Writing the letter is not as hard as it sounds. There are many websites with form letters. For more letter-writing tools than you ever wanted, head to the Italian Genealogy Online website: http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwis... simplest thing is to copy one of the form letters and paste it into your own word processing program, where you can fill in as many of the particulars as you can about the ancestor you are researching.
It is important to write your letter in Italian. Overworked city employees both in the US and in Italy often place genealogical requests on the back burner. A letter in English is just one more roadblock the person responding to your request will have to go through. The goal is to make it as easy for the person on the other end as possible.
You’ll want to include a self-addressed envelope for a response. Don’t bother to put stamps on it. US stamps will not work on mail originating from Italy. You can include an International Reply Coupon, which you can buy from your local post office for around two dollars. The IRC can be turned in to international post offices for a first-class stamp for a one ounce letter. However, many people don’t know what IRCs are or how to use them, so it might be a waste of a few dollars.
The hardest part of all this is the wait. You could receive a response in as little as several weeks. More often, you’ll wait months… and months. If you’ve ever sent for records in the US, you’ve probably waited a long time for them. This is going through another country, so it just adds another level of beaucracy. Sometimes you might never get a reply. It’s okay to send another letter reminding the casa comunale (city hall) of your request, politely. I’d give it a good amount of time, perhaps four months, but any guess is as good as mine.
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