How popular is Genealogy in Italy

[MauroMags]

Hello all,

This question is directed toward the resident Italians.

I'm wondering about the popularity of Genealogy as a hobby in Italy. In the US the practice of genealogy (even outside of those who do it for religious purposes) has been gaining popularity exponentially since the advent of the Internet. Does the same apply for those living in the boot?

I've always gotten the sense that many Italians know who they are, where they come from and how they got there, therefore they do not need long family trees to provide them with a sense of familial history. For example, many surnames are so entrenched within specific cities, they go hand & hand with "being from" a certain region. also, many Italians are fine with relying on oral traditions or folklore to provide them with their historic background.

Since i get the impression that many (maybe not as many as I think) parishes and civic archives view geneological requests more as a nuisance rather than a legitimate hobby (or money-making enterprise) i'm wondering about what the general opinion of the hobby is.

thanks,
Mauro

[wldspirit]

Excellent question!! I to have wondered about this, as I'm sure many other posters have........
wldspirit

[elba]

While I am not a genalogist , my interest in it is purely personal. Therefore my reply is only my own perception of 'how it is'....[u]

Certainly in the area that I live in, the majority of villages and towns are still populated by families who have been there often for centuries.... Let's just take my village where I am one of only seven 'incomers' who has not come here through marriage. There are just 1020 inhabitants and of those the main four families make up almost 75% of the village. In my lane there are 14 houses of which, directly or indirectly, 11 belong to ONE family. That would be 12, but my house belonged to part of that same family. The branch that owned my house/land were farming there when it was an animal stall in the 1500's. It has been altered and improved over the centuries and today, though I have the house and a small piece of surrounding land - the majority of all land and houses that surround me still belong to that same family.

This is standard practice in smaller communities in the northern mountain (Alps) areas. I cannot vouch for elswhere, but I suspect there is little or no difference in the north.

So you are quite right in surmising that the average Italian has little or no need of genealogical research - they already know their background and heritage through their family histories that they grow up with.

I do think though, that in areas where there was a large exodus over the last couple of centuries - much of that history will have been dissipated and ultimately lost. In fact just looking at where the majority of immigrant research is based bears out this fact....It is most unusual for research to be based around the northern areas of 'the boot'. The reason being the lesser need to go elsewhere for work and the ultimate family survival!

That is, for what it's worth, my take on the question......
elba

[Graz]

Hi everybody!
I'm italian and I work in a parish archive. When someone ask about a genealogical reserch I do my best but research takes really a lot of time and research is not the only thing I've to do. But I do it, even after weeks... I only can imagine how important it is for those people.
In my archive I've birth acts since 1532 and I fell there my root, I know that I can find there (or in another archive) all my family.
Lot of italians come in my archive to find the history of their family and it is very easy to find the ggg-grandfather. And lot of them are happy to know that and don't try to go back.
Another thing: in a large part of the parish archives there is not a person who do research. Lot of time the parish priests have to do it and they really have not the time to do it: acts sometimes are hard to read.
But I know lot of people who do it with enthusiasm, spending their time and their money for people all over the word.

I hope this is what Mauro wants to know... sorry for my english

Graz

[rfornal]

That is incredible ... what a wonderful point of view. Kind of humbles the research we do. This quickly brings it all "down to earth."

Thank you Elba and Graz ...

[nuccia]

Hi everybody!
I'm italian and I work in a parish archive. When someone ask about a genealogical reserch I do my best but research takes really a lot of time and research is not the only thing I've to do. But I do it, even after weeks... I only can imagine how important it is for those people.
In my archive I've birth acts since 1532 and I fell there my root, I know that I can find there (or in another archive) all my family.
Lot of italians come in my archive to find the history of their family and it is very easy to find the ggg-grandfather. And lot of them are happy to know that and don't try to go back.
Another thing: in a large part of the parish archives there is not a person who do research. Lot of time the parish priests have to do it and they really have not the time to do it: acts sometimes are hard to read.
But I know lot of people who do it with enthusiasm, spending their time and their money for people all over the word.

I hope this is what Mauro wants to know... sorry for my english

Graz

Thank you for sharing this with us..and thank you for all you to to help people like us find out about their families!

As for your English..its very good so don't worry!

[lalberogenealogico]

Genealogy is my life, my work.

Many italian people doesn't understand how the Genealogy Science is important.


Gaetano Petrillo
Italian Genealogical Researcher

[naillady4jm]

Thank you for sharing this with us..and thank you for all you to to help people like us find out about their families!

As for your English..its very good so don't worry![/quote]



I totally agree with you.Thank you dosen`t seem enough.

[vane86]

hello everybody. i'm a new member. i'm vanessa.
i live in rome and i've got to say that in my city genealogy is not popular. i've never eard about it here in italy. even in two small countries in abruzzo (where my parents come from) nobody does it.

[trevisan2]

I know of only about five people in Italy that research genealogy.

One in particular Roerto piccioli has researched and posted on his web site 27,000 names. I met him earler this year in Italy.
Here is his web site.

www.piccioli.com/genealogia/presentazione.php

here is a quote from his home page, to the viewers of his site

?I dedicate this research to the memory of my parents, my grandparents and of all those who
have preceded us and by whom we have inherited not only the baldness or the color of our eyes
but the whole genetic mosaic which makes everyone of us an unique and not repeatable human
being.
`````````
During this long research, I’’ve alternated moments of enthusiasm to moments of
discouragement, due to the difficulties I’’ve often found in the very hard reconstruction of the
genealogical thread and, above all, while reading the certificates of baptism, wedding or death
dating many centuries ago, I’’ve been caught by such a strange, sudden commotion, as if I was
almost not only contemporary of my ancestors, but quite sharing in their feelings too. The
publication of these data on the Internet is a sort of a way of making may ancestors live again.
regards,
Trevisan2