How to find distant relatives in Italy?

A typical request we receive from our customers is to know if they still have living relatives in Italy and if it’s possible to meet them.
If you are interested in knowing more about your italian family or about some branches of your family, if you are planning a trip in your ancestors homeland, our services will not disappoint you!

How to start to search living relatives?

The procedures in this case is different compared to the historic research of the ancestors . To find your living relatives in Italy, we have to go forward in time starting from the info you have of your italian family.
Do you have any info about relatives who remained in Italy?
If so, their names is a good track to proceed! You should focus on their names to find if they still live in your ancestors’ town.
But what if the only relatives you know lived long time ago or if your ancestor lost any contact with his/her Italian family?
And, most important, are you sure to have the info about ALL the relatives your ancestor had in his town or village?

Step 1: Collect info about your ancestor’s siblings.

In this case we suggest you to start with a research of the family of your ancestor .
For example if your grandfather left Italy to go to live abroad, you should try to reconstruct the other family’s branches remained in Italy.
Did he have any sibling? It’s important to know the names of ALL the siblings to investigate every possible path.
If you know the town or the village where your ancestor was born, our local researcher could work finding the available records in the local archives .
A document called Stato di Famiglia , issued by the town hall, will be of help!
In this way you will know the exact names and the birthdates of your ancestors siblings.

Step 2: Follow the parallel branches of your family tree.

When you identified exactly your ancestors’ siblings you can start to investigate the parallel branches of your family.
It’s time to pose new questions: did the siblings get married? Did they have children? If sisters get married, what was the surname of their husbands?
Entering the last century, the research will change for the Italian privacy law: to search the registers of living people you must be authorized.

Step 3: Get the necessary authorization.

Our local researcher will deal with every bureaucratic aspect of this research.
He will meet the officers of the town/village to prepare the right form to sign.
He will send you the form and you will fill it, sign, scan and send it back to us.
The researcher will submit the request to the town hall.
In this way he will be authorized to start immediately to search for your relatives on your behalf.

Step 4: review the findings.

We will prepare for you a detailed english report with the info about the distant relatives found in your ancestors town.
Of course there is the possibility that someone went to live elsewhere so if you want we could continue to search (if possible)

In any case, if the research is positive, with the info collected you will be able to contact your italian relatives!

Step 5: re-connect with your distant family.

With the findings in your hands, it’s up to you to decide how to go on.
From now on it’s a family matter: you can choose to try to manage by yourself or you can choose to ask us to assist you.
We respect your privacy (and the privacy of your relatives)
It could be difficult to communicate without a common language (don’t be surprised or disappointed if your relatives can’t speak English) If you want we will be happy to help you to prepare an italian letter to send by regular mail or by email. With your relatives’ phone numbers we could try to call them on your behalf and put you in touch with them.
But again, it’s a family matter
If your plan is to visit the town, we suggest you to contact your relatives before your arrival here in Italy.

Ready to start?

If you are ready to start with your research of distant relatives in Italy feel free to contact us.
Submit your request with the starting info you have.
Our researcher in the area will study your case and in few days we will be back to you with a research plan and a quote.