Find Your Ancestor’s Home and Family Places in Palermo, Sicily

Would you like to find the street where your ancestors lived, identify a village mentioned in an old document, or see what remains of a family home? I am Alfredo Nocera, a professional genealogist based in Palermo. I provide genealogical and local research in Palermo and its surrounding province, combining documentary evidence with on-site investigation when appropriate.

Depending on the evidence and access, I can investigate historical addresses, churches, rural localities, cemeteries, and other places connected with your family. When a location can be identified, current photographs may help you understand its present-day appearance or prepare for a roots trip.

Request an assessment for your family’s places in Palermo.

Historic view of Palermo from the Royal Palace. Historical postcard caption: “20 – Palermo – Panorama dal Palazzo Reale.”

On-Site Genealogy and Local Research in Palermo

My local research covers the city of Palermo and towns in its province. Each project starts with the information already available and an assessment of what can reasonably be investigated. Services may include:

• Ancestral homes and historical addresses: investigating streets, houses, rural properties, and neighborhoods mentioned in family documents.
• Towns, villages, and smaller localities: identifying a frazione, borgata, or contrada and its relationship with the relevant municipality.
• Current photographs: documenting identifiable and accessible ancestral buildings, streets, churches, villages, and surrounding places.
• Archival and parish research: consulting relevant local repositories when surviving sources and access arrangements allow.
• Cemeteries and family graves: researching burial locations and, when feasible, photographing graves, headstones, inscriptions, and family tombs.
• Family connections: genealogical and documentary research aimed at identifying possible living relatives when sufficient information and appropriate sources are available.
• Research before a roots trip: helping identify meaningful family locations before you visit Palermo and its province.

For burial enquiries, see the dedicated page on cemetery research and grave photography in Palermo. For wider documentary research, see genealogy research in Sicily.

Finding an Ancestral Home or Historical Address

An old street name or house number is a starting point, rather than proof that the same building can still be found. Streets may have been renamed, buildings renumbered, and properties altered or demolished. A rural estate or locality may also be known today by a different name.

I compare the available civil and parish records, historical residence information, maps, directories, and other relevant evidence to assess where the family lived. When feasible, I can visit the location and photograph its present-day appearance.

What Your Research Report May Include

• Assessment of the historical address, street name, or locality.
• Identification of a present-day location, with an explanation of the supporting evidence.
• Original photographs taken on site, where the location is accessible.
• A comparison between historical references and the present-day street, building, or surroundings.
• A personalized PDF report in English, with relevant references, photographs, and maps where available.

The deliverables are agreed in the quotation. An exact house cannot always be identified with certainty. Where the evidence establishes only a street, neighborhood, village, church, or surrounding area, the report will distinguish that finding from a confirmed building identification.

Why the Exact Ancestral Town Matters

Italian genealogical sources are generally organized locally. A document stating only “Palermo, Sicily” may refer to the city or to the wider province. It does not by itself prove that the person was born within Palermo city.

An ancestor described abroad as being from Palermo may instead have come from Monreale, Carini, Termini Imerese, Partinico, Corleone, Cefalù, Montelepre, or another municipality in the area. Passenger lists, naturalization papers, marriage records, obituaries, church records, and family documents may provide a more precise location.

A smaller village name can also be a useful clue. The task is to connect the locality with the municipality and, where relevant, the parish responsible at the time. See my guide to finding an Italian ancestor’s town of origin.

Once the correct municipality and record have been identified, an official document may be requested through the appropriate office. For that service, see birth, marriage, and death certificates from Palermo and its province.

Historical Place Names and Municipal Boundaries

A place name in an old Italian record or an overseas certificate may be historically correct even when it differs from the modern name. The following examples are particularly useful in the Palermo area.

Piana dei Greci and Piana degli Albanesi

Piana degli Albanesi, an Arbëresh community south of Palermo, was formerly known as Piana dei Greci. A family document identifying “Piana dei Greci, Palermo, Sicily” should therefore be investigated in connection with present-day Piana degli Albanesi. Both names are useful when searching historical catalogues and family records.

Parco and Altofonte

The present-day municipality of Altofonte was historically called Parco. A reference to “Parco, Palermo” may therefore point to Altofonte. The surrounding place names, dates, and family information should be compared before accepting the identification.

San Giuseppe dei Mortilli and San Giuseppe Jato

San Giuseppe Jato was formerly known as San Giuseppe dei Mortilli. Archival descriptions record a municipal resolution in 1862 and royal authorization of the name change in 1864. Older civil and parish records may consequently use the former name.

San Cipirello and San Giuseppe Jato

A major landslide struck San Giuseppe Jato in 1838. Some inhabitants rebuilt in the locality recorded as Sancipirrello, and San Cipirello was constituted as an independent municipality in 1864.

For families connected with this area, the date of an event matters. Earlier records may need to be investigated in relation to San Giuseppe Jato, while later records may fall under San Cipirello. The relevant registers and jurisdiction should be checked for the particular year.

Palermo’s Borgate, Villages, and Rural Localities

A Comune is a municipality. A borgata, frazione, or contrada may identify a settlement, district, or rural locality within a municipality. These names can help locate a family, but should not automatically be treated as independent towns.

Historical Localities within Palermo

Names that may appear in records relating to Palermo include:

Mondello · Sferracavallo · Tommaso Natale · Partanna-Mondello · Pallavicino · San Lorenzo · Resuttana · Cruillas · Boccadifalco · Baida · Mezzomonreale · Ciaculli · Croceverde-Giardina · Brancaccio · Acqua dei Corsari.

A document may identify one of these places rather than simply Palermo. The relevant municipal office, parish, and historical boundaries still need to be established for the period concerned.

Monreale and Its Surrounding Territory

Monreale has an extensive territory containing rural communities and smaller settlements. A family document may identify a locality within that territory rather than the municipality itself. Establishing the relationship between the locality, municipality, and parish can be essential to locating both the records and the family’s places.

The Madonie Area

Towns in the Madonie area include Castelbuono, Castellana Sicula, Cefalù, Collesano, Gangi, Geraci Siculo, Gratteri, Isnello, Petralia Soprana, Petralia Sottana, Polizzi Generosa, Pollina, and San Mauro Castelverde.

Petralia Soprana and Petralia Sottana are distinct municipalities, rather than interchangeable names for the same town. Parish records, where they survive and are accessible, may help investigate generations earlier than the civil records available for a locality.

Termini Imerese and Ancient Himera

Termini Imerese and ancient Himera have connected histories, but Himera should not be treated as a simple former municipal name for nineteenth- or twentieth-century records from Termini Imerese. The ancient sites were distinct; identifying the locality appropriate to the date and source is essential.

Using Locality Names as Research Clues

Villages, estates, and rural districts may be mentioned in civil records, parish registers, historical residence records, military records, notarial documents, passenger lists, and family letters. A spelling that does not match a modern map may still preserve a valuable geographical clue.

For the broader municipal list and research sources, see my guide to Sicilian genealogy and the Palermo area.

Request Research into Your Family’s Places

To assess a project, please send:

• The names of the ancestors and any known family relationships.
• Approximate dates and the town, village, street, or locality mentioned in your records.
• Copies of relevant certificates, family documents, letters, photographs, or historical addresses.
• A description of what you hope to find: a house, street, church, village, burial place, or other location.
• If you are planning a visit, your intended travel period and the places already identified.

I review the available evidence and provide a personalized quotation for the proposed research and deliverables. Access to archives, parishes, cemeteries, and individual locations varies; any on-site work is arranged according to feasibility.

I prefer contact by email. Write to alfredonocera1@gmail.com or use the contact page to request an assessment.

For an official civil document rather than location research, visit Palermo Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates.