Record Atlas
9 eras · 1200–2026 · 187 places

Western and central Sicily — Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento

Palermo, Trapani, Marsala, Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Cefalù. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1200–1282 Kingdom of Sicily no registers survive

Before registers. Roger II was proclaimed king in 1130, and the Sicilian Vespers of 1282 ended Angevin rule on the island.
1282–1412 Kingdom of Sicily, separate from the mainland FamilySearch

The Peace of Caltabellotta (1302) formalised the split between the island and the mainland kingdom of Naples.
1412–1479 Crown of Aragon — Kingdom of Sicily FamilySearch

The Compromise of Caspe of 1412 added Sicily permanently to the Crown of Aragon.
1479–1713 Spanish rule — Kingdom of Sicily FamilySearch

Spanish domination is dated 1479 to 1713.
1713–1720 Kingdom of Sicily under Victor Amadeus II of Savoy FamilySearch

The Treaty of Utrecht gave Sicily to the House of Savoy in 1713.
1720–1735 Austrian rule FamilySearch

Austria took Sicily in 1720 in exchange for Sardinia (Treaty of The Hague).
1735–1816 Bourbon Kingdom of Sicily Archivio di Stato di Palermo · Archivio di Stato di Trapani · Archivio di Stato di Agrigento · FamilySearch

Bourbon rule began with the conquest of 1735. Britain occupied Sicily from 1806 to 1814, and a British-style constitution was issued in 1812.
1816–1861 Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Antenati · Archivio di Stato di Palermo · Archivio di Stato di Trapani · Archivio di Stato di Agrigento · Archivio di Stato di Caltanissetta · Archivio di Stato di Enna · FamilySearch

The island kingdom merged with Naples into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. Civil registration on Sicily began in 1820, eleven years after the mainland. Garibaldi landed at Marsala on 11 May 1860 and took Palermo between 27 May and 6 June.
1861–2026 Italy — Western Sicily Antenati · Archivio di Stato di Palermo · Archivio di Stato di Trapani · Archivio di Stato di Agrigento · Archivio di Stato di Caltanissetta · Archivio di Stato di Enna · FamilySearch

Plebiscites brought Sicily into Piedmont-Sardinia, and the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 17 March 1861.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1200–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

187 places on this ground

258 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 198 more.

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