Find your comune
Every Italian Family Story Began Somewhere.
For many Italian families, identity begins with a specific place — not simply Italy, and often not even the region.
It begins with the comune their family called home.
Maybe you already know yours. Maybe you have only a province, a surname, an old document or a story passed down through your family.
The resources below can help you start connecting those clues.
Start with the basics
Comune, Province, Region — What's the Difference?
01
Region
A region is one of Italy's major administrative areas. Examples include Campania, Calabria, Sicilia, Molise and Lombardia. Think of the region as the largest of these three geographic levels.
02
Province
A province sits within a region and contains multiple comuni. For example, Avellino is a province within Campania. Knowing a family's province can significantly narrow the search for their comune.
03
Comune
A comune is the individual municipality — the city, town or village most closely connected to a family's local identity. For Castellesi, this is often the most important piece of the story. Examples include Napoli, Avellino, Nocera Inferiore, Castel Baronia and hundreds of other Italian communities.
Italy may be the country. But the comune is where the story gets personal.
Start With the Clues Your Family Left Behind.
Before searching records, write down everything you already know. Useful clues may include:
- Full names
- Maiden names
- Approximate birth dates
- Parents' names
- Marriage information
- Immigration dates
- Passenger records
- Naturalization records
- Passports
- Church records
- Old addresses
- Photographs
- Letters
- Italian place names remembered by relatives
- Stories passed down through the family
Even an incomplete place name or a province someone remembers hearing can be enough to point the search in the right direction.
Start searching
Resources for Finding Your Comune
FamilySearch
A large free collection of historical records, family trees and digitized material from the United States, Italy and beyond.
Visit FamilySearch →Antenati — Italian State Archives
Italy's Portale Antenati holds digitized civil records from Italian State Archives, including historical birth, marriage and death records from many comuni.
Visit Antenati →National Archives
Immigration, naturalization, census and military records that often name an ancestor's birthplace or last residence in Italy.
Visit the National Archives →Look for the Place, Not Just the Name.
When reviewing old family records, don't search only for names and dates. Look closely for Italian place names.
Birth records, marriage certificates, passenger manifests, naturalization documents and passports may identify a town, province or other geographic clue.
A single place name can completely change the direction of your search.
Still not sure?
Give Orso Your Clues.
If you've searched the records and still aren't sure where your family came from, you don't have to figure it out alone.
Tell Orso what you've discovered — names, dates, provinces, documents, family stories or whatever clues you have — and we'll help you see where they may lead.
Ask OrsoFound it?
Now Wear Your Roots.
Once you know your family's comune, see if Castellesi already celebrates it.
Explore our comuni and find the place connected to your family's story.
Can't find your comune in our collection?
Request your comune →