Where to start my search - it's been a long time!

[cheshire1974]

Dear people!

Sorry if this is irrelevant to you, I do apologise I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with tracing my Italian ancestry, if I have any alive that is!

I'll try and keep this brief and to the point. My grandfather was a British soldier in world war 2 where he met my nan in Bologna. They married and returned to start a family in Cheshire.

My nan never returned to Italy and didn't keep in touch with her family because I think most of them were killed in the war and it was too painful.

How should I begin my search for family in Italy? I really would like to persue this, always keep putting it off and now all these years have past.

My grandmothers name was Bruna Brunelli and later Bruna Gibson.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards

[PeterTimber]

Dear Chesire Brunelli is quite common North Italian surname but there are stragglers farther in the depsouth of Italy as well. We are here tohelp you along the way but what I want to do is set your mind on whats involved so that you can see the big picture as it were.

Go to http://www.anzwers.org/free/italiangen/ ... earch.html

This will set the tone for you. Now for us to get started is there anyway you can find Your Nans town of origin...where she was born or the province where her town was located?? This is pivotal in Italy since most records and documents are in the city,town or even village of origin and duplicates are in the provincial capital. =Peter=

[cheshire1974]

Thanks for the reply and usefull information Peter. I'll ask my Dad if he knows the town of origin, also I'll see if I can find anything in the attic. =cheshire=

[cheshire1974]

I don't have the town of origin yet but whilst rummaging in the attic I found the original marriage certificate.

It showed that my grandad and nan were married in the garrison church in Riccione in 1947. It also shows that Riccione was the place my nan was living at the time.

Will this information help to trace any family?

=Cheshire=

[wldspirit]

That would be:

Region Emilia Romagna
Province Rimini
Town Riccione

Was there any further information on the record?
wldspirit

[wldspirit]

There are 22 persons who carry the surname Brunelli in Rimini Province:

http://www.paginebianche.it/index.html

cognome=surname
dove= town or province
cerca=search

wldspirit

[cheshire1974]

Thanks for the reply wldspirit.

The Marriage certificate is an official army form. It names the officers who are witness to the marriage. Both bride and grooms name, age, occupation, and residence at the time of marriage.

I'm going to keep looking in the attic, maybe something else will turn up.

I'm just about to take a look at that link you sent me...thanks.

[wldspirit]

Do you have her actual birthdate? Perhaps a death record would list place of birth, parents names. Were her children baptized in the Catholic church?
Keep digging in the attic, you might uncover a treasure trove of information you didn't realize you had!!!
wldspirit

[PeterTimber]

Dear =Chesire= There are no microfilm records for Riccione at the Mormon church family history library showing births.marriages and deaths.

This means that you will have to write in Italian to the Municipal Hall( Uffico di Stato Civile, comune di Riccione, Postale 47838, Provincia Rimini, Emilia Romagna region, Italy. The service is free.

The form letter in Italian which you can to send is at http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... tters.html

You can request an extract of her birth (estratto di nascita) which will include her parents names. In a separate letter you can request a family status certificate (Certificato di Stato di Famiglia storico) in her fathers name which will have all her immediate family members listed. Since you do not have a year of birth for her father, you might wish to estimate his age (try a decade of 20-30 years of age since Italian marry after army service at 21 in Italy. You may wish to include a couple of Pounds since th eservice is free and the poorly paid clerks research as an end of day duty.

If you have any further questions get back to us =Chesire= =Peter=

[liviomoreno]

The formatted address is

Comune di Riccione
Ufficio di Stato Civile
Via Vittorio Emanuele II 2
47838 Riccione
Italy

[PeterTimber]

Dear =Chesire+ I recall when I was a student in Italy many years ago when the world was a nicer place and my train stopped at Rimini and inthose days they used to have spontaneous 24 hour strikes. The beach was across the street from the RR station and I checked in my bags and went into Rimini and had a "frolicking" 'good time and wound up sleeping on the beach. Thanks for the memories. =Peter=

[cheshire1974]

Dear posters,
Thanks very much for all the usefull information and for taking the time to help me in my quest, it's much appreciated. I'm currently still wading through all the photos, documents in the attic, and was quite surprised to find out that some of my nans family emigrated to Argentina after the war. Some of her family stayed in Italy. Will hopefully have a birth place soon. =Cheshire=

[PeterTimber]

Dear Chesire there are approximately 50 Gibson surnamed persons currently residing in Argentina while there are more than 100 Brunelli which is something we can tackle at a future date. =Peter=

[PeterTimber]

Why do you think she was born in a place other than Riccione? =Peter=

[cheshire1974]

Thankyou Peter!

I'm still digging around but trying to get information out of my Dad is like getting blood from a stone.

I have always been under the impression that she was born in Bologna, so I thought that maybe if I wrote to the relevent office in Bologna city they could shed some light on the matter. Just wondereing if any one could be so kind as to point me in the right direction for this office. Cheers.

Have a good day!

=Cheshire=