stevez wrote:When an illegitimate child was born in northern Italy in 1880 and given to another family, what, typically, do the birth records show as the parents' names? Would any records show the biological parents' names or not?
Every situation is different for the illegitimate child. Sometime the mother is name on the birth act and the father no recognize the child, so is written "ignoto" for the father. If the father is unmarry, sometime he recognize the child and the mother no recognize, so it is written "ignota" for the mother. Sometime the midwife, she bring the child to declare the birth and no names is written for the parent, because the mother no wish to be name on the birth act and also the father does not recognize the baby for his own.
So you must seek to find the complete act of the birth to know if there is the parent name written, or maybe only the mother. If there is no names written and there is no story in the family to remember the name of the parents or at least the mother, then probably will be very difficult to know any more informations about the family origins of the child.