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The Italian Parish registries began in 1563 because of reforms proclaimed at the Council of Trent, although many parishes didn't conform until much later. We know of a few parishes who kept records as early as the 1300s. The church records of Palermo, for example, start about 1350, and the baptistry in Firenze has records from the early 1400s. Church records are crucial for research before the civil government began keeping vital records, which began about 1809 to 1820.
Here we present an analysis of data from a Parish Registry in San Sossio Baronia, Avellino, Campania.
San Sossio Baronia is a village in the hills of Campania. The mother church in the town is the Santa Maria Assunta Parish. These records were in very poor c0ndition when they were digitized.
In most towns it took some time to implement the change issued by the Council of Trent of documenting births, marriages, and deaths with the town clerk.
In San Sossio Baronia the Civil Records began in 1809.
In southern Italy, civil authorities began registering births, marriages, and deaths in 1809 (1820 in Sicily).
In central and northern Italy, civil registration began in 1866 (1871 in Veneto). After this date, virtually all vital records were being recorded.
As seen in this graph, many years of records were lost due to damage.
We have some missing years within the marriage records. look at the significant spikes after both gaps.
The large spikes in the graph illustrate years of plagues and illnesses. In this town, the death records didn't start until 1728.
The population growth rate in this town varied over the years.
As you can see, there is a significantly extensive amount of information that can be obtained from these precious records. We have only presented some of the information available. Additional information such as occupations, census data, and age of death can be very useful when studying the unique history of these people.
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