Here we have curated a list of websites and books with information on the history of Italy and Sicily as well as information about all the different towns and cities around the country. You can also use the maps, postal codes and white pages links to help you find relatives.
Sicily on Wikipedia – This web site includes information about each town and info about the geography, art and history of Sicily. It even tells you about the trains, autos and airports!
Lesson on the Unification of Italy – an easy to follow 7 minute video about the Unification of Italy.
The History Channel’s Italy page – Links to all kinds of interesting histories of everything Italy, from Pompeii, to the Renaissance, to natural disasters and more.
Insight Guide’s Italian Historical Highlights – Provides brief highlights of the major points in Italian history, from the Etruscans to the Baroque, with a timeline to the present day as well.
Timeline of Art History – The Met Museum’s page showcasing the Art History of the Italian Peninsula is fantastic. Use the links on the right under Primary Chronology to move forward or backward through time.
Flags of Sicily and Italy – This site has many flags of Sicily and Italy. You can also link to a history of Italy, maps showing the history of Italy and Sicily, coat of arms and much more.
Did your ancestor fight with Garibaldi? Check this site for a listing of 1090 who did! You can also check the Archivio di Stato di Torino page which has a searchable database too.
See the Additional Town Databases page for some of the Archives that have vital records available online.
Italian Embassies around the world – This web site has a listing of all Italian Embassy offices around the world with phone numbers, addresses and email addresses.
Italian Consulates in the USA – Link to a list of consulates with their jurisdictions.
Italian State Archives – Explanation of items available in the Italian State Archives.
National City Hall Association (ANCI) – Includes telephone/fax numbers, email address and websites of Italian cities
Informative Unified System of the Archival and Bibliographical Superintendencies (SIUSA) – Houses items not kept by the State Archives. For instance, one two of their projects are the Historical Archives of the Church in the Veneto and the Census of the Archives of the Inquisition in Italy.
CAP-Italian Postal Codes – Here you will find all the postal codes so that you can mail letters to Italy. You can search by postal code, name of town, or pick a region, then a province, then a town.
Index to the sections of the city of Palermo
Pagine Bianche – Italian White Pages
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection – This cool website offers historical maps from all over the world. To find what you are looking for, click View Collection at the top and scroll down to Browse by Categories.
Map a name in Italy – This site allows you to enter a surname (cognome) and it will place a dot on the map of Italy for every time that name is found in the white pages. The bigger the dot, the more people that are there! You can do the same for the United States.
Map a Name in Italy – Another version of the above, but it gets down into a little more detail.
Distance Between Towns – Use this website to find out how far it is from one town in Italy to another.
Time Zone Converter – Want to know what time it is in Italy or anywhere else in the world? This is the place to find out!
Every Town in Sicily – This page has a listing of every town in Sicily and for some towns, a
small bit of history and information about the town.
Information about each Sicilian Town – Click on the name of the comune you are interested in and you will get all sorts of interesting information including history, popular tourist spots, local products and handicrafts, travel information, recipes, and the best part: the most common surnames for that comune!
Arberesh Cities – In the 1400s, many Albanians emigrated to Italy and they settled many cities in Sicily, Calabria and Cosenza. More on this topic can be found at History of Albanians in Italy, Arberesh Mailing List, and Sicilian Peoples: The Albanians.
SicilyVideo.it – Here you can purchase a documentary type video of the town where your ancestors are from. Giovanni Montanti has made this video for many towns in Sicily. I have sponsored videos about my two hometowns: Misilmeri and Ventimiglia di Sicilia. If you find that your ancestral town is not one that he has already filmed, contact him about sponsoring him to make the video for you and your fellow descendants.
