Comuni

Italy is divided into 20 regioni, each containing a number of province, which in turn contain individual comuni. The comune is the basic unit of Italian local government. There are 7,904 comuni in total, ranging from major cities to villages of a few hundred people.

For ancestry research, the comune is where vital records are held: births, marriages, and deaths are registered at the local Ufficio di Stato Civile. Knowing your ancestor's exact comune is the first step in requesting those records.

Many comuni have changed names over the centuries. Mergers, annexations, and political changes all left their mark. You can search this directory by historical name as well as current name. Each comune page lists any known historical names.