Sources for research on births, deaths and marriages
For birth, domicile, marriage and death records it is necessary to contact the competent municipal offices.
Any research on births, deaths and marriages before 1770 should be carried out in parish archives and ideally with knowledge of the year and the parish of birth of the person in question if said research is to produce any results (for current parishes see the search engine Parrocchie and the website Diocesi e Parrocchie).
Birth, death and marriage registers of Milan and the Municipalities of the Archdiocese of Milan:
- those dating from 1770 to 1865 are preserved at the Diocesan Historical Archive, via San Calimero 13 - 20122 Milan, tel. (+39) 02 58499801, e-mail: archivio@diocesi.milano.it;
- for those dating from 1866 to today (with large gaps due to natural disasters) every Municipality preserves the registers relating to its inhabitants.
- The birth, death and marriage registers of the Municipality of Milan are preserved:
- at the Civic Historical Archive of Castello Sforzesco, Cortile della Rocchetta - 20121 Milan, c.ascbibliotrivulziana@comune.milano.it
- births and marriages from 1801 to 1865
- deaths from 1803 to 1899
- at Municipality of Milan - Registry Office Services, via Larga 12 - 20122 Milan:
- births and marriages from 1866 to today
- deaths from 1900 to today.
- at the Civic Historical Archive of Castello Sforzesco, Cortile della Rocchetta - 20121 Milan, c.ascbibliotrivulziana@comune.milano.it
For researches on births, deaths and marriages via the consultation of conscription records, go to Military district sources.
See also the Ancestors Portal of the Directorate-General for Archives, page The sources for genealogical research held by State Archives, in particular the section Explore Archives which contains information on all Italian state archives.
For Italian emigrants we recommend consulting the databases of the International Center for Studies on Italian Emigration (CISEI) and the following websites:
- Museu da imigraçao do Estado de Sao Paulo, clicking on “Registros de matrícula” and “Listas de bordo”;
- Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos.
As regards Marital Status records, the project for the deposit and digitalisation of marital status registers (marriages and deaths until 1947; births until 1917), relating to Milan and Province, from the Archive of the Court of Milan, has now concluded. The digitalised records will be made available on the Ancestors Portal of the Ministry of Culture.
Finally, in the absence of other information, we recommend browsing the databases of surnames of the various Italian provinces available on these websites:
By Bernadette Cereghini, State archivist, June 2001;
revised by Giovanni Liva, State archivist, January 2016.
Last updated: 24/05/2024
