Documents
Documents
The images this archive actually rests on: the register pages that carry the evidence, and the family's own photographs. Every register plate below is reproduced with the archival reference that identifies it, so the claim and the page that proves it sit together.
Register pages
Reproduced from the Portale Antenati, which publishes the civil registers of the Archivio di Stato di Caserta. The transcription and translation of each is on the page linked beneath it.
The death of Pasquale Falco, 1 October 1834
1 October 1834
Arienzo civil death register 1834, page 236, act no. 69 (Archivio di Stato di Caserta, via Antenati). Names him husband of Chiara Rivetti and son of the late Matteo Falco and the late Francesca Crisci. Found by reading the volume line by line.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1834, atto 69, p. 236 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14336, img 43)
The birth of Raffaele Falco — 10 May 1818
10 May 1818
«è comparso VINCENZO FALCO di anni ventisette, di professione contadino, domiciliato in detto Comune, strada CAMELLARA … è nato nella sua propria casa da lui dichiarante, e da ANDREANA CRISCI sua moglie legittima d'anni venti, un maschio … a cui si è dato il nome di RAFFAELE». Generation four. RE-READ AT NATIVE RESOLUTION in September 2026 for two reasons. The surname is unambiguously CRISCI, which settles the 1839 register's «Cioffi» a second way. And the ages can now be checked against real birth dates: Vincenzo's twenty-seven is RIGHT by the year-a-man-is-in reckoning these clerks used — he was twenty-six and three months — while Andreana's twenty is WRONG. She was twenty-one and a half, and she married at eighteen, not the sixteen this archive used to infer from this act.
Arienzo, Stato civile napoleonico e della restaurazione, Nati 1818, atto 47, f. 149 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14415, img 41).
An earlier Raffaele Falco — 25 April 1816
25 April 1816
Act no. 56. Vincenzo Falco and Andreana Crisci, of strada Camellara, name a son Raffaele — two years before they named another son Raffaele on 10 May 1818. Ordinarily that means the first child died. Which of the two is generation four of this line is now an open question. The two acts also give irreconcilable ages: Vincenzo thirty-five here and twenty-seven two years later.
Arienzo, Stato civile napoleonico e della restaurazione, Nati 1816, atto 56 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14413, img 29).
A second Giuseppe Falco — 25 November 1816
25 November 1816
Act no. 116. Giuseppe Falco, thirty-six, a massaro di campo of strada COSTA, declares a son born at four in the night to himself and Gelsomina Vigliotta, thirty-two, and names him Domenico. This is not the Giuseppe Falco of strada Camellara, a contadino married to Antonia di Guida, who was also thirty-six two years later — two men of one name and near-identical age in the same small town.
Arienzo, Stato civile napoleonico e della restaurazione, Nati 1816, atto 116 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14413, img 59).
Donna Francesca Rivetti — 26 January 1816
26 January 1816
Act no. 12. «Donna Francesca Rivetti, figlia del fu Don Nicola, e Donn'Anna Quotolo, moglie di Don Claudio Cimmino.» Chiara Rivetti — who married Pasquale Falco — is called in 1843 «filia quondam Nicolai et Anna». The same two forenames. If the two women are sisters, this gives Chiara's mother a surname and makes the Rivetti gentry. That is a lead, not a finding: Nicola and Anna are among the commonest names in the register, and Chiara married a contadino where Francesca married a Don.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1816, atto 12 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14318, img 7).
Giuseppe Falco of strada Camellara — 7 June 1818
7 June 1818
Act no. 57, foglio 154. Giuseppe Falco, thirty-six, a contadino of strada Camellara, declares a daughter born to himself and Antonia di Guida, thirty, and names her Maddalena. The parish marriage record calls this Giuseppe «filium Matthei, e Franciscae Crisci» — so this is Pasquale's own brother, living on the same street, four weeks after his nephew Raffaele was born on it.
Arienzo, Stato civile napoleonico e della restaurazione, Nati 1818, atto 57, f. 154 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14415, img 46).
Pasquale Falco, aged three — 22 February 1833
22 February 1833
Arienzo civil death register 1833, act no. 16. Son of Vincenzo Falco and Andreana Crisci, of strada Camellara. His grandfather Pasquale was still alive; a second child of the same name would be born and die in December 1834.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1833, atto 16 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14335, img 9)
Rosa Falco, forty-two — 16 October 1830
16 October 1830
Act no. 53, page 89. «Rosa Falco, d'anni quarantadue, moglie di Carlantonio Morgillo … figlia di Matteo Falco, defunto … e di Francesca Crisci, defunta.» She is Pasquale's sister, and this names the line's founding couple a second time, from a different child and four years before Pasquale's own death act.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1830, atto 53, p. 89 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14332, img 36).
Anna Falco, thirteen months — 4 May 1831
4 May 1831
Act no. 33, page 67. Daughter of Michelangelo Falco and Mariantonia Vigliotta, of strada Camellara. The second declarant is Vincenzo Falco, thirty-eight — generation three of this line — described not as a neighbour but as «parente della defunta», a kinsman. It is the first record joining the direct line to another Falco household on that street.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1831, atto 33, p. 67 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14333, img 19).
Giovanna Falco, aged seventy — 13 May 1832
13 May 1832
Act no. 32. She was born about 1762, five years before Pasquale, and her father was a different Michele Falco, married to Vincenza Esposito. The record establishes a second peasant Falco household at Arienzo in the founding generation.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1832, atto 32 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14334, img 20)
Carmina Falco, six months — 19 December 1832
19 December 1832
Act no. 80, page 145. Daughter of Francesco Falco and Raffaela Falco, of strada Camellara — a Falco married to a Falco. Both declarants were neighbours from the same street.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1832, atto 80, p. 145 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14334, img 48)
The reverse of the certificate — an inscription of 1948
14 December 1948
The back of a family document, inscribed «li 14 Dicembre 1948 — Giordano Angelo». Who Giordano Angelo was, and what he had to do with this family, is not established. Recorded because it is written on one of the family's own papers.
Family papers, from the family's own scans.
Croce al Merito di Guerra — Angelo Zampiello, 1938
24 September 1938
Ministero dell'Africa Italiana. The War Merit Cross, conferred by decree of 14 September 1938 on «all'operaio ZAMPIELLO ANGELO di Tommaso» — the workman Angelo Zampiello, son of Tommaso. The decree cited extends the cross to personnel who took part in military operations in East Africa from 3 October 1935, the day Italy invaded Ethiopia. Order number 18745; Rome, 24 September 1938, Anno XVI.
Family papers, from the family's own scans. Ministero dell'Africa Italiana, n. d'ordine 18745.
Birth extract of Francesca Zampiello, Arpaia
born 27 April 1928
Comune di Arpaia, provincia di Benevento — «Estratto dell'atto di nascita n. 20». Born 27 April 1928 at Arpaia: ZAMPIELLO FRANCESCA, daughter of ZAMPIELLO ANGELO and FERRARA GIUSEPPA. A certified photocopy issued in 2003. This is the document behind the birth date the family carried, and it names both parents.
Comune di Arpaia (BN), estratto dell'atto di nascita n. 20, issued 2003.
Marriage extract — Falco and Zampiello, Arpaia, 1955
15 January 1955
Comune di Arpaia — «Estratto dell'atto di matrimonio n. 1». FALCO CARMINE, born 8 June 1930, married ZAMPIELLO FRANCESCA, born 27 April 1928, on 15 January 1955. Registered at Arpaia — not, as this archive previously said, at Benevento.
Comune di Arpaia (BN), estratto dell'atto di matrimonio n. 1, issued 2003.
The death of Crescenzo Rivetti, 1 December 1816 — and the first sighting of Gioacchino Falco
1 December 1816
Arienzo civil death register 1816, act no. 76. Two Falco of strada Camellara declare it and are described as «parenti del defunto» — kin of the dead man: Gioacchino Falco, 36, and Giuseppe Falco, 32, both massari di campagna. The dead man is «Crescenzo Rivetti figlio del fu Pasquale Rivetti e di Giovanna Perrotta, marito di Angela Falco». No age is given for him. The act therefore records a Falco marriage this archive did not have, and a Falco head — Gioacchino — it had never met.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1816, atto 76 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14318, img 42, left column)
The death of Maria Falco, 24 July 1817
24 July 1817
Arienzo civil death register 1817. «Maria Falco figlia delli fu Giuseppe Falco e Rosa Sossi, vedova di Francesco Quotolo». Declared by Giuseppe Quotolo, 65, massaro di campagna of strada Maddalena, and Aniello Diglio, 45, contadino — her late husband's kin. Both her parents were already dead. This is a Falco couple the archive had never met, and it is not the Giuseppe Falco of strada Camellara, who was alive in 1818.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1817 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14319, img 34, left column)
The death of Angelo Andrea di Guida, 21 October 1817
21 October 1817
Arienzo civil death register 1817. «Angelo Andrea di Guida figlio di Giuseppe di Guida e Michedalena Rivetti, marito di Teresa Vigliotta», declared by Francesco Quotolo, 33, and Pietro Quotolo, 30, both massari di campagna of strada Maddalena. One act, three of the surnames the Falco married into: di Guida (Giuseppe Falco's wife Antonia), Rivetti (Pasquale Falco's wife Chiara) and Vigliotta (Michelangelo's wife Mariantonia and the strada Costa Giuseppe's wife Gelsomina). Whether Antonia di Guida belongs to this house is a lead, not a finding.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1817 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14319, img 59, right column)
The burial of the first Raffaele Falco, 28 October 1817 — the act that settled generation four
28 October 1817
Arienzo civil death register 1817. «Raffaele Falco figlio di Vincenzo Falco, e d'Andreana Crisci», dead at seven in the morning, aged about eighteen months. Vincenzo and Andreana had registered a son Raffaele on 25 April 1816 and another on 10 May 1818; until this act was found, the archive could not say which was the ancestor and carried generation four as disputed. This is the first one's burial. The declarants are Sabato Vassallo, 26, sportellaro of strada Porta di Sopra, and GIUSEPPE FALCO, 37, massaro di campagna of strada Camellara — the two of them recorded as «parenti», kin.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1817 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14319, img 61, left column)
The death of Angela «Lella» Majone, 27 February 1818 — a second Falco marriage
27 February 1818
Arienzo civil death register, bound at the end of the 1817 volume. «Angela, seu Lella Majone, figlia delli fu Nicola Majone, e MARIA FALCO, moglie di Giuseppe Sossi». Both her parents were dead. A Falco woman married into the Majone — and whether she is the Maria Falco buried seven months earlier, widow of Francesco Quotolo, is deliberately left open: one woman twice widowed fits the dates, and so do two women of the same name.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14319, img 88, right column)
Giuseppe Falco of strada Camellara, declaring, 8 May 1818
8 May 1818
Arienzo civil death register 1818. «Domenico Balletta, di anni quaranta, sartore, domiciliato in questo comune, strada Camellara, e di GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni trentasei, contadino, domiciliato in questo comune, strada Camellara, vicini» — the two of them declaring a neighbour's death. Four weeks later the birth act of Giuseppe's daughter Maddalena gives exactly the same age, trade and street. Five sightings of this man now exist across nineteen months, and this is the one that proves they are a single person rather than two Giuseppe Falco on one street.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1818 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14320, img 24, left column)
Orazio Morgillo of strada Travo, 6 July 1818
6 July 1818
Arienzo civil death register 1818. «Angelo Morgillo fu Simone, di anni cinquanta, contadino, strada Travo, e di ORAZIO MORGILLO, di anni ventisei, contadino, strada Travo» declaring the death of Pasquale Morgillo, «figlio di Giuseppe Morgillo, e GELSOMINA RIVETTI». Generation four of this line married Angela Rosa Morgillo, recorded as a daughter of an Orazio; an Orazio Morgillo aged twenty-six in 1818 is the right age for her father. He is also the first Orazio Morgillo this archive has found in any record. It is a lead and not a link — Angela Rosa was born at San Felice, not Arienzo.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1818 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14320, img 31, right column)
Carlantonio Morgillo declaring, 3 August 1818 — and a second Carlantonio
3 August 1818
Arienzo civil death register 1818. «Carlantonio Morgillo, di anni trentatre, contadino, domiciliato in questo comune, strada Maddalena» declares, as «vicino, parente», the death of «Giuditta Morgillo figlia delli fu CARLANTONIO MORGILLO, e MANILIA RIVETTI, vedova di Giuseppe Gimbardo». The declarant is Rosa Falco's husband — Pasquale Falco's brother-in-law. The dead woman's father is a different, older Carlantonio Morgillo. If the declarant is Giuditta's brother, as the word «parente» hints, this act names his parents; the register does not say so, and this archive does not assert it.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1818 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14320, img 38, right column)
Angelandrea Rivetti, daughter of Angela Falco — 12 February 1819
12 February 1819
Arienzo civil death register 1819. «Angelandrea Rivetti figlia del fu CRESCENZO RIVETTI, ed ANGELA FALCO». Crescenzo died on 1 December 1816, in an act declared by Gioacchino Falco and Giuseppe Falco as «parenti del defunto» — the act that first told this archive a Falco had married a Rivetti. This is their daughter, dead two years later, and the second record anywhere to name Angela Falco. She is written without «fu», so she was still alive.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1819 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14321, img 5, left column)
Domenico Falco, 15 March 1819
15 March 1819
Arienzo civil death register 1819. «Domenico Falco figlio di Giuseppe Falco, e Gelsomina Vigliotta», dead at twelve o'clock. He was born on 25 November 1816 and was two years and four months old. His sister Rosaria died the same day, eleven hours later.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1819 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14321, img 8)
Rosaria Falco, 15 March 1819 — the same day as her brother
15 March 1819
Arienzo civil death register 1819. «Rosaria Falco figlia di Giuseppe Falco, e Gelsomina Vigliotta», dead at twenty-three hours on 15 March 1819 — the same day her brother Domenico died at noon. Two children of one house in a single day. No birth act has been found for Rosaria: she is not in the Arienzo birth registers of 1816, 1817 or 1818, so she was born before them.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1819 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14321, img 8)
Fortunato Crisci, two days old — and the marriage of Arcangelo Crisci and Anna Falco
24 January 1820
Arienzo civil death register 1820, act 5. «È morto nella sua propria casa FORTUNATO CRISCI di giorni due, nato in Arienzo, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara, figlio di ARCANGELO CRISCI, di professione Contadino, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara, E DI ANNA FALCO, domiciliata ivi.» Declared by Andrea Crisci, 60, and Marcello Crisci, 25, both of strada Camellara. This archive had the marriage of Arcangelo Crisci and Anna Falco only at second hand; here it is in a civil act, with the household placed on the family's own street. The 1820 form is far fuller than those of 1816-19: it gives the dead person's age, birthplace, trade and address, both parents with their trades, and each declarant's relationship to the deceased.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1820, atto 5 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14322, img 5, right column)
Anna Falco, 23 August 1820 — a daughter of Pasquale Falco and Chiara Rivetti
23 August 1820
Arienzo civil death register 1820, atto 47. «È morta nella sua propria casa ANNA FALCO di anni venticinque, moglie di ARCANGELO CRISCI, nata in Arienzo, di professione Contadina, domiciliata ivi strada Camellara, FIGLIA DI PASQUALE FALCO, di professione Contadino, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara, E DI CHIARA RIVETTI, domiciliata ivi.» A child of the direct line's generation two that this archive did not have, and a sister of Vincenzo Falco. Both her parents are named WITHOUT «fu», so Pasquale Falco and Chiara Rivetti were both alive and on strada Camellara in August 1820 — the only civil sighting of Pasquale between his marriage and his death in 1834. Declared by Giuseppe Martone, 40, and Domenico Martone, 36, neighbours on the same street.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1820, atto 47 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14322, img 26, right column)
Carmine Rivetti, 15 September 1821 — a better candidate for Chiara's family
15 September 1821
Arienzo civil death register 1821. «CARMINE RIVETTI di anni cinquantatre, marito di GIUSTINA MORGILLO, nato in Arienzo, di professione Contadino, domiciliato ivi strada Monticello de' Cappuccini, figlio di NICOLA RIVETTI Defunto, di professione Contadino, e di ANNA DI RUGGIO Defunta.» Chiara Rivetti, who married Pasquale Falco, is «filia quondam Nicolai et Anna» in her 1843 burial entry and was born about 1763. This Nicola and Anna are contadini — the same station as the couple Chiara married into — where the Don Nicola and Donn'Anna Quotolo of the 1816 lead were gentry. Two rival candidates for the same pair of forenames, and this one fits the class far better. Neither is established.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1821 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14323, img 23, right column)
Angela Falco, 17 October 1822 — a daughter of Matteo Falco and Francesca Crisci
17 October 1822
Arienzo civil death register 1822, atto 65. «È morta nella sua propria casa ANGELA FALCO di anni cinquantuno, VEDOVA DI CRESCENZO RIVETTI, nata in Arienzo, di professione Contadina, domiciliata ivi strada Capodiuomo, FIGLIA DI MATTEO FALCO Defunto, di professione Contadino, E DI FRANCESCA CRISCI Defunta.» A daughter of the couple at the head of this pedigree, and so a sister of Pasquale Falco. Born about 1771. It is the third time the founding couple is named from a child's death act — and the earliest of the three. It also explains an act found earlier: when Angela's husband Crescenzo Rivetti died in December 1816, GIOACCHINO FALCO and GIUSEPPE FALCO declared it as «parenti del defunto». They were his wife's brothers.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1822, atto 65 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14324, img 34, right column)
«Giuseppe Falco fu Matteo» — 20 June 1823
20 June 1823
Arienzo civil death register 1823. «sono comparsi CESARE GIGLIO, di anni cinquanta, Contadino, domiciliato in questo comune, strada Camellara, vicino della defunta, e GIUSEPPE FALCO FU MATTEO, di anni quarantatre, di professione Contadino, domiciliato strada Camellara.» The clerk adds «fu Matteo» to distinguish him from the town's other Giuseppe Falco — and in doing so gives this archive its first CIVIL statement that Giuseppe of strada Camellara is a son of the late Matteo Falco. Until now that came only from the parish books. Forty-three here, so born about 1780, which agrees with the thirty-seven he gives in October 1817. The dead child is Maria Crisci, three, daughter of Marcello Crisci — the same Marcello who declared the death of Anna Falco's infant son in 1820.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1823 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14325, img 20, right column)
A living Maria Falco, and «Giuseppe Falco fu Matteo» a second time — 20 June 1823
20 June 1823
Arienzo civil death register 1823, atto 39. «Sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO FU MATTEO, di anni quarantadue, Contadino, domiciliato in questo comune, strada Sant'Andrea, vicino della defunta, ed ANIELLO GIGLIO, di anni quarantasei… è morta nella sua propria casa ANTONIA COSSI, di mesi nove… figlia di FRANCESCO COSSI, di professione contadino, E DI MARIA FALCO.» A Maria Falco alive in 1823 and married to a Cossi — a third woman of the name, distinct from the Maria Falco buried in 1817 and from the one already dead in 1818. Nothing here names her parents, and Giuseppe declares as a neighbour rather than as kin. Note too that he gives his age as forty-two on the day after giving it as forty-three, and his street as Sant'Andrea on the day after Camellara — in this form the «vicino» declarant is written at the street of the house where the death occurred.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1823, atto 39 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14325, img 21, right column)
Paolo Rivetti, 9 October 1823 — Crescenzo's brother, and Angela Falco's brother-in-law
9 October 1823
Arienzo civil death register 1823. «È morto nella sua propria casa PAOLO RIVETTI, di anni cinquanta, marito di ANGELA ESPOSITELLA … figlio di PASQUALE RIVETTI Defunto, di professione contadino, E DI GIOVANNA PERROTTA, domiciliata ivi.» Those are exactly the parents named for CRESCENZO RIVETTI in December 1816 — the man who married Angela Falco, daughter of Matteo Falco and Francesca Crisci. So Paolo is Crescenzo's brother. Two further things: Giovanna Perrotta is written WITHOUT «fu», so she was alive in 1823, seven years after burying Crescenzo; and the declarant is GIOVANNI RIVETTI, twenty-three, a POSSIDENTE of strada Capodiuomo, who gives himself as «nipote» — nephew — which ties the propertied Rivetti of that street to this labouring family.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1823 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14325, img 55, right column)
Pasquale Falco and his brother Giuseppe, 25 March 1824 — the ancestor acting for himself
25 March 1824
Arienzo civil death register 1824, atto 8. «Sono comparsi PASQUALE FALCO, di anni cinquantacinque, di professione COLONO, regnicolo, domiciliato in questo comune, strada Camellara, vicino del defunto, e GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni quarantadue, di professione colono, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara, vicino del defunto.» This is the only record in which Pasquale Falco acts for himself: everywhere else he is named by somebody else — on his children's death acts, or on his own in 1834. Here he walks into the town hall with his brother and reports a neighbour's five-year-old dead. Fifty-five against a baptism of October 1767 is one year out, which is ordinary. His trade is COLONO, a tenant farmer, where the 1834 act calls him contadino. The dead child's mother is a MARIA FALCO — the third woman of that name, whose parents no record yet gives.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1824, atto 8 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14326, img 9, left column)
Donn'Anna Quotolo, widow of Don Nicola Rivetti — 25 April 1824
25 April 1824
Arienzo civil death register 1824, atto 20. «È morta nella sua propria casa DONN'ANNA QUOTOLO di anni ottantotto, VEDOVA DI DON NICOLA RIVETTI, nata in Arienzo, di professione GENTILDONNA, figlia di SILVESTRO QUOTOLO Defunto, di professione POSSIDENTE.» This is the woman the 1816 act names as the mother of Donna Francesca Rivetti — one half of the gentry couple that has been a candidate for Chiara Rivetti's parents since this archive first met them. She was born about 1736, which would make her twenty-seven when Chiara was born; so the fit is possible on age. The class objection stands, though it is softened a little by where she died: strada Croce dell'Ospedale, with two contadini Migliore for neighbours.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1824, atto 20 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14326, img 16, left column)
Giuseppe Falco stands for the same house a third time — 2 April 1825
2 April 1825
Arienzo civil death register 1825. «Sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni quaranta, di professione MASSARO, domiciliato in strada Camellara, vicino della defunta, ed Aniello Diglio, di anni quarantasei… è morta GIUSEPPA COSSI, di mesi otto… figlia di FRANCESCO COSSI e di MARIA FALCO.» Francesco Cossi and Maria Falco buried Antonia in June 1823, Giuseppe in March 1824 and Giuseppa here — and Giuseppe Falco of strada Camellara declared all three. The register calls him «vicino» every time and never «parente», so no relationship is stated; but three turns for one household is the best hint yet that this Maria Falco is his kin.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1825 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14327, img 10, right column)
Maddalena Falco, aged seven — 31 May 1825
31 May 1825
Arienzo civil death register 1825, atto 30. «È morta nella sua propria casa MADDALENA FALCO, d'anni sette, nata in Arienzo, di professione Contadina, figlia di GIUSEPPE FALCO, di professione Contadino, e di ANTONIA DI GUIDA.» This archive already held her birth: civil act of 7 June 1818, born on strada Camellara to Giuseppe Falco, thirty-six, and Antonia di Guida. She died a week short of her seventh birthday. A granddaughter of Matteo Falco and Francesca Crisci, and a first cousin of Vincenzo Falco's children. The declarants are Cesare and Francesco Cossi of the same street — and Francesco Cossi is very likely the husband of the Maria Falco whose three dead children Giuseppe Falco had reported in 1823, 1824 and 1825. The two houses stood for each other.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1825, atto 30 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14327, img 17, left column)
Clemente Falco, fifteen months — 19 June 1825, nineteen days after his sister
19 June 1825
Arienzo civil death register 1825. «È morto nella sua propria casa CLEMENTE FALCO, di mesi quindici, nato in Arienzo, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara, figlio di GIUSEPPE FALCO, di professione contadino, e di ANTONIA DI GUIDA.» Born about March 1824 — a child of this house the archive did not have. His sister Maddalena, aged seven, had died on 31 May. Giuseppe Falco and Antonia di Guida buried two children in nineteen days. The declarants are Marcello Cossi, thirty-five, and Aniello Diglio, fifty, both of strada Camellara.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1825 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14327, img 20, left column)
Maria Falco, thirty-two — 25 April 1826, and her parents both still alive
25 April 1826
Arienzo civil death register 1826, atto 22. «È morta nella sua propria casa MARIA FALCO d'anni trentadue, moglie di ALFONSO DIGLIO, nata in Arienzo, di professione Contadina, domiciliata ivi, figlia di PASQUALE FALCO, di professione Contadino, domiciliato ivi, e di CHIARA RIVETTI, domiciliata ivi.» A second daughter of the direct line's generation two, and a sister of Vincenzo Falco and of the Anna Falco who died on the same street in 1820. Neither parent carries «fu» — so Pasquale Falco was alive and still a contadino in April 1826, and Chiara Rivetti with him. It is only the second civil sighting of Pasquale between his marriage in the 1780s and his death in 1834. The declarants, Angelo Sansone and Tomaso Sposito of strada Camellara, are entered as neighbours, not kin.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1826, atto 22 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14328, img 13, left column)
A Falco and a Morgillo sign the same act — 28 October 1826
28 October 1826
Arienzo civil death register 1826, atto 73. «Sono comparsi CARLANTONIO MORGILLO, di anni quarantasei, di professione Contadino, domiciliato in questo Comune strada Camellara, vicino della Defunta, e GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni quarantasei, di professione MASSARO, domiciliato in strada Camellara, vicino della Defunta.» Two men of the same age on the same street. This is the first act in the whole Arienzo series in which a Falco and a Morgillo stand together. Both are entered as «vicini», so the register states no kinship — but it is the earliest evidence that the two houses which the line would later join, when Raffaele Falco married Angela Rosa Morgillo, were already neighbours in 1826. This Carlantonio Morgillo of Camellara is not the Carlantonio Morgillo, thirty, of strada Capodichina who declares atto 48 the same year.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1826, atto 73 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14328, img 41, right column)
A Falco with property — Matteo Falco, twenty-eight, 12 October 1827
12 October 1827
Arienzo civil death register 1827, atto 52. «Sono comparsi Raffaele Palladino, di anni quarantadue, di professione Sartore, domiciliato in strada Porta di Sopra, vicino del Defunto, e MATTEO FALCO, di anni ventotto, di professione POSSIDENTE, regnicolo, domiciliato in strada Porta di Sopra, vicino del Defunto.» A propertied Falco, born about 1799, living not on strada Camellara with the labouring households but on strada Porta di Sopra — the only Falco in twenty annual registers called a possidente. The surname was checked at full resolution because the 1817 volume holds a «Giuseppe FALIO» whose name ends «-io» and which this archive has ruled out; this one ends «-co», in the same hand and the same shape as the verified Giuseppe Falco seven months earlier in the same book. He carries the founding ancestor's name, and nothing yet names his father. He is recorded as an unjoined strand.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1827, atto 52 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14329, img 32, left column)
The Royal Magistrate's letter — a body in the wood, May 1827
May 1827
Bound into the Arienzo death register of 1827, on the paper of the Giudicato Regio: «Signore. Ieri fu trovato infossato nella Selva di D. Raffaele Acquaviello un cadavere … difformato nel volto, con la mancanza delle mura del cranio sinistro, ed altre offese, che è stato riconosciuto per quello della nominata MARIANTONIA D'ADDIO fu Felice, e moglie di PELLEGRINO MORGILLO, colà interrata da circa venti in ventiquattro giorni.» The judge asks the sindaco to draw up the death act and send him a copy «per allegarla ad un processo criminale alla quale sono occupato». The sindaco had no printed form to hand and wrote the act on a second loose sheet, sewing both into the volume. Mariantonia d'Addio was thirty-one, a filatrice of strada Capodichina. It is the only violent death in twenty annual registers read so far, and the only time the criminal court's own paper appears in a civil register.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1827 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14329, img 20, right column)
«Parente della defunta» — 24 October 1828, the kinship stated at last
24 October 1828
Arienzo civil death register 1828, atto 54. «Sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni cinquantasei, di professione POSSIDENTE, regnicolo, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, PARENTE DELLA DEFUNTA, e CESARE COSSI, di anni trentuno, di professione contadino, domiciliato in strada Camellara, PARENTE DELLA DEFUNTA … è morta nella sua propria casa MARIANTONIA COSSI, di mesi sette … figlia di FRANCESCO COSSI e di MARIA FALCO.» Since 1823 this archive has watched Giuseppe Falco of strada Camellara declare the deaths of five children of Francesco Cossi and the third Maria Falco. Every earlier act called him «vicino», a neighbour, and the archive recorded the relationship as not established. This one calls him «parente» — kinsman — and writes the word twice. The degree is still unstated. One caution goes with it: he is fifty-six and a possidente here, and forty and a colono eighteen months earlier, so the archive cannot yet say whether this is one man or two.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1828, atto 54 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14330, img 36, left column)
Cioffi, not Cossi — a correction this archive owes the record
1825
Two pairs of words from the same volume, the Arienzo death register of 1825, in the same clerk's hand. On the left, the declarants of atto 30 — the death of Maddalena Falco, aged seven — «Cesare CIOFFI» and «Francesco CIOFFI», both of strada Camellara: a dotted i after the C, then o-ff-i. On the right, the declarants of atto 5, «Domenico COSSI» and «Crescenzo COSSI», both of strada Cossi: no i at all, just C, o and the long-s pair. TWO DIFFERENT FAMILIES, which the clerk distinguished and this archive did not. The household recorded here since 1823 as «Francesco Cossi and the third Maria Falco» — the house whose five dead children Giuseppe Falco declared — is FRANCESCO CIOFFI AND MARIA FALCO. The correction is published rather than quietly swapped, because it is the kind of mistake that a reader of this archive should be able to see this archive making.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1825, atti 30 and 5 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14327, img 17 left and img 5 right)
Fifty-six, again — Giuseppe Falco in 1843
9 May 1843
Arienzo civil death register 1843, atto 14, 9 May: «sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni CINQUANTASEI, di professione COLONO, regnicolo, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA». The register had already given his age as fifty-six in October 1828 — fifteen years earlier. That is the proof of something this archive had only asserted: ages in these registers are not measurements. Across 1817 to 1843 the same man is entered as 37, 40, 46, 46, 40, 56 and 56, and his trade slides from massaro di campagna to massaro to colono to possidente and back to colono. The archive had been carrying an open question about whether this was one Giuseppe Falco or two; after this act it leans to one man and a succession of guessing clerks, because fifty-six twice fifteen years apart is what a guess looks like.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1843, atto 14 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14345, img 12, left column)
Andrea Cioffi and Orsola Zimbardo — the couple that names the priest
3 June 1843
Arienzo civil death register 1843, atto 23, 3 June: «è morta nell'Ospedale d'Ave Gratia Plena CELIA CIOFFI, vedova di Gabriele Biondello, nata in Arienzo, di anni ottanta, di professione contadina, domiciliata strada Porta di Sopra, figlia di ANDREA CIOFFI defunto, di professione POSSIDENTE, domiciliato ivi, e di ORSOLA ZIMBARDO defunta.» In December 1827 this archive read the burial of a priest — «Don Giuseppe C—, di anni cinquantasei, sacerdote, figlio di ANDREA —, possidente, e di ORSOLA ZIMBARDO» — and could not decide whether the surname was Crisci or Cossi. It was neither. Sixteen years later a second act, in a different hand, names the same father with the same trade and the same wife, and spells the surname plainly. The priest was DON GIUSEPPE CIOFFI, and Celia was his sister.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1843, atto 23 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14345, img 18, right column)
«e di FRANCESCA FALCO defunta» — a Falco of the founding generation
27 July 1843
Arienzo civil death register 1843, atto 29, 27 July: «è morto nella sua propria casa ANIELLO CIOFFI, marito di Giovanna Laudato, nato in Arienzo, di anni SETTANTASEI … figlio di GIOACCHINO CIOFFI defunto, di professione contadino, domiciliato ivi, E DI FRANCESCA FALCO defunta.» A Falco woman this archive did not have. Her son was born about 1767 — the same year as Pasquale Falco of generation two — so she married in the seventeen-sixties and belongs to the generation of Matteo Falco himself. Nothing names her parents, and the archive does not guess at them: she is recorded as a Falco of the founding generation and no more. It is worth noting only that Matteo's own wife was a Francesca (Crisci), and that a GIOACCHINO Falco, thirty-six, appears on strada Camellara in 1816 — the forename runs in both houses.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1843, atto 29 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14345, img 21, right column)
A Falco stands for a Morgillo, on strada Camellara — 14 August 1843
14 August 1843
Arienzo civil death register 1843, atto 33: «sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO, di anni cinquantacinque, di professione COLONO … e GIOVANNI CIOFFI, di anni quarantotto, contadino, domiciliato in STRADA CAMELLARA … è morto nella sua propria casa GENNARO MORGILLO, vedovo di Felicia Sompone, nato in Arienzo, di anni cinquantatré, di professione COLONO, domiciliato STRADA CAMELLARA, figlio di ANGELO MORGILLO defunto, di professione COLONO.» This is the closest the record has come to the marriage that was still thirty years away. A MORGILLO HOUSEHOLD IS LIVING ON THE FALCO STREET, and it is Giuseppe Falco who walks to the town hall to report the death. Gennaro's father was a colono called Angelo — the same name and the same trade as the Angelo Morgillo, seventy, colono, who heads the Monticello de' Cappuccini house in 1828. And note the age: Giuseppe Falco is fifty-six in May of this year and fifty-five in August.
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1843, atto 33 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14345, img 24, right column)
«Chiara Rivetti vedova di Pasquale Falco» — 13 September 1843
13 September 1843
Arienzo civil death register 1843, atto 43. «Sono comparsi LUCA CIOFFI, di anni trentatré, di professione sartore, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, e GIOVANNI CIOFFI, di anni quarantotto, contadino, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, i quali han dichiarato, che nel giorno TRE del mese di SETTEMBRE anno corrente, alle ore venti, è morta nella sua propria casa CHIARA RIVETTI VEDOVA DI PASQUALE FALCO, nata in Arienzo, di anni OTTANTA, di professione CONTADINA, domiciliata ivi, FIGLIA DI NICOLA RIVETTI DEFUNTO, di professione CONTADINO, domiciliato ivi, E DI ANNA DI RUGGIO DEFUNTA.» This is the oldest open question in the archive, and it is now closed. Chiara Rivetti married Pasquale Falco of generation two; her Latin burial entry called her «filia quondam NICOLAI et ANNA» and no more, and TWO couples of Arienzo answered to those forenames — the gentry DON Nicola Rivetti and Donn'Anna Quotolo, and the labouring Nicola Rivetti, contadino, and Anna di Ruggio. The archive weighed them and said the labouring couple was the better fit, but refused to claim it. THE CIVIL ACT NAMES THE LABOURING COUPLE, in full, with the father's trade written out. Her brother was the Carmine Rivetti, fifty-three, a contadino of Monticello de' Cappuccini, buried in 1821 «figlio di NICOLA RIVETTI Defunto, di professione CONTADINO, e di ANNA DI RUGGIO Defunta».
Arienzo, Stato civile della restaurazione, Morti 1843, atto 43 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14345, img 30, right column)
Carmela Crisci, seven days old, 9 January 1815
9 January 1815
«…a' detto dì nove del mese corrente di Gennajo ad ore una di notte CARMELA CRISCI figlia d'ARCANGELO CRISCI, e SARA RUGGIERO, di giorni sette … domiciliata strada Camellara». Adriana Crisci's baby sister, born about 2 January 1815 — three weeks after Adriana's wedding. The act that proves Sara Ruggiero was alive and bearing children in 1815, and so closes the Arcangelo Crisci question. Declared by Andrea Crisci, 42, and GIUSEPPE FALCO, 30, both of strada Camellara, both «vicini» — neighbours.
Arienzo, Stato civile, Morti 1815 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14317, img 4)
Raffaele Falco, aged two, 9 October 1815
9 October 1815
«…RAFFAELE FA[LCO] figlio di GIUSEPPE FALCO, ed ANTONIA DI GUIDA, di anni due», strada Camellara. A child this archive did not have, born about 1813 — the earliest joint sighting of Giuseppe Falco and his wife, and a third Raffaele Falco in the same decade as Vincenzo's two.
Arienzo, Stato civile, Morti 1815 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14317, img 41)
A Falco of San Felice marries at Arienzo, 1815
1815
«è comparso LUIGI FALCO di anni diciotto compiti, di professione SAPUNARO, domiciliato nel Comune de' SEI CASALI, strada Croce di San Felice, minore, assistito da SEBASTIANO FALCO suo Padre della stessa professione, e da COLOMBA MONTEFUSCO sua Madre di anni cinquantacinque, di professione filatrice». A Falco household this archive had never seen — and not at Arienzo but at SAN FELICE A CANCELLO, the town whose own acts call it the Six Hamlets of Arienzo, and where generation four's wife would be born three years later. Their trade is soap-making, not the land. NO CONNECTION TO THIS LINE IS CLAIMED.
Arienzo, Stato civile, Matrimoni 1815 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14219, img 8)
The birth of Angela Rosa Morgillo, 24 February 1818
24 February 1818
«L'anno mille ottocento diciotto a' dì VENTIQUATTRO del mese di FEBRAJO ad ore tredici … è comparso ORAZIO MORGILLO di anni VENTISEI, di professione BRACCIALE, domiciliato in detto Comune MASSARIA DELLE FOSSE, ed ha dichiarato che nel detto dì ad ora sette è nato una bambina nella sua propria casa di esso dichiarante, e da VINCENZA PESCE d'anni VENTISETTE, di professione filatrice, sua legittima moglie … a cui si è dato il nome di ANGIOLA ROSA.» Generation four's wife, from her own birth act — and the first primary record of her parents, who until now rested on the family tree alone. Found by way of a town this archive believed unreachable.
San Felice a Cancello («Comune de' sei Casali d'Arienzo»), Stato civile, Nati 1818, atto 32, foglio 32 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua50395, img 55)
Gioacchino Falco named as Matteo's son, 1851
14 February 1851
«7. FALCO GIOACCHINO | Arienzo | CONTADINO | FALCO MATTEO, e CRISCI FRANCESCA | 14 Febrajo» — from the alphabetical index bound at the front of the Arienzo death register for 1851. For years this archive called Gioacchino «a strong candidate fifth child of Matteo and Francesca, though no record yet names his parents». This one names them. Found not in a register read act by act but in an index that is four images long.
Arienzo, Stato civile italiano, Morti 1851, tavola alfabetica, atto 7 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14353, img 2)
The death of Gioacchino Falco, 14 February 1851
14 February 1851
«…che nel giorno QUATTORDICI del mese di FEBRAJO anno corrente alle ore dodici è morto nella sua propria casa GIOACCHINO FALCO marito di VITTORIA CIMMINO, nato in Arienzo, di anni SETTANTASEI, di professione COLONO, domiciliato ivi, figlio di MATTEO FALCO defunto … e di FRANCESCA CRISCI defunta.» Declared by Mariantonio Crisci, 41, calzolajo, and Gaspare d'Onofrio, 38, sartore — BOTH OF STRADA CAMELLARA. The act that made a fifth child of the founding couple documented rather than suspected, and it dates his birth to about 1775.
Arienzo, Stato civile italiano, Morti 1851 — Archivio di Stato di Caserta (Antenati an_ua14353, img 11, right)
Photographs
From the family's own scans. No photograph of a living person is published here — a further nineteen photographs in the family tree show living members and are held back. Their names are published, on the people pages; their faces, dates and records are not. That line was drawn on 10 September 2026 and the reasoning is on Method.
A hand-tinted paired portrait: Giuseppa Ferrara at the left, Angelo Zampiello at the right.
A memorial card, photographed on a crocheted cloth and rotated upright here: «ZAMPIELLO ANGELO — Nato il 31 agosto 1895 — Morto il 25 aprile 1972». It corroborates both dates from the family's own paper.
Two oval portraits mounted on card. The same photograph appears twice in the family scans, filed once under Angelo Zampiello and once under Carminantonio Falco. This archive cannot tell which couple it is, and says so rather than choosing.
Born 10 April 1897. Photographed in old age in a headscarf and crocheted shawl. The family remembers her hiding in a tree above her husband and his mistress.
Page 64 of a burial index. Four Falcos: Carmine Antonio and Filomena on page 504, Caterina and Raffaele on page 284. It was this scrap that led to the Nudgee burial registers, and from there to the Brisbane immigration files.
Quarantine Service passenger list of the ss «Sydney», Lauro Lines, master Leopoldo Cafiero, Genoa to Brisbane, calling at Fremantle on 26 March 1964. Numbers 492 onward: «FALCO Carmine — Tourist — Naples — Brisbane — 43 Mount Joy, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane — 2.9.63», and on the line below him FALCO Francesca. Two further passengers of the same surname follow them on the sheet; they are cropped out here and unnamed below, because this archive does not publish the living. Until now the archive dated this arrival to «about 1957» — an inference from the 1957–1977 span of the family's Brisbane immigration file, and it was wrong. The list is the first document to give the family a ship, a date and a street.
Arienzo civil death register 1842, atto 41, 20 July. «Sono comparsi VINCENZO CIOFFI, di anni quarantasei, di professione VINIVENDOLO, regnicolo, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, E GIUSEPPE FALCO, DI ANNI CINQUANTADUE, DI PROFESSIONE COLONO, regnicolo, DOMICILIATO IN STRADA CAMELLARA, i quali han dichiarato che nel giorno diciannove del mese di Luglio anno corrente, alle ore ventitré, è morta nella sua propria casa MARIA MAGGIORE, di anni settanta, vedova di Aniello Diglio, figlia di Vincenzo Maggiore defunto.» A new sighting of Giuseppe Falco on the line's own street, in the trade the register always gives him. It also sharpens the age problem rather than solving it: the register makes him THIRTY-SEVEN in 1817, FIFTY-SIX in 1828, FIFTY-TWO here in July 1842, FIFTY-SIX again in May 1843 and FIFTY-FIVE in August 1843. Fifty-two and then fifty-six ten months later cannot both be measurements. The archive publishes the series rather than choosing a birth year from it. And the neighbour matters too: a third Cioffi is now attested on strada Camellara, after the Luca and Giovanni Cioffi who reported Chiara Rivetti's death there in 1843 — the Falco and the Cioffi were neighbours on that street across both years.
Arienzo civil death register 1842, atto 55, 25 August. «Sono comparsi ANTONIO CIOFFI, di anni trentadue, contadino, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, e GIOVANNI CIOFFI, di anni quarantasette, contadino, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, i quali han dichiarato che nel giorno ventiquattro del mese di Agosto anno corrente, alle ore ventidue, è morto nella sua propria casa MATTEO FALCO D'ANNI DUE, nato in Arienzo, domiciliato ivi, FIGLIO DI MICHELE FALCO, di professione contadino, domiciliato ivi, E DI ANTONIA MIGLIORE, domiciliata ivi.» A Falco household this archive did not have: MICHELE FALCO and ANTONIA MIGLIORE, on strada Camellara, both named without «fu» and so both alive in 1842. The child's name is worth pausing over and not worth over-reading. Neapolitan custom named a first son for his father's father, and this boy was called MATTEO — the name of the man at the head of this line, Matteo Falco who married Francesca Crisci. That is a reason to look for Michele among Matteo's sons. IT IS NOT EVIDENCE THAT HE WAS ONE. No act names Michele Falco's parents, and the archive is not going to supply them from a naming habit. One thing the act does settle: GIOVANNI CIOFFI, forty-seven here, is forty-eight when he reports Chiara Rivetti's death on the same street thirteen months later. In a register that gives Giuseppe Falco four different ages, this clerk got one right.
Arienzo civil death register 1841, atti 72 and 74, 16 and 19 October, side by side. Both open «Terra di Lavoro, sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO … di professione COLONO, regnicolo, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA». The first gives his age as CINQUANTASEI, the second, three days later and in the same hand, as CINQUANTATRE. This is the plate that ends the argument about his age. Across twenty-six years the register makes him thirty-seven, forty, forty-six, forty-six, forty, fifty-six, fifty-six, fifty-three, fifty-two, fifty-six and fifty-five. They are not measurements of a man; they are what a clerk wrote when nobody had the paperwork. No birth year for Giuseppe Falco is derived from any of them. What the acts do establish is steadier and more useful: over twenty-six years, the same name, the same trade — COLONO, a share-working farmer, not a day labourer — and the same street.
Arienzo civil death register 1841, atto 1, the first act of the year. «Sono comparsi [GASPARO] CRISCI, di anni cinquantasette, contadino, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, E BENEDETTO FALCO, DI ANNI QUARANTA, di professione contadino, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA.» A Falco this archive did not have, born about 1801, on the line's own street. He is recorded and he is NOT placed: no act names his parents, and nothing ties him to Giuseppe Falco, to the Michele Falco of the 1842 volume, or to the direct line. He appears once in ninety-one acts. Two cautions belong on the same page as the find. The surname is a strong reading rather than a certainty — this hand's looped capital serves several letters, and it is the shape together with the street that carries it. And the first declarant's surname could be CRISCI or CIOFFI; the archive is not choosing, because a Crisci on strada Camellara would mean something and a coin-toss is not evidence.
Arienzo civil death register 1840, atto 50. «È morta nella sua propria casa MADDALENA CIOFFI D'UN ANNO, nata in Arienzo, di professione contadina, domiciliata ivi, FIGLIA DI RAFFAELE CIOFFI, di professione contadino, domiciliato ivi, E DI FRANCESCA FALCO, domiciliata ivi.» This is the third act naming the couple, and the earliest. Raffaele Cioffi and Francesca Falco, of strada Cioffi, buried three children in four years: MADDALENA at one year on 17 August 1840, LUIGI at one day old on 2 January 1842, ANTONIO at seventeen days on 10 June 1843. Both parents are named without «fu» in all three, so both were alive throughout. The archive first published this woman's name, from an unenlarged strip of the 1843 act, as «Domenica Falco» — and flagged it at the time as a hypothesis rather than a finding. Three acts, three clerks and one spelling have now corrected it. What none of them gives is her own parents, and the archive still does not guess at them.
Arienzo civil death register 1840, atto 28. «È morta NEL CONSERVATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO [NERI] — MARIA GIUSEPPA SCARPATI D'ANNI SETTANTADUE, nata in Arienzo, DI PROFESSIONE SORORA DEL CONSERVATORIO, domiciliata ivi, FIGLIA DI DON STEFANO SCARPATI defunto, di professione POSSIDENTE, domiciliato ivi, E DI DONNA SERAFINA CIMMINO defunta.» Two things at once. First, Arienzo had a SECOND religious house: everything this archive had found until now happened at the Ave Gratia Plena, and this is a conservatorio — confirmed from the other direction by atto 46 of the same volume, which names a strada San Filippo Neri. Second, she is almost certainly the sister of the ARCHPRIEST. The 1842 register buries Don ANGELO SCARPATI, seventy-six, arciprete of Arienzo, «figlio del Signor STEFANO SCARPATI defunto, POSSIDENTE, e della Signora FAUSTINA CIMMINO». Same father's name, trade and rank; the mother's surname is Cimmino in both; the children born about 1766 and 1768. The one discrepancy is the mother's forename — Serafina here, Faustina there — which is exactly the sort of thing a clerk gets wrong. This is published as a strong inference with the discrepancy named, not as a proven sibling pair. What it does establish outright is that the archpriest came from a propertied house which put a daughter into a conservatorio and a son into the parish.
Arienzo civil death register 1839, atto 36. «Sono comparsi RAFFAELE CIMMINO, di anni trentotto, di professione vaticale, regnicolo, domiciliato in strada CAMELLARA, E VINCENZO FALCO, DI ANNI QUARANTADUE, DI PROFESSIONE COLONO, regnicolo, DOMICILIATO IN STRADA CAMELLARA, i quali han dichiarato che nel giorno quattordici del mese di Marzo anno corrente, alle ore due, è morto nella sua propria casa ANDREA CIOFFI d'anni ottantadue, vedovo di Maria Laudato.» THIS IS GENERATION THREE. Vincenzo Falco — born 1793, married Andreana Crisci by act 26 of 15 December 1814, dead at Arienzo on 15 May 1875 — alive, on the family street, and described by the trade the register reserves for a share-working farmer rather than a day labourer: COLONO, the same rank it gives Giuseppe Falco. His stated ages are as unreliable as Giuseppe's. The registers make him TWENTY-ONE at his marriage in 1814, THIRTY-FIVE at a son's birth in 1816, TWENTY-SEVEN at another son's birth in 1818, and FORTY-TWO here. Thirty-five in 1816 and twenty-seven in 1818 cannot both be true of one man. The identification therefore rests on none of them: it rests on a single Vincenzo Falco household on strada Camellara, a colono, in a year he is documented to have been living.
Arienzo civil death register 1839, atto 57. «Sono comparsi GIUSEPPE FALCO, DI ANNI CINQUANTATRÉ, DI PROFESSIONE CONTADINO, regnicolo, DOMICILIATO IN STRADA CAMELLARA, e ANIELLO CIOFFI, di anni quarantaquattro, contadino, domiciliato in strada Camellara, i quali han dichiarato che nel giorno tre del mese di Giugno anno corrente, alle ore sedici, è morta nella sua propria casa FILOMENA CIOFFI d'mesi quattordici, figlia di Gaspare Cioffi.» The 1839 volume holds BOTH men of the line: Vincenzo Falco, forty-two, a COLONO, in March, and Giuseppe Falco, fifty-three, a CONTADINO, here in June — the first time this archive has found the two of them in one year's register, on one street. It also shows that Giuseppe's TRADE wavers as freely as his age. The registers call him COLONO in 1828, 1841, 1842 and 1843 — a share-working farmer — and CONTADINO here, a day labourer. The two words mark a real difference in standing, and the clerks used them interchangeably of the same man. His stated ages across 1817 to 1843 now run 37, 40, 46, 46, 40, 56, 53, 56, 53, 52, 56, 55.
«Documenti del Matrimonio tra Vincenzo Falco di Pasquale, e di Chiara Rivetti, ed Andreana Crisci di Arcangelo, e di Sara Ruggiero» — four parents named before a single act is opened. The pencil 16 is the bundle number that hid this file from an earlier search looking for act 26.
Copied from the parish register (liber IX, fol. 47 a tergo) by the archpriest Giacinto Morgillo on 13 September 1814 for his marriage file. «…baptizavi infantem natum ex Paschale Falco, et Clara Rivetta Conjugibus … cui dedi nomen Vincentius Raphael.» The document that settled the seven-way age conflict — and revealed that he passed his own second name to two sons.
«…baptizavit infantem natam ex Archangelo Crisci, et Sara Ruggiero Conjugibus ex mea Parochia, cui dedit nomen Adriana.» Liber IX, fol. 94 a tergo. Her name at the font — the root of the Andreana, Andriana and Andrea the registers give her — and the end of the Crisci-versus-Cioffi conflict.
Before the notary Felice Morgillo: «li conjugi PASQUALE FALCO del fu MATTEO, e CHIARA RIVETTI del fu NICOLA, domiciliati … strada Camellara … prestano il loro rispettivo consenso a Vincenzo Falco loro figlio». Vincenzo was 23, under the Code's threshold of 25, so his parents had to speak. The earliest document that names Matteo Falco — and the earliest that proves him dead.
Before the notary Salvio Morgillo: «li conjugi ARCANGELO CRISCI fu NICOLA, e SARA RUGGIERO di Pasquale … strada Camellara … prestano il libero rispettivo consenso ad ANDREANA CRISCI loro figlia». Two names never recorded before — Nicola Crisci, already dead, and Pasquale Ruggiero, still living — and the Crisci placed on the Falco street.
Publication act 33, read by the sindaco Vincenzo Morgillo before the door of the town hall at one in the afternoon. It states four ages at once: Vincenzo 23, his father Pasquale 60, his mother Chiara Rivetti 47, and Andreana Crisci 17 compiti. The two young people are right to the year; the father is wrong by fourteen.
«Numero 8 — Comune Corpo d'Arienzo — Documenti pel Matrimonio tra LUIGI FALCO figlio di SEBASTIANO, e di COLOMBA MONTEFUSCO, e [C]ecilia Vecchio(?) figlia del fu Sabbatino». Found by sweeping all 385 images of the volume: the bundles are bound OUT OF NUMERIC ORDER — bundle 1 sits at image 20 and bundle 2 at image 3 — so nothing but a full sweep would have reached it.
«…Parochus Ecclesiae Parochialis S. FELICIS MARTYRIS hujus Terrae Argentii, DIOCESIS S. AGATHAE GOTHORUM … libro VII baptizatorum … fol. 148 … Die vigesima septima mensis Februarii millesimo septingentesimo nonagesimo septimo 1797 … sacro fonte expiavit infantem natum ex legitimis Conjugibus SEBASTIANO FALCO et COLUMBA MONTEFUSCO.» The San Felice Falco belonged to the parish of San Felice Martire, in the diocese of Sant'Agata de' Goti — a jurisdiction this archive has never worked in.
The written record
Behind these images sit the files that carry every citation in the archive. They are plain tab-separated text, kept public so the working can be checked rather than trusted.
- record-citations.tsv — every record citation, with its archival reference.
- households.tsv — every register entry behind the households, quoted in the words of the record.
- direct-line.tsv — the generations, and the evidence for each join.
The page-by-page reading logs for the civil death registers — 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836 — record every act read, not only the ones that mattered, so that nobody has to read them again. Full list of sources on the Sources page.