So, I’ve been spending some time using Ancestry.com to build out my family tree. I don’t do this because I’m particularly fascinated by the subject, but rather because my wife found an article somewhere that says if you can trace your family roots back to a lineage from somewhere in Italy (and can prove it) then you are eligible for dual-citizenry and can get an Italian passport.
That’s not quite how I read it (https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/italian-dual-citizenship/). Especially given that there are a whole lot of caveats, but my daughter got really excited at the prospect…sigh.
Granted, there are several benefits to doing so if you can accomplish the deed, not least of which is it makes getting a job in Europe much easier.
Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the process of mapping out a family tree, good. Just stop there. Trust me, you will be thankful for never having to go down that particular rabbit-hole.
On the other hand, if you ignore my warnings, then you deserve the pain that follows…:) It seems simple enough on the surface, right? Start with your parents and go backward. If only it were so easy.
Even three generations in the past trustworthy records become scarce, and the ones you do find can be questionable. Names spelled differently, dates that don’t quite align, and other such anomalies make it somewhat of a guessing game. At some point you are forced to decide if the match is close enough. Not quite how I like to do things. Continue reading “Becoming even more Italian…”
