FamilySearch, a platform maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (os Mormons), has stopped displaying thousands of Italian civil and military records from the Archivi di Stato (State Archives).
The change occurred after a request from the Italian Ministry of Culture, which changed the terms of the digitization contract signed with the North American religious institution.
The information was released by the Brazilian genealogist Gustavo Pedroso, from the specialized website Genealogies, in a publication in the group “Italian Citizenship – Free Area!!!“, on Facebook.
The block mainly affects users searching for documents for Italian citizenship processes or genealogical research.
“Unfortunately, in the second half of last year, there was a change in the contract and the Ministry of Culture asked FamilySearch to withdraw access to these documents. Now, unfortunately, the Italian records whose source is the State Archives are no longer available on FamilySearch, nor by going to CHF (Family History Centers),” explained Pedroso.
These documents were available thanks to a contract signed between the FamilySearch and General Directorate for Archives, an agency linked to the Italian Ministry of Culture. Although it did not have a set term, the agreement included unilateral termination clauses.
This measure had already been adopted in other contexts. In 2024, the diocese of Piracicaba, in the interior of São Paulo, also requested the withdrawal of access to its digitalized registry books through the platform.
In Brazil, a similar decision was taken by the National Council of Justice (CNJ), which in 2024 determined that the digitization of Brazilian civil records depends on prior authorization from the ON-RCPN (National Operator of the Civil Registry of Natural Persons).
The entity represents Brazilian registry offices and has already spoken out against unrestricted access to these documents by foreign platforms such as FamilySearch.
Alternatives and limitations
Most of the blocked Italian civil records can be consulted at Antenna Portals, a public platform maintained by the Italian Ministry of Culture itself. However, digitalization is still partial. Regions such as the province of Vicenza, for example, have incomplete coverage.
Another significant impact was the loss of access to military records from several regions, such as Aosta, Calabria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Sicily. This data was available at Family History Centers (FHCs) linked to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where it was possible to search for names even without knowing the comune of origin.
Now, the only alternative is to wait for these documents to also be digitized and made available by Antenati. There is, as of yet, no official forecast for the completion of this process.
Pedroso warns: “Do your research on FamilySearch while you can. The contract may change at some point and your access will end, which will make things much more complicated.”
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