Municipal Archives (Archivi Comunali) are the historical archives of comuni (towns), they can usually be found in every comune and they're stored in the town hall or another town building, in the library or in the provincial State Archives. They might held documents ranging from many centuries ago (usually XIV century) to just a few years ago, but the bulk of the material, for this region, is usually the XIX and XX centuries.
They have documents from all kinds of topics: administration, finances, hospitals, river maintenance, streets naming, jails and police activities, taxation, wars and their consequences, charitable organisations, schools, town owned buildings, and so on.
Today I want to give you some examples of what kinds of documents you may find inside war pension applications (for WWII). I have photographed the front page of a few of the folders where there's a list of the attached documents. I have also blurred surnames and pension numbers, because some of these applications may be for people that are still alive. The applicants may have been soldiers' widows, parents or siblings, but also civilian's widows, parents or siblings, as long as the person's death was caused by the war.
These examples were handwritten (at least the front page), but there were also typewritten ones.
The applicant here is the father of a soldier (born in 1916) who died Albania in 1940.
Documents included:
- petitioner's birth certificate in 1880
- petitioner's marriage certificate in 1915
- birth certificate for 2 daughters (born in 1919 and 1923)
- declaration of death (of the soldier) from his military company (9° Alpini)
- declaration from the 9° Alpini saying that copies of the soldier's military service records can only be given if the Ministry requests them.
This second example is a father [but I also have one for a mother, women could apply and receive pensions] born in 1873 whose son (b. 1914) was killed by a bomb in 1945 (he was not a soldier).
Documents included:
- form M.
- petitioner's marriage certificate
- marriage certificate of the deceased son
- birth certificates of all the members of the family
- death certificates of the wife, children and daughter-in-law
- certificate stating the son's death was caused by the war.
Note: in red pen a comment was added "Emigrated to Vittorio Veneto, Pension N. xyz"
This other example is a father (b. 1883) whose son born in 1923 was shot (executed) by a German armed unit in 1945.
Documents included:
- form M.
- petitioner's marriage certificate
- birth certificates of petitioner and all his male children
- death certificate of his son
- certificate declaring his son's death was caused by a german armed unit
- certificate attesting the petitioner's mutilation and war pension
- pension application
Note in red pen: Deceased, wife received pension for the son and for the invalid husband.
I hope this was useful, I'm sure many of you already knew not to overlook pension files (I think that they're full of interesting genealogical documents in the US, too), but it never hurts to give a reminder and show a few examples.
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