The problem with starting
Most families come to us with fragments. A surname that may have been changed at Ellis Island. A town name remembered phonetically by a grandmother who is no longer here to ask. A vague certainty that the family "came from somewhere near Rome," or "was in Livorno for a while," or "left Italy before the war."

That is enough to begin. It is not enough to know whether a full genealogical research project will succeed.

Italian archives are extraordinary: parish registers, notarial acts, community ledgers, Napoleonic-era civil records, ghetto census rolls. They are also uneven. Some collections were destroyed in 1943–44. Some were moved and never re-catalogued. Some Jewish community records survive in near-perfect condition three centuries back; others end abruptly in 1938.

La Ricerca establishes which situation you are in before you spend a great deal more.
What this is
  • We listen
    We take what you know however partial and determine what is recoverable. Not a guess. An assessment based on the actual holdings, in the actual archives, for your actual family.
  • We search
    A three-week archival feasibility assessment, conducted by our researchers in Italy, resulting in a written report.
  • We walk together
    Some families receive a report telling them that four generations are traceable and that the records are sitting in Florence waiting to be read. Some receive a report telling them the trail ends in 1870 and a full research project is not worth their money.
    Both are complete deliverables. We are paid to tell you the truth about what exists.

What you receive

A written assessment, 12–18 pages, covering
  • Surname analysis
    The documented geographic distribution of your family name in Italy, its variant spellings in archival practice, and the regions where it appears in Jewish community records. Surnames indicate research direction, they don't confirm descent.
  • Place identification
    Where a remembered town name has been distorted across generations, we identify the probable original and confirm whether Jewish records exist there.
  • Archive inventory
    Which specific institutions hold relevant material: state archives, comunità ebraica archives, parish and notarial collections, civil registries, and what survives in each, with dates and known gaps.
  • Sample findings
    Working agreements with the Jewish communities of Rome, Florence, and Venice.
  • A feasibility verdict
    Proceed, proceed with defined limits, or do not proceed with reasoning. Scope and cost for full research, if we recommend continuing.
How it works
  • Week one
    An intake conversation, roughly ninety minutes. You bring what you have: names, approximate dates, family stories, photographs, any documents: naturalization papers, ship manifests, headstone inscriptions, DNA results. Nothing is too fragmentary to be useful.
  • Weeks two and three
    Our archivists in Florence and Venice work the collections directly. We hold standing agreements with the Jewish communities of Italy which gives us access to material that is not digitized and not accessible remotely.
  • Week four

    You receive the report, followed by a call to walk through it.

Investment $950
If you proceed to L'Archivio, our full genealogical research engagement, the entire $950 is credited against it. Provided you begin within 90 days.
There is no obligation to continue, and no advantage to us in recommending that you do when the records will not support it.
FAQ
  • What if I have almost nothing to give you?
    A surname and a country is a starting point. Many of our families begin with less than they think: a single misremembered town, one photograph, a name on a gravestone. The intake conversation exists to surface what you already hold without realizing it.
  • Is this the same as a DNA test?
    No. DNA testing suggests population-level ancestry. It doesn't identify individuals, towns, or generations. Reference panels also systematically undercount Italian-Jewish ancestry. La Ricerca works from documents: names, dates, places, and the paper record that connects them.
  • What if my family converted, or the Jewish connection is uncertain?
    This is common, and it is one of the situations the assessment is designed for. Italian archives frequently preserve conversion records, and the documentary trail often runs through both Jewish and Catholic collections. We follow the records, not an assumption.
  • What if the answer is that nothing survives?
    You receive the report, the evidence, and the reasoning and you keep your money from being spent on a project that would not have worked. That outcome is uncommon, but it is real, and we deliver it plainly when it occurs.
  • Can you guarantee you'll find my ancestors?
    No, and no one credible will. Records indicate rather than prove, and archival survival is not within anyone's control. What we guarantee is that the assessment is honest and the search is competent.
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