Around six million Italian citizens live outside Italy — and up to eighty million people of Italian descent. Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Australia, Germany: entire generations who left with a cardboard suitcase now have children and grandchildren making the journey in reverse.
What roots tourism is
It is not an ordinary holiday: it is searching for your great-grandfather's village, a birth record in a parish archive, your surname on a cemetery gate, relatives you have never met. The Italian government has understood the phenomenon, dedicating a national themed year to it: for thousands of small towns it is a second chance.
Where to begin
1. The surname and the town. Family stories almost always mention a village, often mangled by emigration. Ellis Island archives, ship manifests and genealogy databases help reconstruct the starting point.
2. The records. Italian civil registration has existed since 1866 (before that, parish registers): birth, marriage and death certificates can be requested from the town of origin.
3. The journey. This is where the magic happens: standing in the square where your grandfather played, hearing the dialect, discovering the village still celebrates the same patron saint's day.
4. Citizenship. Many descendants qualify for Italian citizenship by descent: a serious bureaucratic path, but a possible one.
On BigItalia you will find a guide to every Italian municipality, even the smallest: if you are searching for yours, it is already here waiting for you.