Genealogy is an important part of the Mormon belief system. Because of this, the LDS has put a great deal of time, energy, and money into placing various vital records onto microfilm, records from all over the world. This is an amazing resource for the genealogist. You can request information in English, instead of Italian, and face a wait of as little as a week or two.
Quite a few Italian records have been filmed. These microfilms are stored in the humungous archive in Salt Lake City. However, the films are available to anyone, Mormon or not, through interlibrary loan at a local Family History Center. Family History Centers are located in many towns throughout the US and chances are very good you have one near you. You can find a list at http://www.familysearch.org. Hours are also on the website. These centers are not usually open to the public 7 days a week and are sometimes only open for a few hours a week.
To find out if your ancestor’s vital records are in the Mormon archives, go to the familysearch.org website and search from there. With some luck, you'll find a list of available records for the town you are researching. These records are mostly stored on microfilm. Copy down the numerical information and take it to your local LDS Family History Center. If you aren't sure what numbers you need to copy, don't worry- they'll double check for you once you arrive at the Family History Center near you.
The volunteers will give you a short request form to fill out and ask you to pay a negligible fee of 3.50 for a one month loan. That fee includes the postage!
You are not permitted to take the film out of the center. This isn’t a problem because the centers are staffed with microfilm readers, copier machines, and at least one or two computers. Some history centers have more machines and resources, others have fewer, depending on the location and usage. You will also find several volunteers staffing the center, with varying levels of experience in genealogy.
Don’t be scared of the Family History Centers. I was a little worried about going in at first, thinking I would feel out of place, since I'm not a member of the Church. I’ve noticed that about half the other people signed in the guestbook are not members either. Church members, of course, will get first dibs on the equipment and time of the staff. Try going on a weeknight or weekday afternoon, instead of a weekend, to avoid a wait for a microfilm reader.
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