Hi! I received the birth certificate of my great grandmother Angel Berni from Bedonia,Parma,Italy today. I'm having a lot of difficulty reading the Italian Script (I do OK with the typed copies!) Can anyone help me out? Does it list any names of grandparents on here (giuseppe di ??). That is a large bit of text on the bottom written in, is that typical? There are two names (witnesses?), does it give their relations? It says something like giaradiara after one, and "peasant" after the other. After the mothers name, I see it calls her 24 years old, and a peasant, and then a whole lot of words I can't read. Does it give birth locations for the parents? Thanks to anyone who can help!! I've posted the image here: (it is big!) http://www.branchpike.com/berniAngelinaBirth.jpg

Actually, this was very bad handwriting. Here's a rough translation, from what I could understand: Today, 22 October 1889, at 1:33 p.m., in the town hall, in front of me (goes on with his name), officer of the Civil Archive of the Comune of Bedonia, appeared Berni Giuseppe (son) of the late Francesco, aged 26, farmer living in (name of the place), who declared me that at 6:15 p.m., 19th of the current month, in the house from Parmigiani Elisabetta, aged 24, peasant, (can't read the following sentence but maybe for a couple of words, 'seco lui domiciliata e convivente' meaning 'living in the same house with him...) was born a child, of female sex, which isn't here now (literally, whom I'm not being shown), and whose name is Angela Maria. Witnesses of this act were Parmigiani Antonio, aged 56, day labourer (I read something like 'giornaliere') and Berni Davide, aged 70, peasant, both living in this Commune. I can't understand much of the ending lines, but it looks like some formal bureaucratic document ending, in my opinion. Also, I can't read perfectly the name of the place where the house was. Here's a list of the current hamlets in the comune of Bedonia: Alpe, Anzola, Calice, Caneso, Casalporino, Cavignaga, Chiesola, Carniglia, Casaleto, Cornolo, Drusco, Illica, Masanti, Montarsiccio, Montevacà (Passo del Bocco), Nociveglia, Ponteceno, Pontestrambo, Romezzano, Scopolo, Serra, Spora, Strepeto, Tasola. It seems to me the place name in the document looks similiar to Nociveglia, but I'm not sure. Some considerations: Parent names: Giuseppe Berni and Elisabetta Parmigiani (Parmegiani is very rare in Italy, whereas there are lots of Parmigiani, even in the area were Bedonia is). In Bedonia there's also a paintings museum named Parmigiani. Angelina's official name: Angela Maria. Witnesses: usually they can or cannot be relatives, but in this case I'd think so, as their surnames are the same as those of Maria's relatives. Have you already seen Angela's Ellis Island papers? <http://ellisisland.org/search/passRecord.asp?pID=102283160304> She arrived in US in 1906, together with other people from Bedonia. Hope I could help a little, Fabio