Project Description
Februrary, 2014
I have to tell anyone who is in need of any documents related to their wish of acquiring Italian Citizenship through their ancestry or marriage, that Mirella Ammirati turned what was looking to me to be a process in need of a number of hours of learning and understanding into the simplest and most fun few weeks I’ve had in a long time.
After doing this I like maybe many others can say, I only wish I had done this before, but who knew..!! Guess you can’t know everything in life without somehow coming upon a story that someone tells about a great thing to try..!!
I had just recently read about the idea of attaining Italian Citizenship through ancestry (Jure Sanguinis) and was amazed at the prospect. For me it would be possible as my father was born while his father was still an Italian Citizen, though living in the U.S.
I spent a number of hours reading through various websites that describe the documents that are needed and the different steps that must be taken to have them legally acceptable to present to the Italian authorities, in most cases that being an Italian Consulate nearest to your city of residence. It is not something that can be done over overnight or unfortunately too quickly.
I most definitely was looking for someone to help me along the way, but whom, and how to really know they would be someone you could trust for certain to get the job done, especially if any problems may arise..?
And then I found Mirella Ammirati, through her website www.southernitalytravel.com, where she sets up tours for people wishing to trace where their ancestors lived and loved, and in addition she helps people acquire the necessary documents for ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP..!!
After that, everything was easy! My search for a helpful soul was over..!!
And I have to say, the information I had to give Mirella was not going to make the search as easy as 1 2 3.
My grandfather’s last name had been spelled differently on certain documents and my grandmother’s maiden name was also different on other documents. Just the way things were sometimes when you came through Ellis Island. I really think, as my grandparents came to the U.S on a ship called the Regina, my grandmother ended up with her first name showing as Regina on an Ellis Island document, rather than what it really was, Virginia.
The only thing we had for certain was my grandfather was born in Chieti and we were almost certain how his first and last name were spelled.
So Mirella started her search for the birth and marriage certificates for my grandparents..!!
It didn’t take too long, in a couple weeks and she found everything we needed..!!
In addition to finding the documents she had them validated in a process through the “Prefettura” (prefecture). This is a necessary step to make your certificates valid in the U.S. In the Prefettura a stamp is put on each certificate. It is also known as a “marca da bollo”, a fiscal stamp in Italy.
Not only did Mirella take those steps to have everything legalized, she provided me copies of old hand written records from the Chieti City Hall announcing my grandparent’s marriage..!! Really amazing to see, for sure..!!
Mirella shipped all the documents to me by TNT Carrier and now they are sitting on my dining room table waiting for a trip to the Italian Consulate in Miami..!!
You do of course need to attain all the necessary documents of your home country, that being the U.S for me and have them translated, but that is relatively easy as opposed to getting the older and sometimes hard to locate birth and marriage certificates from Italy.
Without a doubt if you need someone to help you along to locate your family documents in Italy for any reason, a friendly and gracious Mirella Ammirati can most certainly be that person..!!
Thank you Mirella for all your help..!!
John Z.
