Researching Italian records can be particularly rewarding when we consider that for generations people would remain in the same town. It is part of the Italian culture to settle in one place marrying people from within the same community, living in the same ancestral home and carrying on the same trade for generations. As a result, today we can trace a family as far back as the late 1500s by researching records in the same town.

Having an Ancestor who was born in Italy is not the only eligibility requirement for Italian Dual Citizenship. 

Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo), the man who changed the size and shape of the world, was certainly an explorer, an entrepreneur, a scientist and a hero for many, but who was he really? 

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was born in Lucca on December 22, 1858 on the second floor of the historic family home located in Corte San Lorenzo not far from piazza San Michele in Foro. It was there that he was baptized the next day (with a special permit), perhaps because he was thought to be in danger for his life. Giacomo was the sixth of nine children (7 sisters and two brothers) born to Michele Puccini and Albina Magi.

We are all very familiar with artists like Michelangelo, Raffaello, Giotto but there are so many more very talented ones who worked in small towns and decorated churches and other buildings. 

We found one in the town of Bianzone (province of Sondrio in Lombardia) who painted these beautiful frescos in the Mother Church of San Siro; his name is Cipriano Valorsa, painter from the 1500s also known as “the Raffaello of Valtellina” (Valtellina the alpine valley in Lombardia known for its landscapes, parks and wines).