Before 1796 the peninsula we now call Italy was made up of many autonomous city-states. They were under the rule of different nations depending on the invaded territory. This made each city-state to be culturally different. They even spoke different dialects. At that time there was no standardized record keeping at this time. However, the Council of Trent, in a decree confirmed by Pope Pius IV in 1564, required all Catholic priests to maintain written documentation for each of the major sacraments (baptism, marriage, and extreme unction). These church records all contain essential information for genealogists, but they vary greatly in content and even language (some were written in Latin, some in Italian or a dialect, and some a combination). The only public records maintained at this time were for the purpose of collecting taxes. Therefore, these records usually mention only people of some means.

By 1808, Napoleon controlled virtually all of continental Europe, either directly or through French rule. Only Sicily and Sardinia were not under Napoleon’s control. An interesting note: Napoleon was born Napoleon Buonaparte in Italian-speaking Corsica and later changed his name to the French Bonaparte, so he was actually Italian not French. During his rule he created Italy’s first centralized administrative, judicial and civil code. His unification was not merely political, but social as well. The creation of new roads brought previously isolated regions closer. This prompted commerce between regions, allowing middle class to emerge. For the first time, the people could call themselves "Italian" and were not restricted to identifying themselves solely by their region.

The restructuring of Italy into organized regions, provinces and towns, with certain political responsibilities at the local level, was a Napoleon creation. A similar form is still used today. Napoleon also initiated the maintenance of vital records for births, marriages and deaths throughout the kingdom. He not only detailed which records were to be kept and what information they must include, but also had special books printed to assist the town mayor in maintaining this information.

It is because of Italy’s meticulously kept records that I was able to go back into our family’s history as far as I have