Research Guides
Practical resources for Sicilian family history
Research your Sicilian ancestry
These guides explain how to work with historical documents, identify places of origin and evaluate evidence when researching family history in Sicily. Start with the subject most relevant to your question.
Identify a Sicilian ancestor’s hometown using records created before and after emigration.
Understand historical birth, marriage and death registers, and where to search for them.
Use baptism, marriage and burial registers to investigate earlier generations.
Compare passenger lists, naturalization documents and supporting evidence.
Recognize older Sicilian town names and changes in administrative boundaries.
06 / Reading Marriage Records →
Interpret civil and parish marriage acts and their supporting documents.
A reference for Italian, Latin and archival terms found in Sicilian civil and parish records.
Need help with a specific family record?
Describe the ancestor, place or document you want to investigate. Sicilian Ancestry can assess the available information and the scope of a research assignment.