How an Ancestry Tour Works

Step 1 – We start from your documented family story

Before designing any itinerary, we begin from the results of your genealogy research with ItalianSide. This usually includes:

• the exact ancestral town,
• the addresses or streets where your ancestors lived,
• the parish where they were baptized or married,
• the occupation your ancestors had at the time,
• and often the names of witnesses, neighbors or relatives who appeared in the records.

These details gathered before your arrival, allow us to build a tour that is rooted in real places and real lives, not assumptions.

Step 2 – Understanding your needs, wishes and travel style

Once we have the historical foundations, we collect all the practical information that will shape your tour:

• How many people are traveling? Are you a couple, a family group, several generations?
• Do you prefer hotel, B&B, agriturismo or a more local type of accommodation?
• Do you have any special needs (mobility, dietary preferences, slower pace, children, elderly)?
• How much time do you have in the area: one day, several days, a week?
• What kind of experiences are you interested in?

Some examples of what you might want to include:

• Food & wine experiences: local cuisine, regional specialties, tastings and visits to vineyards and small producers.
• Cooking lessons with traditional recipes from the region
• Visits to artisan workshops: ceramics, textiles, woodwork, traditional crafts
• Small excursions to nearby villages, viewpoints or natural sites
• Local life experiences: markets, bars, festivals, everyday places

How do you plan to arrive in your ancestral town?

We also ask how you expect to reach your family’s town:

• Will you arrive at the nearest airport?
• Are you planning to reach the area by train?
• Will you rent a car?
• Or would you prefer not to worry about transportation at all?

Just let us know where and how you plan to arrive, and we will take care of the rest. We can arrange pick-ups, transfers and local transportation so you can reach your ancestral town comfortably, without having to organize anything on your own.

This step transforms your documented family story into a personalized, practical and enjoyable travel plan shaped entirely around you.

Step 3 – Local coordination and on-site arrangements

With your preferences clear, we begin the coordination in Italy. Depending on what you choose to include, this can mean:

• planning time in the specific streets and areas where your ancestors lived,
• arranging visits to the parish, town hall or, when possible, local archives,
• contacting local guides, drivers and partners who know the town and surrounding area,
• booking cooking classes, tastings, artisan visits or short excursions,
• organizing transfers and logistics if you need support with transportation.

The goal is simple: when you arrive in Italy, everything is already in place so you can focus on living the experience, not on organizing it.

Step 4 – Your ancestry experience in Italy

This is where everything comes together. You spend time in your ancestral town, walk the same streets your ancestors once walked, visit the parish where they prayed, see the landscape they saw every day and, in some cases, meet local people who still recognize your surname or remember stories about your family.

Many families choose to extend the experience beyond the town itself, exploring:

• the surrounding countryside, hills, valleys or coastline,
• nearby villages connected to migration routes or family branches,
• local traditions, food and everyday life in the region.

For many of our clients, this is not just a trip to Italy. It becomes the trip: arriving in a place they have never seen before, and yet feeling that, somehow, they have known it all their life.