Genealogy in Stella Cilento
Tracing your Italian roots back to Stella Cilento (in Salerno province, Campania region) begins with understanding which records exist and where they are preserved. On this page you’ll find a clear guide to the civil, parish and historical sources available for genealogy in Stella Cilento.
Stella Cilento family history at a glance
- Region: Campania
- Province: Salerno
- Record types available: civil and parish records
- Civil registration: began in 1809 (when this area was part of the Kingdom of Naples)
- Parish registers: usually earlier than civil registration (sometimes dating back to the 1600s)
Research experience on families in Stella Cilento
Over the years, ItalianSide has conducted genealogy research on historical families from Stella Cilento, involving many surnames traditionally found in the town, including branches of the following families: Ambrosano, Bertolini, Bianco, Buonadonna, De Angelis, Feo, Gatto, Giuliano, Gozza, Ligrone, Massanova, Mazzarella, Papa, Vassallo, Vassalluzzo and others.
Many records relating to families and individuals are already stored in our databases and include, in addition to names and dates, further information such as occupations, residential addresses, and key family and social relationships within the Stella Cilento community in past centuries.
Part of the information used by ItalianSide in genealogy research derives from a proprietary archive of on-site research conducted over many years in Stella Cilento and by our experts. This archive includes studies, family trees, and data not available online, such as cross-referenced family relationships, occupational histories, deciphered or translated documents, residential patterns, and visual documentation.
Research activities may include all major sources available at municipal, provincial, and regional level:
• civil records
• parish registers
• notarial archives
• military records
• historical and photographic sources
Direct access to archives and a deep understanding of the local context allow for more complete and accurate results than research conducted remotely or based on partial sources alone. Research may be carried out using all available sources in both public and private archives.
Genealogy in Stella Cilento
If your ancestors came from Stella Cilento, in Salerno province (Campania region), the first step is to identify the local archives where records are kept. Most family history research starts from the civil registry office at the Comune and continues in parish and notary archives.
Where to begin your ancestry journey in Stella Cilento
Vital records for people born, married or deceased in Stella Cilento are usually preserved in:
- Stella Cilento City Hall archives: civil records (births, marriages and deaths) available from 1809 onwards.
- Stella Cilento parish churches: in Campania, parish registers that can trace family lines back to the 1600s, and in rare cases even earlier.
Civil Records (Stato Civile) in Stella Cilento
In towns and villages of Campania and across Salerno province, civil registration offices were established after 1809, following Napoleonic reforms in the former Kingdom of Naples. This means you can often find your ancestors’ civil records in the Town Hall archives of Stella Cilento from that year onwards.
(If your goal is to obtain Italian citizenship and you need official certificates from Stella Cilento, please follow this link.)
If your ancestors lived in Stella Cilento during the past centuries, the City Office of Stella Cilento is usually the first place to start your family research. Our local expert can access these records on your behalf and interpret them correctly.
- Professions: discover what your ancestors did for a living.
- Addresses: find the street or house where the family lived in Stella Cilento.
- Family links: identify parents, witnesses and neighbours that appear in the records.
- Signatures and notes: see how your ancestors signed and read any marginal annotations.
If you prefer to contact the Town Hall by yourself, we suggest reading our genealogy tips for Italy. They include practical advice for research in Campania and specifically in Stella Cilento.
Population trends in Stella Cilento
The chart below shows the demographic trends in Stella Cilento from the Italian Unification (1861). Understanding how many people lived in the town over time is useful when interpreting migration and family movements.
Church Records in Stella Cilento
Church archives in Salerno province often preserve information that predates civil records. Parish registers include baptisms, marriages and burials and sometimes allow you to push your family tree back into the 1700s and 1600s.
In many areas of Campania, parish registers began around the 1500s. These manuscripts are not easy to access from abroad and can be hard to read without specific training.
Our local genealogists, graduated in history and archival studies, can consult the parish archives of Stella Cilento on your behalf and reconstruct your family history through the centuries.
In case you want to visit churches, these are the addresses of parishes active today in Stella Cilento:
S. NICOLA DI BARI – 84070 STELLA CILENTO SA
SANTI PIETRO E GIOVANNI – San Giovanni
Notary records and other historical sources
Another important source of information is represented by notary documents, which preserve wills, dowries, property sales and contracts. These records are usually kept in provincial and State Archives and can provide valuable details on the social and economic life of your family.
Planning a visit to Stella Cilento
From our experience, if you plan to visit Stella Cilento we always recommend starting the research months before your arrival. This way you avoid spending your holidays in offices or churches dealing with bureaucracy.
Remember that archives are not open to the general public and officers or priests are not required by law to grant direct access to the records.
With the results collected by our genealogist before your trip, you will have more time to enjoy the town and its surroundings, walking in the footsteps of your ancestors.
Professional help for research in Stella Cilento
If you need professional support from our local genealogist in the Stella Cilento area, write to stellacilento@italianside.com or fill the form here. Our expert will study your request and reply with a research plan and a quote tailored to your family history.
Messages from other visitors in Stella Cilento
Here below you can read messages from other visitors in the Stella Cilento forum. If you simply want to discuss genealogy in Stella Cilento with other people, feel free to leave a message.
Interested to know if there are Lisi’s still living in the town of stella cilentro
I knew of Adolfo Mondelli when I was very young. He had the Tailor Shop on Broadway in Newburgh NY. I remember he passed on in the early 1970s. must have been near 90 years of age. Closely related to the Lisi family there. it’s now spelled Lease. A lot of people from Stella Cilento settled around the “Newburgh NY” area in the early 1900s. Some last name spellings have changed slightly though. Not many of their descendants are around that area anymore.
My grandfather, Alferio Antonio Mondelli, was born in Stella Cilento in 1889 and immigrated with his brothers to New York around 1908-1910.
Their father (my great grandfather) was a tailor and taught all his sons (Alferio, Umberto, Adolfo and Giovanni) to be tailors, but then cautioned them that Stella Cilento was too small a town to support four tailors. My grandfather Alferio settled in New York’s “Little Italy” neighborhood in lower Manhattan and opened a tailor shop at 366 Broome Street. He married my grandmother, Mary Albano, and had two sons Mario and Rudolph, both born in New York City. He died in New York in 1954.
I am looking for information for the Senatore family. My grandfather was Vincenzo Senatore
Hello. I am working on a project involving a family named Itri (also spelled “Etri” in the US). From what I’ve gathered, the line in question is tied to a Biagio Itri, b. ca. 1862 in Stella. I don’t believe it to be a common surname. Biagio emigrated with at least one son, Antonio, b. 1890, in 1905 from Naples aboard the SS Prinz Dalbert, arriving in New York in late May 1905. The wife of Biagio Itri is known to be Nicoletta Gozzo. Other Itri families from Stella are also believed to have emigrated in the 1890s to early 1900s. They included a Nicola Itri, b. ca. 1869, who arrived in NY in 1893. His relationship to Biagio Itri is uncertain. Any supplementary info regarding this family would be welcome! Many thanks.
Hi David,
I have Itri ancestors from Stella Cilento and have done much research on the surname. Biagio was married to Nicoletta Gozza on 11 Nov. 1880. I have most if not all of their children’s names and the names of Biagio’s parents and grandparents, but that is as far as I have been able to trace. If you are still looking, I would be happy to share what I have on Biagio. (I have not been able to link his line into mine however.)
Hi David and Cathy –
I am looking for my Great Grandmother, Caterina Columba Itri. She married Felice Antonio Lauriello. My Grandmother Rose Lauriello was born in Stella Cilento in 1903. They immigrated to the United States in 1907 with three children and resided in Philadelphia Pa. I plan to visit Italy as soon as travel is safe again. I would love to find the address of the family Itri. Any clues would be appreciated.
Hi Jackie,
I replied earlier with a long explanation, but I do not see it posted here now. I will now just say that I too am related to Caterina Colomba Itri and that I have done a lot of research on the Itri family. I have been to Stella Cilento and also to the diocese archives to see the church records. If you would like to know more, please respond to this and I will repost the information from my last posting.
Cathy
Hi Cathy – yes please I am very interested in any information on the Itri family.
Thank you
Jackie
Hi Cathy –
I thought I would send a message asking for your information on the Itri family.
Many thanks!
Hello. I will be visiting the seaside in Cilento next month, but would like to visit Stella Cilento, the town my grandmother Assunta Garzione came from. Her father’s name was Nicola Garzione and I believe her mother’s name was Jenny Etri. My grandmother, Assunta, was born on August 15, 1898. I am curious to know if there are still any relatives living in Stella. Thank you.
My wife’s family is from Stella Cilento. We visited about 10 years ago. It seems like half the town were Lanzalotti’s. Do you have access to any records for their family? Sadly, we missed the festival of St. Nicola do Bardi by 1 week.
I am also looking for information about my great grandfather Frank Monzo born there in 1865 and immigrated to Philadelphia in 1896. His wife Teresa and their children Rosina, Joseph and Maria followed in 1899. I do not know Teresa’s maiden name. Thank you for any assistance.
My grandfather was Pietro Monzo born in 1894. Came to Philadelphia in 1913. Did you ever find information on Frank Monzo? We may be related.
GGF was Pietro Angelo Giovanni Monzo, born 1887 in Stella Cilento, parents Nicola and Marie (Lisi). Sisters (3) born in South America, presumably the family was looking for work. Pietro at 17 came to NY with his mother in 1905. He used the name Peter in the US He became a Barber and lived in NJ and Pa. Married in 1915, one child in 1916, divorced by 1920. Naturalized in 1922. Does he sound familiar?
Hi
My grandmother Lena Gozza born Nicolena Garzione was definitely from Stella Cilento.
She spoke of it continuously and very fondly.
She left when she was 17 years old and came to Newburgh NY to be with her brother Joseph Garzione
He was called Peppy here.
She married Fredrick Gozza who was 15 years her senior
I visited Italy recently but traveled only in central Italy
My husband and I would very much like to travel to my ancestors area next year.
Could you let me know if there are any of my ancestors left?
I would not bother them but just would like to know
Thank you very much
Celeste
Celeste, Yes there are Garzione today in Stella Cilento
HI Celeste….
Not sure if you’re still following these posts. I’ve been researching a Newburgh NY family that’s tied in with yours, the Gozza’s (also of Stella Cilento). The link is via Biagio Itri, whose family emigrated in multiple trips around 1905/6. His wife was Nicoletta/Nicolina/”Lena” Gozza. I think she may have been a cousin to your Federico/Frederick Gozza. Also tied with the Gozza’s were the Lisi family. Has the Itri/Gozza union showed up in your research?
Hi, I am wondering do you have any info related to Lisi family in Newburgh? I have been searching and need help!
I have a Serafina Lisi as my 4th great grandmother who is from here, does anyone have more info on the Lisi’s? Serafina never left Italy and married Francisco Carione. Their daughter Maria Louisa immigrated to Philly and married Francesco Tomasco (from Casal Velino – not far from Stella Cilento).
I know that some of the Lisi who settled in NY State from Stella Cilento Italy changed the spelling of their name to the American version Lease. If that helps in your search.
GG GMwas Marie Lisi. Married Nicola Monzo. Lived in South America for 10 years and had 3 daughters, 2 survived. Moved back to Stella Cilento and had GGF Pietro AG Monzo in 1887. I found a ship manifest Prince Albert with Pietro and Marie on 1905 to USA. Unclear what happened to Peter’s mother after that, but she shows up as his dependent on his 1917 WW1 draft card.
I am related to the Lease (Lisi) in Newburgh.
I would like to start my genealogy research and I am trying to locate my relatives in Stella Cilento, Italy. My grandfather’s name was Pietro Monzo. He was born on May 5, 1894. I do not know his parents’ names although I do know his father died when he was around 7 years of age (approximately 1901. I also know they had a farm. He spoke often of his family in Italy when I was a young girl but I was too young to appreciate the importance of getting names!
Hi Anna, I was just reading your comment when I realized the name “Monzo” sounded familiar. And then I went back into some old family history and realized my great great grandmother was Maria Annunziata Monzo! I don’t know what year she was born, but she married my great great grandfather, Francescantonio Cona and they emigrated to the United States. I wonder if/how Maria Annunziata (She went by Nunziata) and Pietro are related! Did you ever find out any more information about the Monzo’s?
Hi, Betty! Do you have any idea where the Monzo in your family came from? Stella or some other nearby town? Also can you guess at the their age? It may help to do a little guess work. My great-grandfather’s sister married a Monzo and came here, but this Monzo was from Sessa Cilento
Hi Betty! Came across this thread and saw last name Cona. My last name is Cona from my father’s side! Long line of Cona’s up in PA and great grandfather came here from Stella Cilento, Italy. Any relation by chance??
Anna,
There are Monzos in Stella today. I will see what I can find out for you, although it is two years later.
Anna, I have access to some original documents and found that your father was not really Pietro, but Sabatino, yes, born on May 5, 1894 from Antonio and Fortunata Papa. I hope this helps.
Betty and Aniello, thank you so much for the info! My grandfather went by Pietro. I never heard Sabatino but I did find out his mother was Fortunata Papa. On immigration documents I have seen Stella Cilento mentioned as well as Mala Fadele. Don’t think I spelled that correctly! Any chance Aniello I could obtain copies of the documents you found?