The first time she came was to join my Great-Grandfather Luigi D’Ascanio who was born in Roccacasale in New York City in 1898. She had given birth to my Grandfather Donato in 13Oct1899, Luigi passed away in Nov1899. Then she returned to the US(Greensburg, PA) in 1900 to re-marry. I heard Luigi D’Ascanio died here in Pennsylvania, but until now nothing…makes me wonder if birth of my Grandfather was in Roccaraso and death of my Great Grandfather there too.
Our family has always said that Roccaraso was bombed during the war and that records were lost. Is this true? Every avenue I use to try and locate my grandfather’s family comes up a dead end. He was Vincenzo Silvestri, born 1892, emigrated to the US around 1910. Father Romolo Silvestri, mother Isolina Marcantonio
My great grandfather was born in Roccaraso on July 5, 1879. He went by the name Louie. He came to America and changed his name to Johnson. We do not know his last name. Would it be possible to get the birth records for that date? Many thanks. We hope to visit Roccaraso next summer.