Thanks to everyone for your helpful replies to my question. Johnny on the Spot, special thanks to you for finding the word in that old dictionary. I have added these replies to my records for future reference.

Hi Tom- you're right, but in this case the person in question is the father on the birth certificate, and it's his profession I am wondering about. I want to post the certificates of two of the children, my grandfather and his sister, for other people to look at, because now I'm wondering if the ...

Great idea to post the document there. Could someone tell me how to do that, because I don't have a clue- Thanks!

Thanks for the ideas, Tom. I am going to look again at the birth records of the children from the family, but I think they say that the parents are analfabeta, which would eliminate the possibility of the Salesian connection. I will see if there is any chance of the other words, but I scanned the ...

My great-grandfather, Ignazio DiMaggio, served in the Guardia di Pubblica Sicurezza a cavallo in Alia, Sicily, around 1888. Is there any way to get copies of documents about his service with this provincial police force? Was this considered the military at that time? I am trying to find information ...

In the late 1880's in Alia, Sicily, my great grandfather's profession is listed on several of his children's birth records as "Maistere" or possibly "Maistero". I have looked very closely at the words, and I am pretty confident of the letters. However, even in an on-line Sicilian-English dictionary ...