Record Atlas
4 eras · 1200–2026 · 216 places

Eastern Sicily — Catania

Piedimonte Etneo, Catania, Acireale. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Where researchers lose records here

1816–1861 — Sicily's civil registration begins in 1820 — ELEVEN YEARS AFTER the mainland's 1809. A researcher who has worked in Campania and carries the 1809 date across the strait will hunt for a Sicilian birth record that was never written.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1200–1816 Kingdom of Sicily FamilySearch

Parish registers only, kept by the parish and the diocese.
1816–1861 Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Antenati · FamilySearch

THE TRAP. Sicily's civil registration begins in 1820 — ELEVEN YEARS AFTER the mainland's 1809. A researcher who has worked in Campania and carries the 1809 date across the strait will hunt for a Sicilian birth record that was never written.
1861–1946 Kingdom of Italy Antenati · FamilySearch
1946–2026 Italy — Provincia di Catania Antenati

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.

216 places on this ground

The 200 carrying the most collections are listed; 16 more stand on this ground. Every place has them all.

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.

All record regions · The map