A biography is a history of a person’s life. In a biography you may find the individual’s birth, marriage, and death information and the names of his or her parents, children, or other family members. Use the information carefully because there may be inaccuracies.

Thousands of brief biographies have been gathered and published in collective biographies, sometimes called biographical encyclopedias or dictionaries. Usually these references only include biographies of prominent or well-known citizens of Italy. Other single volume biographical collections feature specific well-known artists, craftsmen, engineers, and so forth.

A significant biographical encyclopedia or dictionary is:

Dizionario biografico degli italiani (Biographical dictionary of the Italians). Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani, 1960–. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D3db; computer number 162306.) This is an ongoing publication.

A major collection of Italian biographies is:

Archivio biografico italiano (Italian biographical archive). [München; New York]: K. G. Saur, 1992. 1,046 microfiche. (FHL fiche 6002169 A-Z, 600228 supplement A-Z; computer number 794422.) An index to this work is:

Indice biografico italiano (Italian biographical index). 4 vols. München: K. G. Saur, 1993. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D32i v. 1–4; computer number 794422.)

You can find more biographies under:

Archivio biografico italiano. Nuova serie (Italian biographical archive. New series). München: K. G. Saur, 1997. 690 microfiche. (FHL fiche 6109292–6109322; computer number 788758.) The index to this work is:

Internationaler biographischer Index (World biographical index). 3rd compact disc ed. München: K. G. Saur, 1997. (FHL disc AUTOMATED RC CD no. 50; computer number 794615.)

To find collective biographies at the Family History Library, look in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

ITALY- BIOGRAPHYITALY, [PROVINCE]- BIOGRAPHYITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN]- BIOGRAPHY

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