Italian Military Records
Expert advice for learning about your Italian ancestor's military service.
A. You can get the conscription papers for your ancestor from Italy. Trafford Cole’s book Italian Genealogical Records states that the conscription records are called registro di leva and list all males by year of birth within each military district. He goes on to say that the records are usually indexed and fairly easy to consult: “There are two copies of them; one is held in the military district, and the other copy is initially held by the procura della repubblica, usually at the court (tribunal) archive. After 75 years, the latter copy is usually turned over to the state archive and made available for consultation.”

Cole goes on to describe how the military districts are divided. He also includes several examples of some of the documents.
The free FamilySearch.org website has conscription records for a couple of comunes in Italy. Find the databases listed among FamilySearch.org’s growing collection of Italian records.
But you’ll most likely need to write to the Italian state archive (Archivo di Stato) where your ancestor lived. You’ll find websites for the Italian state archives here.

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