We therefore confirm that the Emigration Department of the Province is willing to collaborate in undertaking appropriate research, thanks above all to the agreement made with the Archives of the Diocese of Trento, where all the registers of parishes within the province can be consulted on microfilm (although it is also unfortunately true that some registers have been lost due to wars, fires or flooding).

Clearly, in order for the research to have some prospect of success it is indispensable to know the surname and the first name – or in the event that there is more than one, the first names – of the ancestor (many surnames are indeed typical of certain towns and valleys and the experts sometimes succeed in identifying the place and date of birth even if they only have the surname and name available); the search will be much easier if the date of birth is indicated (or at least the approximate year!); if the town of birth is also indicated success is practically ensured (except, we repeat, in the case of registers which have been destroyed!) and the Office can request the birth certificate directly from the competent Comune or parish priest.

We know that some Consulates only accept certificates issued by parish priests if the signature has first been authenticated by the diocesan curia and by the Government Commissariat. We have not found any references in the regulations or provisions which explicitly require authentication and for the information of Consulates we declare that:

q  up to 31.12.1923, within the context of the current province of Trento, which once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there were no registry offices within the Comune;

q the role of the registry office – with the consequential certification of birth, marriage and death – was fulfilled by the individual parish priest responsible for the local area, who in every respect fulfilled the role of Registrar. Parish priests still fulfil this role for certificates up to the aforementioned date;

q a certificate issued by a parish priest within the province up to the date of 31.12,1923 has the same validity as the certificates issued, after this date, by the registry offices of the commune and if presented to the Italian authorities, does not require authentication;

q parish priests have never kept registers of residents and it is therefore not possible to obtain, either from communes or from parish priests, certificates of residency up to the date of 31.12.1923.

We also point out that there were, and still are, frequent cases of persons with the same surname and first name. In these cases, in order to be sure of tracing the correct ancestor who emigrated, it is indispensable to also know the first name of the father and the surname and first name of the mother of the ancestor.

To give an example:

The surname Libardi is very widespread in the commune of Levico Terme, so it is possible, for example, that more than one Francesco Libardi may have been born in that commune more or less in the same period. In this case how is it possible to ascertain which Francesco Libardi is the great-grandfather of Ariel Libardi who lives in Argentina and who wishes to request recognition of Italian nationality? Clearly we can only do this if we know the names of the mother and father of that Francesco Libardi.

We offer another piece of advice:

as already stated we are aware that many people cannot remember the exact dates that their ancestor emigrated from Trentino, and in some cases they do not even know the name. In these cases the best thing to do is begin with your own birth certificate (which in any case will be needed for the procedure for recognition of nationality); from this it is easy to trace the birth certificate of the father, then the grandfather and so on. As each birth certificate also carries the father’s and mother’s name, it will be easy to trace the ancestor who emigrated.

To avoid increasing the research work of different offices (Emigration Department of the province, parishes, communes, diocesan curia, associations of Trentino emigrants etc.) and the confusion which often results, we recommend that you do not contact more than one office at the same time. Choose one and direct your requests and eventual reminders all to the same office.

OUR ADDRESS IS AS FOLLOWS:

This office may be contacted by foreign citizens of Italian origin who, within 8 days of their arrival in Italy, must request a residence permit. The office will fix an appointment for them with the Aliens office at the Police headquarters in Trento.