During the past 150 years of Italian unification, over 30 million people have left Italy. Setting out to make their fortunes overseas, this massive diaspora found Italian’s settling in Northern Europe, North and South America, and Australia.
The hub of this migration was the port of Genoa, where departing Italian families set out for new world destinations. As the principle location in Italy’s migration history, Genoa was a fitting home for CISEI (Centro Internazionale Studi Emigrazione Italiana), the International Centre of Italian Emigration Studies.
CISEI was formally established in 2006 but began the task of cataloguing emigration documents in early 2004. The documents are essential to realise its aim to collect has much information about each expatriate as possible. The collected data create the most comprehensive archive of Italian emigration and the database is now available online.
Recreating passengers’ embarkation lists from the Port of Genoa from 1876 to 1925 is no small task. Between 1876 and 1901, nearly 2 million people departed through the Port of Genoa, with another 1.7 million embarking between 1902 and 1925. With a small dropoff during World War II, Italian emigration continued at a steady pace until the 1970s.
CISEI has established relationships with various international institutions to share and consolidate information. […]
Experts estimate that there are 50 million people in the world today with at least one-eight Italian blood. The monumental work of CISEI will ensure that these members of the Italian community will be able to investigate their family background from anywhere on the planet. Read More
See on italymag.co.uk
via Tumblr http://italianentertainment.tumblr.com/post/47529932315