Last changed 2026-09-30 · first mapped 2026-09-23 Follow what changes.
Comes out as a sheet for the reading room — what to ask for, who holds it, and every link written out in full.
This place
Where to begin
You know your family came from Stilo. Here is the order I would work in, cheapest and easiest first — and what to do when that runs out.
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Work out which country your year belongs to
This is the step almost everybody skips, and it is the commonest reason a record that exists cannot be found. The ground did not move; the border did. A baptism here in one decade may sit in a different country's archive from one twenty years later.
Years Who governed Whose archive 1200–1806 Kingdom of Naples familysearch 1806–1815 Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples antenati · familysearch 1815–1861 Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
antenati · familysearch 1861–2026 Italy — Provincia di Vibo Valentia
antenati · familysearch Do this: take the year you are looking for, find its row, and note the archive. That is the one to search — not the one the village is in today.
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The things that catch people out here
1200–1806, Kingdom of Naples. THE HOLE. The earthquake of 1783 levelled much of Calabria Ultra and burned or buried the comune and parish archives with it — Briatico itself was destroyed and rebuilt on a new site. For a great many Calabrian towns there is simply nothing before 1783, and no archive to write to about it.
1861–2026, Italy — Provincia di Vibo Valentia. The earthquakes of 1905 and 1908 took another bite out of the Calabrian registers. A gap here is more often a destroyed book than an unfilmed one.
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Find the parish, because that is where the book was
Before civil registration, the parish priest kept the register. A village without its own church was written into a neighbour's book.
- San Francesco
- chiesa Madonna delle Grazie
- Cattolica di Stilo
- Dome of Stilo
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When you run out — and you will
Everything above is what this atlas knows. It is not everything there is. Nine places in ten on this map have never been surveyed by anybody, so a gap here is usually our silence rather than the record's absence.
Do this: write to the archive named in the era table for your year, even if we hold nothing for it. Then tell us what you found — a gap somebody has personally closed is the most useful thing a stranger can give this map.
The archives named above: familysearch · antenati. What each one holds and why.
Whose archive this ground was
Stilo sits in Calabria. Which empire held it decides which archive holds its records — and for some of these years that is not the archive you would guess.
| Years | Who held it | Whose archive that means |
|---|---|---|
| 1200–1806 | Kingdom of Naples | FamilySearch THE HOLE. The earthquake of 1783 levelled much of Calabria Ultra and burned or buried the comune and parish archives with it — Briatico itself was destroyed and rebuilt on a new site. For a great many Calabrian towns there is simply nothing before 1783, and no archive to write to about it. |
| 1806–1815 | Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples | Antenati · FamilySearch Civil registration from 1809, as on the rest of the mainland. |
| 1815–1861 | Kingdom of the Two Sicilies | Antenati · FamilySearch |
| 1861–2026 | Italy — Provincia di Vibo Valentia | Antenati · FamilySearch The earthquakes of 1905 and 1908 took another bite out of the Calabrian registers. A gap here is more often a destroyed book than an unfilmed one. |
No volumes recorded here yet.
The ground worth walking
Within 8 km — 10 places · 6 parishes · 5 burial grounds. These neighbours hold 1,767 catalogued volumes between them.
A register belongs to a parish, not to a village. A hamlet with no church of its own was written into the book of the church it walked to — and that book is catalogued under the other place's name. This is the ground to search before concluding a record does not exist.
- Bivongi1.5 km332 volumes
- Guardavalle4.7 km53 volumes
- Camini5.1 km353 volumes
- Riace6.6 km346 volumes
- Placanica7.4 km309 volumes
- Monasterace7.8 km336 volumes
- Santa Caterina dello Ionio7.9 km38 volumes
Correctly placed and unread. A gap here is this atlas's silence, not the record's — the registers may well exist and nobody has walked them.
The nearest parishes
A church is a parish and a parish is where a register is kept — the register of a hamlet with no church of its own is kept at the church it walked to, so the distance is the useful part. Wikidata's coverage is very uneven: 34,612 churches in England against 105 in central Istria, so a short list here means thin data and not an empty landscape. Unchecked, and only inside a mapped record region.
- San Francesco ↗ 0.2 km
- chiesa Madonna delle Grazie ↗ 0.2 km
- Cattolica di Stilo ↗ 0.4 km
- Dome of Stilo ↗ 0.4 km
- chiesa di Santa Marina e Santa Lucia ↗ 0.5 km
- San Domenico ↗ 0.6 km
Where the burials are
The other end of a parish: the register records the burial and the ground holds it, and a family that left no other trace very often left a stone. These are points on a map, not record collections — from Wikidata and OpenStreetMap, nobody here has visited one, and whether the burial register survives is a question for the parish or the municipality above. Grounds OpenStreetMap has not named are here too. They used to be left out, on the reasoning that a shape with no name is not a place anyone can ask about — which cost Senj its own graveyard, 2 km away and unnamed, while a named one 7 km off was all this page would show. Being unnamed is a fact about the map data, not about the ground. Only inside a mapped record region.
- cimitero di Stilo ↗ 0.6 km Wikidata
- Cimitero di Stilo ↗ 0.6 km OpenStreetMap
- cimitero di Bivongi ↗ 1.2 km Wikidata
- Cimitero di Bivongi ↗ 1.2 km OpenStreetMap
- cimitero di Pazzano ↗ 1.9 km Wikidata
326 volumes catalogued here
The oldest 25 are listed. A researcher is nearly always reaching back, and the rest are one click away at the provider.
The level below «a collection covers this place»: which book, for which years, and the link that opens its images. From FamilySearch's own catalogue. Nobody here has opened any of them. You can, though — mark the pages you have searched on any row below and this browser will remember where you stopped.
- Matrimoni 1809 ↗ 1809–1809
- Matrimoni, processetti 1809-1823 (Registro 1821) ↗ 1809–1823
- Morti 1809 ↗ 1809–1809
- Nati 1809 ↗ 1809–1809
- Matrimoni 1810 ↗ 1810–1810
- Morti 1810 ↗ 1810–1810
- Nati 1810 ↗ 1810–1810
- Matrimoni 1811 ↗ 1811–1811
- Morti 1811 ↗ 1811–1811
- Nati 1811 ↗ 1811–1811
- Matrimoni 1812 ↗ 1812–1812
- Morti 1812 ↗ 1812–1812
- Nati 1812 ↗ 1812–1812
- Matrimoni 1813-1814 ↗ 1813–1814
- Morti 1813-1814 ↗ 1813–1814
- Nati 1813-1814 ↗ 1813–1814
- Matrimoni 1815 ↗ 1815–1815
- Morti 1815 ↗ 1815–1815
- Nati 1815 ↗ 1815–1815
- Matrimoni 1816 ↗ 1816–1816
- Morti 1816 ↗ 1816–1816
- Nati 1816 ↗ 1816–1816
- Matrimoni 1817 ↗ 1817–1817
- Morti 1817 ↗ 1817–1817
- Nati 1817 ↗ 1817–1817
National sources for Italy, unverified
From Wikidata, CC0 — the national archive and the national library where the country has one. Nobody here has opened these. The link answered when it was asked and that is the whole of what this map knows about them. They are listed because a country with no named source at all is the worse answer: 199 of the 237 countries here had nothing but the worldwide services, which cover everywhere and therefore say nothing about anywhere.
- Archivio centrale dello Stato ↗ national archive did not answer this checker
- Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma ↗ national library did not answer this checker
- Biblioteca nazionale Braidense ↗ national library
- Italian National Libraries ↗ national library
- National Central Library of Florence ↗ national library
The sources for Italy
National and regional sources that cover this ground whether or not anybody has walked it here — which makes them the answer, not the consolation, for a place with no volumes recorded on it. A country-wide body is listed whatever the distance; a provincial archive is a claim over its own province, so those are the nearest ones. 119 more cover Italy and are on the country page.
- Antenati Images, free, no account Rome, Italy
The Italian state archives' own portal. Civil registration images from 1806, free and without an account — the best national genealogy portal in Europe. - OpenStarts (Università di Trieste) Nobody has walked this one yet
The University of Trieste's open repository. Worked by the Defranceski archive, which OCR'd and read the 1869 «Guida schematica di Trieste» — a city directory, which names householders street by street in years no register covers. Not yet surveyed. - ANNO — Austrian Newspapers Online Images, free, no account Vienna, Austria
The Austrian National Library's digitised newspaper run. Full-text searchable, and it covers the whole empire — which is why it finds Croatian and Istrian names. - IstriaNet Nobody has walked this one yet
A volunteer-built reference on Istria — history, bibliography and the AMSI series index. Worked by the Defranceski archive for the bibliography of Camillo De Franceschi's writings. A guide to where the scholarship is, not a register. Not yet surveyed. - GenTeam.at Images, free, account needed Vienna, Austria
Volunteer indexes to the Habsburg lands — Vienna's parish registers, Jewish records, school and guild lists. Free with an account, and it reaches ground the church portals do not. - Geneanet Partly free, partly paid
Member-contributed trees and transcriptions, strongest in France. Much is free; a Premium tier gates some search and images. - Archivio di Stato di Reggio Calabria — sezione di locri Images, free, no account Locri, Italy — 32 km
The state archive of Locri, publishing civil registration images through Antenati — free, and without an account. Its own page states how far the digitisation has got and which years it covers; those differ archive by archive. - Archivio di Stato di Vibo Valentia Images, free, no account Vibo Valentia, Italy — 39 km
The state archive of Vibo Valentia, publishing civil registration images through Antenati — free, and without an account. Its own page states how far the digitisation has got and which years it covers; those differ archive by archive. - Archivio di Stato di Catanzaro Images, free, no account Catanzaro, Italy — 47 km
The state archive of Catanzaro, publishing civil registration images through Antenati — free, and without an account. Its own page states how far the digitisation has got and which years it covers; those differ archive by archive. - Archivio di Stato di Reggio Calabria Images, free, no account Reggio Calabria, Italy — 81 km
The state archive of Reggio Calabria, publishing civil registration images through Antenati — free, and without an account. Its own page states how far the digitisation has got and which years it covers; those differ archive by archive.
Sources that cover everywhere
Not about Italy in particular — these reach most of the world, which includes here. They are listed after the local sources because a body that holds this ground's own paper is a better first stop than one that holds a little of everywhere's. Worth knowing they exist all the same.
- Internet Archive Images, free, no account
Full-text search across millions of digitised books, including parish histories, nobiliaries and local monographs that name ordinary people. - Arolsen Archives Images, free, no account
The former International Tracing Service. Concentration camp, forced labour and displaced-persons records for some seventeen and a half million people, free and fully indexed. - BillionGraves Images, free, no account
GPS-tagged headstone photographs. Smaller than Find a Grave but its coordinates are per-stone, which Find a Grave's often are not. - Find a Grave Images, free, no account
Volunteer-photographed headstones and cemetery indexes, worldwide, with very uneven coverage. Owned by Ancestry but free to read. - WikiTree Images, free, no account
A free, single shared tree with an unusually strong sourcing culture. Not a record source. - Yad Vashem — Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names Images, free, no account
Names and testimony pages for victims of the Shoah, free. - FamilySearch Images, free, account needed
The largest free collection of record images and indexes in the world. A free account is required, and a minority of images are restricted to Family History Centres and affiliate libraries. - Geni Images, free, account needed
One shared world tree. Useful for finding other researchers on the same line; not a record source, and its assertions are only as good as their citations. - JewishGen Images, free, account needed
The central Jewish genealogy resource — town-level KehilaLinks, burial and Holocaust databases, and revision lists for eastern Europe. - Geneanet Partly free, partly paid
Member-contributed trees and transcriptions, strongest in France. Much is free; a Premium tier gates some search and images. - Ancestry Images, behind a paywall
The largest commercial collection. Strong on the English-speaking world, censuses and immigration; weak on continental parish registers. - MyHeritage Images, behind a paywall
Commercial, with a large tree network and good European newspaper and directory coverage. Search is free; opening a record is not.
FamilySearch collections that reach here
A collection is a claim over an area, not a book standing in this town — so these are ranked by how specifically they reach Stilo. A free account is needed to open the images, and some are restricted to a Family History Centre.
Worth searching, and worth knowing it is a national index rather than a local one.
- Italy, Torino, Torino, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1899 ↗ 1866–1899 3,679,588 records 622 km
- Italy, Torino, Diocese of Torino, Catholic Church Records, 1801-1899 ↗ 1801–1899 2,579,536 records 622 km
- Italy, Trento, Diocesi di Trento, Catholic Church Records, 1548-1937 ↗ 1547–1937 1,982,368 records 622 km
- Italy, Genova, Genova, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929 ↗ 1866–1929 1,803,065 records 622 km
- Italy, Padova, Padova, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1871-1929 ↗ 1871–1929 1,442,646 records 622 km
- Italy, Enna, Diocese of Nicosia, Catholic Church Records, 1535-1929 ↗ 1535–1929 1,324,863 records 622 km
- Italy, Caserta, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929 ↗ 1866–1929 1,302,094 records 622 km
- Italy, Como, Como, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929 ↗ 1866–1929 1,225,820 records 622 km
- Italy, Milano, Milano, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929 ↗ 1866–1929 1,202,033 records 622 km
- Italy, Salerno, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1806-1949 ↗ 1806–1949 1,201,430 records 622 km
- Italy, Napoli, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1866 ↗ 1809–1866 1,178,892 records 622 km
- Italy, Venezia, Venezia, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1871-1930 ↗ 1871–1930 1,177,702 records 622 km
- Italy, Catania, Arcidiocesi di Catania, Catholic Church Records, 1515-1941 ↗ 1514–1941 1,170,811 records 622 km
- Italy, Palermo, Diocesi di Monreale, Catholic Church Records, 1531-1998 ↗ 1530–1998 1,050,963 records 622 km
- Italy, Ancona, Ancona, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1862-1929 ↗ 1862–1929 1,029,480 records 622 km
- Italy, Bologna, Bologna, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1943 ↗ 1866–1943 987,872 records 622 km
- Italy, Messina, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1820-1865 ↗ 1820–1865 940,311 records 622 km
- Italy, Ivrea Diocesi di Ivrea, Catholic Church Records, 1474-1950 ↗ 1474–1929 939,251 records 622 km
- Italy, Diocesi di Piazza Armerina, Catholic Church Records, 1553-1964 ↗ 1553–1964 841,047 records 622 km
- Italy, Rovigo, Rovigo, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1871-1937 ↗ 1871–1937 826,900 records 622 km
- Italy, Roma, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1863-1930 ↗ 1863–1930 825,269 records 622 km
- Italy, Catania, Catania, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929 ↗ 1866–1929 824,250 records 622 km
- Italy, Catania, Diocesi di Caltagirone, Catholic Church Records, 1502-1942 ↗ 1501–1942 811,350 records 622 km
- Italy, Mantova, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1496-1906 ↗ 1495–1906 802,442 records 622 km
- Italy, Ravenna, Ravenna, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1943 ↗ 1866–1943 764,496 records 622 km
…and 35 more.
See who held Stilo between 1800 and 1920 →
The jurisdiction answer — which empire held this ground, and therefore
whose archive — could only be got at from the map until now. This opens it there, on
1863; drag the year from any point between 1200 and
2026.
Everything in Italy · All 40266 places · Correct something on this page