Hello All,

My name is Dan Gattuso and I'm new to this group. So exciting to see all the people doing research on their families!

So I'm looking for information on my paternal great-great-grandfather (which I believe is called trisnonno in Italian). I know that his son was born in 1887 in Valanidi (sp) Italy, which seems to be a subdivision of Motta San Giovanni. My first question is: can anyone tell me what the correct word is for Valanidi? I mean, is it a suburb of Motta, is it just a village? I know that it's a part of greater Motta San Giovanni because I have some copies of birth certificates that were emailed to me with a stamp saying "Comune di Motta San Giovanni". I want to know what the exact relationship is between Valanidi and Motta. So, I only have the names of my great-great-grand parents. I don't know when or where they were born, but I'm presuming Motta San Giovanni, too (whether Valanidi or in the town proper). Which entity would hold their birth, marriage, and death certificates? Would they likely be in Motta San Giovanni proper or would they be in a more centralized location for all of Reggio Calabria? AND, would they be digitized and in a database somewhere, or would they be still on paper sitting in some government building? Basically, my goal is to trace my paternal ancestors back as far as I can. It looks like record-keeping of this sort started in Calabria around 1820, if I read right, so it seems like I could go back a generation or two before my great-great-grandpa Bruno.
Any help on next steps would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Dan Gattuso

Valanidi is a hamlet (frazione) of Motta San Giovanni. It is a small village of 500 people, belonging to the municipality of Motta San Giovanni. The distance between Motta and Valanidi is 6.5km

You can find records on line here.
www.antenati.san.benic...anni/Nati/
There are translations and tips on my website. Happy hunting.