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Genealogical Websites
Italian Genealogy website that includes a forum and general guides to Italian genealogy such as reading Latin documents and Italian dialects. Free to register.
The MEIS project to welcome everyone’s identity
From South to North, for centuries Italian Jews have contributed to and participated in the country’s evolution, through phases of integration and exchange and other difficult times marked by persecution and isolation.
What emerges is a common experience that affects everyone. At the MEIS, everyone can rediscover a piece of their history.
Advice on how to research Italian heritage, immigrant Family Ties, Italian surnames and emigrant family locations while searching for family members around the world who share their Italian Ancestor Origins
There has been a strong custom in Italy that determines how children are named: The first male is named after his paternal grandfather. The second male is named after his maternal grandfather. The first female is named after her paternal grandmother. The second female is named after her maternal grandmother. The subsequent children could be named after the parents, a favorite aunt or uncle, a saint or a deceased relative. You will see evidence of this tradition throughout your family tree. Although this custom is pervasive, you should never use this as a method for assuming an ancestor's name. For example, if you know that your grandfather, Francesco, was the oldest son, don't automatically assume that his paternal grandfather was named Francesco. There are, however, exceptions to this naming custom.
A Guide to the Main Resources on Italian Jewish Genealogy
Italy has an important role in Jewish history and genealogy: it is located centrally on the Mediterranean sea and serves as an important crossroad and an intersection between North and South, East and West, Sephardic and Ashkenazi culture. A guide to the main resources on Italian Jewish genealogy and useful for researching people of all religions and ethnicities.
The HIstory of Italian Nobility
The nobility of Italy (Nobiltà italiana) comprised individuals and their families of the Italian Peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by the sovereigns of the Italian city-states since the Middle Ages, and by the kings of Italy after the unification of the region into a single state, the Kingdom of Italy. Nobles had a specific legal status and held most of the wealth and various privileges denied to other classes, mainly politicians. In most of the former Italian pre-unification states, it was the only class that had access to high-level government positions. For a long time they monopolized the most distinguished positions in the city-states and in the Catholic Church. There were several different systems of nobility over time and in different regions.
* Shoah: the Hebrew word for “catastrophe,” referring to the killing of nearly six million Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War. English-speaking countries more commonly use the word Holocaust, which is Greek for “sacrifice by fire”.
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