One reason for Missing Italian Civil Records

[rp76226]

In 2021, I emailed the comune of Racalmuto, Sicily where my paternal grandfather, Salvatore Puma, was born in order to learn what caused some Racalmuto records for certain years to be missing. In particular, the death records for 1845* 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1861, 1862, 1866*, 1868*, 1870, 1908*, 1911, 1919, and 1932*. Those years with the * have marriage records available. This is their informative but incomplete response (does not explain why some records after 1862 are missing):

As for the missing records, the reason is that they were burned in 1862 due to a revolt against compulsory military service established after the unification of Italy. However, that does not explain the missing records for the years 1866 or later, so I have replied to them and hope to get a response.

I'm sure that Racalmuto was not the only comune who had such a revolt. Might at least partially explain why some records for the years 1862 and prior may be missing in your comune.

[Italysearcher]

Soldiers in WW2 used the documents to wrap their food. People needed paper to start a fire for cooking. Birth records were burned so the army could not identify who was not present at the roll call for military service.