Searching for birth certificates yourself

[mgpuppo]

Hello everyone!

Happy new year!
I am new here and I was hoping you could give me some honest advice. My family and I are looking for my greatgrandfather's birth certificate to start a lawsuit to acquire citizenship from a female born before 1948. We hired an attorney but he hasn't been able to find it yet.

He was from Palermo (specifically from Zisa). We know his DOB and the names of his parents. The attorney has been looking since early November and the arrangement we have is that until that document is found (given that it is the most important one) no downpayment is paid. So I don't know if he's just taking forever because he has no incentive OR these things generally take a really long time.

Coincidentally, I am going to Spain in ten days for a business trip and I was thinking I could take a flight down to Palermo and knock on every church's door until I find it. However, my family thinks that is a crazy idea and that I would just be wasting my time and money. I can only spare about three days down there...what do you think? Should I give it a go? I don't know how many churches I would have to check or if three days would be enough time...

Thanks for the help!

[ffusiak]

Since did not specify the date, but some records for Zisa are available on-line at Antenati and FamilySearch

http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it ... i+Palermo/

https://www.familysearch.org/search/cat ... %20Library

[parkergambino]

I second that motion. The best way to get help from this site is to provide the fullest information available: The basics are the person's name, date of birth (or at least a range), specific location in Italy of the event. Other helpful info would include the names of parents and other relatives.

Parker

[JCL]

http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it ... i+Palermo/

ffusiak - a quick thank you for sharing that link. I was able to back out of Palermo and drill down to Valenzano through the Archivio di Stato di Bari to locate my great-grandfather's birth record from June of 1896!

A fascinating and powerful resource!

Now I just need to go through the process of requesting an official copy of his birth record.

Thanks again!