Hello - My name is Tom - I am an Italian American currently living in the Veneto region in Northern Italy. I am planning a trip to the Calabria town of Cortale in a few weeks, and I am wondering if anyone has experience in visiting town halls or municipal offices to find old birth, marriage, death, or emigration documents. My father's family emigrated c. 1930, but his father's (my grandfather's) sister still lives there in the same house in which they grew up; she is 102 now. Is it reasonable to think I'll be able to find any such records?
Thank you!

Should be easier with a relative still living there. If your town is anything like my grandfather's town by Naples. A great aunt introduced my daughter to the Registrar of Records at the town hall and they helped her. My daughter is fluent in Italian and I'm sure that helped.

That helps a great deal - thank you! I'll be sure to have a full-blood relative standing by.