Italian Obituaries

[rmorda]

Hi All.

I'm new to these boards, but I have been interested in my families geneology for a long time. My father's side of the family are all from Calabria.

I am told if someone dies in Italy there are no such things are obituaries, but they hang banners on street corners or something? I don't know since I have never visited Italy, but is there anywhere on the Internet I can find obtiuaries of my family members? Or at least records of their birth and death dates? I find obituaries very useful for finding out deaths and maiden names of family members.

Thanks for your help.

[elba]

No there aren't 'obituaries' as such. Unless it is for a famous or notable person.

What they have though are called 'MANIFESTI FUNEBRI' which are small posters giving the deatils of the deceased and the dates and times of the funeral. These are then affixed on the town noticeboards.

Following the funeral the mourners are usually given a 'RICORDINO' of the deceased. This is a small 'wallet sized' laminated folding card which contains a photograph of the person, their birth and death dates and often a short prayer too.

If you open this link below and click on 'realizzazione, stampa ed affissione di manifesti; ' you will see one of the mainifesti (posters)
>See here<

You can also find some information on 'Ricordini funebre' if you do a Google search.

Hope this helps....

elba

[nuccia]

elba,

Thanks. I was wondering about this myself. What would happen to those posters after the funeral? Would there be a record of it somewhere or are they such torn down and thrown out/given away?

My uncle passed away last month and I was hoping to come across something outlining the details of his death such as this.

[elba]

Nuccia,
I know it may seem a bit 'macabre', but I feel that it may be a comfort of kinds to anyone - who has lost someone close - to understand the 'mourning culture' over here. It is so different from many other countries in the 'western world'.

So to answer your questions....
These posters are stuck (pasted) onto public noticeboards, hung in the hallway of the apartment where the deceased lived or on the door of the house. They are just left on the notice boards and eventually have others posted over them, or when there are too many they will be removed and thrown away.

What are kept are the 'ricordini'. I usually keep one in my purse for a few months and then put it in a box with all the others I've collected. They are nice memories and always produced very tastefully.

I think you may find this site interesting - just browse and you will see the kind of choices there are for these 'mourning cards'.

>Mourning Cards<

elba

[Poipuo4]

That makes sense now. My grandmother left a large collection of those little cards when she died. We thought it was interesting that she saved those.

[wldspirit]

I'm not that old....... ....but I have a collection of cards going back to age 16......guess I just assumed everyone did.....some of them have pictures of the deceased.....others are just the date of birth and death with a prayer.
wldspirit

[rmorda]

Yes, we still have those cards here.

We call them "Mass Cards" or "Prayer Cards" I have lots of them from different family members that have died over the years.

Can anyone tel me how long this tradition goes back to?

I mean, does it go back to say....the 18th or early 19th centuries? I have a lot of family in Italy but I'm not sure if they have saved these cards.

[wldspirit]

Interesting question.......the oldest I have is from the early 1900's, found it in a family bible......not at all like the prayer cards we see today.
wldspirit