Calabrian Genealogy - Birth Records Of Italy

Birth Act

Atti di Nascita and Atto di Nati are two names for the state civil regitration records of birth. A birth act is a record that a birth has taken place and can provide more information on the family of the baby. The format and wording of this record has changed over the years slightly, but the information provided has not. On the left side of this page you can see an actual birth act of my great aunt from Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza, Calabria. Beneath it is a basic translation of most birth acts. If you do not speak Italian, there is a simple, easy way of extracting the pertinent data from the record. Throughout this explanation, I will provide links to various images of documents to explain how to read these documents.

In every birth act you can find the following information:

Full name of baby
Date of birth
Father's name, age and profession
Mother's name, age and profession
Frasione, address or street the family lived

It is very possible to find more information than what is listed above. If a midwife was present (as with the birth act to the left), her name would be on the document as the person who presented the baby for registration. Look for the profession "levatrice" which is midwife in Italian. More rare to find (but not impossible) can be "annotazione" or annotations of death or marriage. Sometimes a certificate like this attached to the birth act. This "annotazione" is a notation of the child's death. This particular document states that Maria Concetta LoFeudo died in the Vaccarizzo frasione of Montalto Uffugo on 1 March 1953. It was attached to her birth act. Sometimes there will just be a notation under the name of the baby on the birth act. If you look closely at my great aunt's birth act, there is a notation under her name regarding her marriage. A close up of this notation here shows Carmela DeSeta married in Paola a man named Ottavio Perrotta. She married him in Paola on 4 June. The date reads 4-6-32. In America we would read that as April 6, however, in Italy the day is written first, then the month making the actual date is June 4. Because of this notation, I know to look in Paola for a copy of her marriage act and can provide the town with the date the marriage took place. I know who her husband was and if I wanted to find the cousins of my father, I know what surname to look for. I found two certificates attached to the birth act of my grandfather's cousin. One certificate provided information and a date of his death. Another certificate provided information regarding the adoption of a child and her name. Although this notes and certificates are not common, during the time frame of 1870-1910 I did see many.

Stato Civile Birth Acts

General translation of a birth act:

Number Act number___

The year ____, the day __ of ____ month to hours _____ and minutes __ in the Town Hall . In my presence _____Name_______ and civil records officer of ________Comune name_______, it is appeared _____Name__________ of age __, ____profession_______ domicile in ________, that it declare to me, that in the hours ____ and ___ minutes of day __ _____ month in the house of ____address, street or section_____, from ___mother's name___ wife of age __, ___profession____ with the inhabitant, it is born a baby of __(male or female)___ sex that it present us and that it declare of to give to this baby the first name of ____________. The presentation and the declaration above mentioned it is made in the presence of ____Name_____ of age __, ____profession____ and of ____Name______ of age __ __________, ______ resident of_______. Read the present act to declaring and to witnesses,

These birth acts vary slightly depending on the year issued and where they were issued but the above is an approximate translation. This should help you locate the pertinent data.

Useful Links

Below are useful links that will help you read these documents.

Home | Records | Calabria

| Family