Well, anything helpful would be a start!!!!!! OK, I suppose in the first instance any suggestions/recommendations from anyone who may have employed a researcher in that area of Italy, so that I could possibly consider that as an option if I knew the potential costs. It very much looks as if the rese...

Hi guys. It's been a while since I've posted on here, since when I've made substantial progress with my Italian family history research, thanks to both the Mormon Church and also the State Archive in Piacenza. For half of my family, I'm now just about back to before the start of civil registration i...

Hello all Following on from my earlier post, I hit upon an unexpected snag last week. I had ordered from my local Mormom Family History Centre the microfilm for Bettola, Piacenza covering the decade from 1870-1879, in the hope of finding the birth record for my great-grandmother, Maria Cordani, circ...

Thanks guys! It certainly now looks as if my ancestral home area was within the Ducato di Parma prior to reunification, albeit VERY close to the border with Piedmont-Sardinia! I've always known that the nearby towns of Bettola and Bardi were within the modern-day Provinces of Piacenza and Parma resp...

Ciao tutti! Thanks to several of you (most notably Suanj) and also the State Archives in Piacenza and the Mormon Church, I have now started to make some progress with my Italian family history. Last week I paid a first visit to my local Mormon Family History Centre, having preordered the birth/marri...

Gina Sure. It's an A3-sized sheet with a column down the left-hand side giving personal details, such as parentage, date and place of birth, physical characteristics (hair and eye colour, height, chest measurement and, would you believe, size of nose and chin!) and other details, such as occupation ...

Just a quick note to say thanks, guys (especially Suanj!) for all your help. The copy of my grandfather's Ruolo arrived in this morning's mail from the Piacenza State Archive; it took just over two weeks to arrive from the date I mailed my request to them and cost 4 Euros, including postage. I will ...

Gina Sure, no problem! I've appended below the text of the original email I sent to Piacenza Archives. Apologies in advance to any native Italian speakers if I've mangled the language (I'm 15 years out of practice!!) but it SHOULD say: "Sirs I am writing this from Great Britain. I would like to...

Thanks, Suanj, that was more or less what I thought. I will now send payment.

Ciao tutti! I have now received a reply from the Piacenza State Archive (thanks, Suanj!) regarding my grandfather's WWI military service. Can someone confirm that the email below says what I think it says as my conversational Italian these days is much better than my "official" Italian! I ...

Tante grazie, Suanj, ho scritto adesso al'Archivio di Stato di Piacenza per ottenere la Lista di Leva e e Ruolo Matricolare per mio nonno. For the Mormon Church, I have now located the Family History Centres closest to me (Worcester, England and Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil in Wales). I note that the ...

Thanks for that you two. mj: Wow! So many Cordanis emigrating to the USA! There may well be a family connection with some of the people you list, but I understand from various people I've contacted that Cordani is a very common surname in the area around Bettola. This is borne out by the fact that I...

Hi Daisyboo! Just joined as a newbie today, and posted my first message. Thought I'd have a browse to see what the other postings said and found yours. The ship you mean wasn't the 'Arandora Star' was it? It sailed from Liverpool on 1 July 1940, bound for Canada, and was torpedoed on 2 July, 125 mil...

Tante grazie per quello, Suanj. I already have a date of birth for my grandfather of 29 July 1896, and he gives his place of birth on his UK naturalisation form as "Bettola, Piacenza". Am I likely to learn much more from his draft registration?

Auguri

Mike

Hello everyone Am new to this site, having done really well in researching my UK ancestry in the past year or so, mostly back to the 1700s. Would now like to address the Italian part of my ancestry and wonder whether anyone could give me any tips on sources/how to proceed? My maternal grandfather, C...