Romano

[genealogy]

I tried to obtain a money order from my post office to send to Ponte, Italy for a death record of my great-grandfather. I was told by the post office that Italy can not cash a domestic or international money order, but they can cash an American Express gift check. If this is true, do I make the gift check out to the mayor? If so, what is the name of the mayor in Ponte, Italy? Please advice me.

Thank you

[Biff83]

What I would include with your request is an International Reply Coupon (IRC) which will cover the cost of the return postage. IRCs should be available at the main post office in your city. The current cost is $2.

Information on IRCs from the USPS.
http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/immc3.6.25.htm

Biff

[Poipuo4]

Try this web site for information on the mayor. It may not have his or her name, but you can look up the town of Ponte and then get an address, e-mail and fax number for the Ufficio Civile.

http://www.italia.indettaglio.it/eng

[Poipuo4]

Check this out too for international check services by Thomas Cook.

http://www.thomascook.ca/ForeignCurrency/index.aspx

This is the Canadian portal for Thomas Cook or you can google it for different international offices.

[genealogy]

Thank you for the website for international check services. It has been helpful.

[genealogy]

Biff83,
Also thank you for the website. I did find the Ponte Website with the name of the Mayor.

[nuccia]

From what I remember, money orders were difficult to cash when I was in Italy..and the banks did try and charge me a service fee (even though they aren't supposed to). The smaller towns had the most difficulty with them. I did bring American Express cheques with me which were easier to cash, but I had to go to an American Express office to cash them (in Torino this happened) and they weren't open all the time. No matter which way I tried, I had trouble so the IRC may just be your best bet..if they are familiar with them.

Another option..don't send anything. Ok..its not fool proof but I received a reply without sending anything to two offices. Of course, I may just have gotten lucky. Maybe you should make friends with someone in Italy who needs American stamps for Self Addressed Envelopes and you could exchange postage and you could send a Self Addressed Envelope to Ponte?

Ok..its hard to do, but it is an option.

[lisagooley]

When I sent my first letter to Montesarchio in Sept of 2007 the post office told me they didn't offer IRC service any longer.