Provincia di Siracusa
Siracusa also holds Ragusa military rolls
Siracusa's civil fond is one of the longest in Sicily — 1820 to 2000 — and it names its twenty-two comuni explicitly. Its military holdings reach further than its own borders: the Distretto militare di Siracusa also holds the matricular rolls for the province of Ragusa. And the land levy is not here at all: it sits with the Ufficio di leva di Catania.
Explore the comuni
Comuni in Provincia di Siracusa
Civil registers were kept by the comune, not the province. If one of these is your family's, start there.
Where the records are
What Archivio di Stato di Siracusa holds
The Stato civile fond holds registers of the acts of birth, of death, of citizenship together with the Allegati — these last from 1866 — and of marriage and of marriage publications, from 1820 to 2000, for the following comuni: Augusta, Avola, Belvedere, Brucoli, Buccheri, Buscemi, Canicattini Bagni, Carlentini, Cassaro, Ferla, Floridia, Francofonte, Lentini, Marzamemi, Melilli, Pachino, Priolo, Rosolini, Siracusa, Solarino, Sortino, Villasmundo.
A hundred and eighty years in one fond is exceptional for Sicily, where most archives stop at 1865.
The levy is spread across four offices.
Capitaneria di porto di Augusta — sea levy, classes 1822-1873. The start in 1822 makes this among the earliest maritime enrolment series in the south.
Capitaneria di porto di Siracusa — sea levy, classes 1900-1985.
Ufficio leva di mare della capitaneria di porto di Catania — classes 1933-1985.
Ufficio di leva di Catania — the land levy, classes 1840-1940, covering localities including Augusta, Avola, Buccheri, Buscemi, Canicattini Bagni, Carlentini, Cassaro, Ferla, Floridia, Francofonte, Lentini, Melilli, Noto, Pachino, Palazzolo Acreide, Rosolini, Siracusa, Solarino and Sortino.
The Distretto militare di Siracusa holds the ruoli matricolari — and also those for the comuni of the province of Ragusa.
The whole of this long fond is digitised on the portal — unusual for a run reaching 2000.
Continue your research
The land levy is at Catania, the sea levy is split between two capitanerie, and Ragusa's rolls are here.
Archivio di Stato di Siracusa on Antenati
The archive's own statement of its comuni, its four levy offices and the Ragusa rolls.
antenati.cultura.gov.itPortale Antenati archive directory
Every participating State Archive and what each says it holds.
antenati.cultura.gov.itAn archive record and an online family tree will often disagree. Why family trees disagree, and what settles it →
Your roots
Four offices, one province
The civil side is straightforward. Stato civile holds birth, death and citizenship registers with the Allegati — the latter from 1866 — together with marriage acts and marriage publications, from 1820 to 2000, for Augusta, Avola, Belvedere, Brucoli, Buccheri, Buscemi, Canicattini Bagni, Carlentini, Cassaro, Ferla, Floridia, Francofonte, Lentini, Marzamemi, Melilli, Pachino, Priolo, Rosolini, Siracusa, Solarino, Sortino and Villasmundo. A hundred and eighty years in one series, with the comuni named.
The military side is divided across four offices and this is where time is lost.
Sea levy: Capitaneria di porto di Augusta, classes 1822-1873; Capitaneria di porto di Siracusa, classes 1900-1985; Ufficio leva di mare della capitaneria di porto di Catania, classes 1933-1985.
Land levy: the Ufficio di leva di Catania, classes 1840-1940 — not Siracusa.
Ruoli matricolari: the Distretto militare di Siracusa, which also holds those for the province of Ragusa.
The province
A Greek capital, the Val di Noto and a province from 1861
The modern Province of Siracusa dates from the post-unification provincial order of 1861, succeeding the Bourbon territorial administration. Civil registration, as everywhere in Sicily, began in 1820, a year after Ferdinand I instituted it for the kingdom.
Syracuse's own past dwarfs that. It was the greatest Greek city of the west — Thucydides made its siege the turning point of the Peloponnesian War, Archimedes died here in 212 BC — and the cathedral is a Doric temple of Athena with the columns still standing in its walls.
The modern landscape was made by catastrophe. The earthquake of 11 January 1693 destroyed the Val di Noto, and the towns were rebuilt from the ground up in a coherent late baroque: Noto moved bodily to a new site eight kilometres away, and Palazzolo Acreide, Avola — rebuilt on a hexagonal plan — and Rosolini were replanned. Eight Val di Noto towns are now a World Heritage site. Parish series in many of these places begin after 1693 because what came before burned or fell.
The province lost territory in 1927, when Ragusa was created partly from Siracusan comuni — which is why the two provinces' military records remain entangled.
The twentieth century brought the petrochemical belt at Augusta, Priolo and Melilli from the 1950s, which drew population from the hill comuni and changed the demography of the coast within a generation.
Culture & traditions
The Hyblaean hills, the coast and the baroque towns
The province divides between the Hyblaean uplands and a coast that has been contested since antiquity.
The Monti Iblei — Buccheri, Buscemi, Palazzolo Acreide, Ferla, Cassaro, Sortino — are limestone plateau country of dry-stone walls, carob and almond, with Pantalica's rock-cut necropolis of some five thousand tombs cut between the thirteenth and seventh centuries BC. These comuni are small, their records continuous after 1693, and their emigration to the United States was heavy.
The coast — Augusta, Siracusa, Avola, Pachino, Marzamemi — lived by tuna, salt and later by wine. Marzamemi and Vendicari have tonnare; Pachino gives its name to a tomato and grows Nero d'Avola on sandy soil; Avola is almond country.
Noto, Avola and Rosolini are the replanned baroque towns, and their eighteenth-century civic records begin with the resettlement itself.
The petrochemical belt from Augusta to Priolo transformed the northern coast after 1950: villages became industrial towns, and families arrived from inland and from other provinces. A coastal family of the 1960s is often a Hyblaean family of the 1940s.
The Feast of Santa Lucia in December, and her return in May, are Siracusa's civic centre.
Province established
1861
Comuni covered
21
Historic names
Val di Noto · Intendenza di Siracusa · Circondario di Noto · Monti Iblei · Distretto militare di Siracusa (with Ragusa)
Languages & dialects
Italian · Siciliano sud-orientale · Aretuseo · Iblean upland varieties
Traditions
Santa Lucia in December and May · the tonnare of Marzamemi · Nero d'Avola and the Pachino tomato · Val di Noto baroque · Pantalica and the Iblei
The modern Province of Siracusa dates from the post-unification provincial order of 1861, succeeding the Bourbon territorial administration.
Visit the province
Going to the archive in Siracusa
For civil status this is a straightforward archive with a long run and a published comune list. Check the comune against it first.
For the levy, do not assume Siracusa. The land lists are at Catania; only the sea lists are here, and they are split between the Augusta and Siracusa capitanerie with different date ranges.
If you are researching a Ragusa family's military service, come here for the matricular rolls — Ragusa holds the levy lists but not the rolls.
Nothing civil exists before 1820 anywhere in Sicily, and in the Val di Noto many parish series begin only after 1693. Say which office you need when you write.
What to see
Pantalica — five thousand rock-cut tombs in the Hyblaean gorges.
Noto — moved bodily after 1693 and rebuilt as a baroque set piece.
Ortigia — the island city, with the Athena temple standing inside the cathedral.
Marzamemi and Vendicari — the tonnare and the salt pans of the southern coast.
Palazzolo Acreide — the Greek Akrai above the Hyblaean plateau.
The petrochemical coast — Augusta, Priolo and Melilli, industrial since the 1950s.
Not yet in the collection
Want to see Provincia di Siracusa represented?
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