It’s been a strange year for everyone and I hope you have all been staying safe from the virus in this pandemic year.  Although Italy has been hard hit our team has remained safe thus far, although this new strain is certainly worrying.

Despite the frequent lockdowns our team has completed 108 projects in 57 communities. (Last year we did 124 projects in 64 communities) An incredible feat of perseverance and tenacity by our team.

The digitization project at the Cattedrale of Sora begun in 2019 was finally completed and consignment of the CD’s was made to both Don Ruggero and the Romina Rea of the Diocese on December 19th. Suitably masked from left to right. Rita, Romina, Don Ruggero and Ann.

The CATASTO ONCIARIO for Southern Italy created between 1743-1753 is gaining interest among researchers who want to add a little extra to their family history. The Catasto is a tax record compiled from a Stato d’anime created by the priest. It lists ownership of home and property and even animals and trees that were taxed. Since a copy of this document can run from 100’s into 1000+ Euro I have begun a list of interested persons who want to share costs.  So far we have interest in Alvito, Atina, Fontechiari, Posta Fibreno, San Donato Val di Comino, Sora, Vicalvi and Villa Santa Lucia. If you would like to be included just send me an email with the subject line CATASTO and the name of the town.  Once I have four names, minimum, I will request a price. They charge by the page so the book pages have to be counted.

The BIG announcement this year is the publication of our genealogical reference book.  

Angel Research’s GUIDE TO GENEALOGICAL RECORDS in the PROVINCE OF FROSINONE.

This is not a ‘how to’ book, but a reference guide to the records available for genealogical research and where to find them.  Although it will be a ‘print’ book, it will be accompanied by a pdf version with active links direct to available on line records.  Look for an article about my new book in the https://www.italianparishrecords.org/ next newsletter. You can subscribe under the ‘home’ tab.

I am also collaborating with Ellen Craig of Umbria Above who is living in Umbria.  UmbriaAbove provides a comprehensive, luxurious Italian adventure, uniting sumptuous accommodations with specialized and private cultural, culinary, and active experiences in our ancient homes and on our ancient lands.

We are doing LIVE interviews on Instagram’s UMBRIAABOVE.  This is a link to one of our chats so you can see the kind of things we discuss. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CItNtPLjmDl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Our first month schedule looks like this:  Hope you can join us!

• EPISODE 1 Monday January 11, 12 noon Eastern, 5pm UK
  • Epidemics in the 1800s
  • Italian archives and military records (what parish records survived the war)
• EPISODE 2 Monday January 18, 
  • Abandoned babies : And a mother who went back to reclaim the baby 3 weeks later
• EPISODE 3: Monday January 25
  • Annoying the Saints, my book about my first 10 years of living in Italy 2000-2010.
• EPISODE 4: Monday February 1
  • Angel Research’s
  • GUIDE TO GENEALOGICAL RECORDS in the PROVINCE OF FROSINONE

You might also be interested in reading a blog article on Italian Archives that I wrote for the https://www.legacytree.com/blog which is scheduled for 2021.

It’s sure to be an exciting year for genealogical research and if we can help with advice, translations, or research we’d love to hear from you.

Best wishes for 2021 from Ann, Rita, Serena, Irene, Giuseppe and Maria