Italian WWI Military Records: How to Find Your Ancestor’s Foglio Matricolare

Sharing is caring!

Your great-grandfather left Italy sometime around 1910. You know his name, his village, his region. But there is a gap — the years between his youth in Italy and his arrival in America. What happened to him during the First World War? Did he serve? Did he come home? Did the war change why he never went back?

The Foglio Matricolare is the answer. This is Italy’s WWI military conscription record — one sheet per man, listing everything the Italian state knew about him when he was called to serve. For Italian-American researchers, these records fill a critical gap that no other document can fill.

What Is a Foglio Matricolare?

A Foglio Matricolare (plural: Fogli Matricolari) is a military enrollment sheet. The Italian army created one for every man born between roughly 1874 and 1910 who was eligible for military service. The sheet followed him from conscription through discharge — or death.

Italy entered the First World War in May 1915. By the time the war ended in November 1918, over 5.7 million Italian soldiers had served. More than 650,000 died. Every one of them has a Foglio Matricolare. Many more who did not see combat — or who emigrated before the war — still appear in these records because the Italian state drafted and tracked men regardless of where they lived.

For Italian-American families, this is significant. Many Italian immigrants received letters from the Italian consulate calling them back to serve. Some went. Some did not. Some had already received Italian citizenship papers that excluded them. The Foglio Matricolare records exactly what happened — whether your ancestor served, where he was posted, whether he was wounded, and what the Italian government noted about him.

What Information Does a Foglio Matricolare Contain?

These records are remarkably detailed. A standard Foglio Matricolare includes:

• Full name — surname, given name, and father’s name
• Date and place of birth — often the specific commune
• Physical description — height, hair colour, eye colour, distinguishing features
• Literacy status — whether he could read and write
• Occupation — what he did before military service
• Family status — married, single, number of dependants
• Conscription class — the year he was called up
• Military unit — regiment, division, corps assignment
• Dates of service — mobilisation, deployment, discharge
• Campaigns and battles — where he fought
• Wounds and injuries — detailed notes if wounded
• Decorations — medals awarded
• Cause of death — if he died in service
• Post-war status — discharge conditions, disability ratings

The physical description alone can be extraordinary for genealogists. If you have old family photographs but no names, the physical description on a Foglio Matricolare can sometimes help identify who is who.

Where Are Fogli Matricolari Held?

🇮🇹 Enjoying this? 30,000 Italy lovers get stories like this every week. Subscribe free →

Italy organised its conscription system through military districts called Distretti Militari. Each district covered a geographic area and was responsible for the men born in that area. When a man was conscripted, his Foglio Matricolare went to his district’s records.

After the war, these records moved to various archives. Today, Fogli Matricolari are held in three main locations:

1. Archivio di Stato (State Archives)

Many Fogli Matricolari now sit in the Archivio di Stato of the province where the man was born. Italy has 103 provinces, each with its own state archive. If you know your ancestor’s birth province, you can contact that archive directly.

For example: if your ancestor came from Palermo, contact the Archivio di Stato di Palermo. If he came from Naples, contact the Archivio di Stato di Napoli. Each archive has different policies on remote requests and fees.

2. Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Central State Archive), Rome

Some military records — particularly those for men who died in service — transferred to the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome. This is Italy’s national archive and holds significant collections of WWI-era military records. Their website is acs.cultura.gov.it.

3. Distretto Militare Holdings

Some records remain with the Commissariato Generale di Leva (General Conscription Commissariat) or with successor bodies of the original Distretti Militari. These can be harder to access but a researcher or genealogist based in Italy can help navigate these requests.

How to Search for Your Ancestor’s Foglio Matricolare

Before you contact any archive, gather what you already know. The more information you provide, the faster the search will go.

Step 1: Confirm the Birth Province

You need to know which Italian province your ancestor was born in. This tells you which military district would have held his records. Check your family’s Italian civil birth records (Stato Civile), ship manifests, naturalisation papers, or US census records — all of these often list the place of birth.

Important: many places in southern Italy changed province or region between 1900 and today. A village that was in the province of Aquila in 1915 might be in a different administrative area now. Cross-check with historical maps if needed.

Step 2: Identify the Conscription Year

Italy called up men by year of birth (classe di leva). Men born in 1874 formed the 1874 class, and so on. Knowing your ancestor’s birth year tells you his conscription class. WWI-era records cover men born roughly between 1874 and 1899 — these are the classes that actively served in the war.

Men born from 1900 onward were called up toward the very end of the war. Men born before 1874 would have served in earlier conflicts (the Risorgimento, the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912) and their records are held separately.

Step 3: Contact the Archivio di Stato

Write to the Archivio di Stato in the relevant province. You can find contact details for every state archive through the Italian Ministry of Culture’s portal at archivi.cultura.gov.it.

Your request should include:

• Your ancestor’s full name (including variants if the name was common)
• His birth date and birth place (down to the commune if possible)
• His father’s name
• His approximate conscription year (birth year plus one or two years)
• Any military unit information you already have

Italian archives typically respond in Italian. A basic letter in Italian goes a long way. Many archives also accept requests in English, though response times vary widely.

Step 4: Search Online Databases

Some Fogli Matricolari are available online. The Archivio Centrale dello Stato has digitised portions of its WWI collections. The Italian Cultural Heritage Data Portal indexes some of these holdings.

Additionally, the project Caduti e dispersi della Prima Guerra Mondiale (Fallen and Missing of the First World War) has created a searchable database of Italian WWI casualties. If your ancestor died in service, he may appear here. Search at dati.esercito.difesa.it for military records held by the current Italian army.

Understanding What You Find

When you receive a Foglio Matricolare, it may be handwritten in a style that takes some practise to read. Here are the key sections to focus on.

The Header Section

This contains your ancestor’s identifying information. Look for:

• Cognome e nome — surname and given name
• Nato il — born on (date)
• nel Comune di — in the commune of (place)
• figlio di — son of (father’s name)
• e di — and of (mother’s name)
• Professione — profession or occupation

The Military Service Section

This is where you find what he actually did. Key terms include:

• Reggimento — regiment
• Battaglione — battalion
• Giugno 1915 or similar — the date he was mobilised
• Ferito — wounded
• Prigioniero di guerra — prisoner of war
• Morto in combattimento — died in combat
• Licenziato — discharged
• Medaglia al valore — medal for valour

The Physical Description

This section records height in centimetres, hair colour (capelli), eye colour (occhi), and any distinguishing marks (segni particolari). If your ancestor was examined and found unfit, you will see a note about the reason — which can sometimes reveal a medical history you did not know about.

Special Cases: Italian Emigrants and the War

One of the most common questions from Italian-Americans is: “Did my great-grandfather have to serve even though he lived in America?”

The answer depends on when he emigrated and whether he had become an American citizen. Italy and the United States signed a treaty in 1871 that addressed military service obligations. Under this agreement, Italian men who had lived in the United States for more than five years and stated their intention to become American citizens were generally exempt from Italian military service.

However, the Italian government interpreted this treaty narrowly. Men who had emigrated but not yet formalised their American citizenship often received summons through the Italian consulate. Some returned to Italy to serve. Others stayed in America. The Foglio Matricolare will often include a note about men who were living abroad at the time of mobilisation, and whether they responded or were listed as renitenti (draft evaders).

If your ancestor was listed as a draft evader, this does not appear anywhere in American records. But it may explain why he never returned to Italy — Italian law barred renitenti from returning without consequences for many years after the war.

Italian WWI Casualties: Other Records to Search

If your ancestor died during the First World War, additional records exist beyond the Foglio Matricolare.

Albi d’Oro (Rolls of Honour)

Italy published provincial Albi d’Oro listing all men who died in WWI. These were often published in the 1920s and 1930s. Many libraries and archives hold copies. The information is brief — name, birth date, place of birth, date and place of death — but it confirms that your ancestor died and when.

War Cemeteries and Sacrari Militari

Italy maintains military memorials called Sacrari Militari at key WWI sites. The Sacrario Militare di Redipuglia in Friuli Venezia Giulia holds the remains of over 100,000 Italian soldiers. The Commissariato Generale per le Onoranze ai Caduti (ONORCADUTI) maintains a searchable database of Italian war dead. Search at onorcaduti.difesa.it.

Comune Death Records

When an Italian soldier died in the field, the Italian military sent notification to the comune where he was born. The comune then recorded his death in the civil death register (Registro degli Atti di Morte). These records are on the Antenati portal for the post-unification period and can confirm the date and circumstances of death.

Using Fogli Matricolari with Other Research

A Foglio Matricolare works best when you combine it with other sources.

Start with what you know from Italian civil records — birth certificate, marriage record, death record. These establish the basic facts: full name, parents’ names, date and place of birth. Then use the Foglio Matricolare to extend that knowledge forward into the war years. Then check emigration records — the Stato degli Anime (parish census), naturalisation papers, ship manifests — to understand what happened before and after the war.

Together, these sources can reconstruct a life. Your great-grandfather is no longer a name on a census and a face in a photograph. He is a man who stood in a recruitment office in 1915 and was measured and described. He carried a rifle in a regiment. He came home — or he did not. These records tell that story.

For more background on the Italian civil record system, see our guide to tracing Italian records from before unification. For the Antenati portal specifically, see our complete guide to using Italy’s free online archive. And for understanding what happened to the people in those records, our guide to Italian emigration waves by region provides the historical context.

Planning a Heritage Visit to WWI Sites in Italy

If you discover your ancestor served in a particular campaign, consider visiting the places where the fighting happened. The Italian front ran across some of the most dramatic landscape in Europe — the Julian Alps, the Carso plateau, the Piave River valley.

Redipuglia, near Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, is the largest Italian military cemetery in the world. Walking through it, with over 100,000 names carved into the stone terraces, is a profound experience for anyone researching an Italian military ancestor.

The museum at Caporetto (now Kobarid in Slovenia) tells the story of the Battle of Caporetto, one of the most dramatic reversals of the entire war, from both the Italian and Austrian perspectives. Many Italian families have ancestors who were captured or went missing there.

The Museo della Grande Guerra in Rovereto, Trentino, holds one of the most comprehensive collections of WWI artefacts in Italy. The city’s bronze bell — cast from captured Austrian cannons — still rings each evening to honour the war dead.

Frequently Asked Questions About Italian WWI Military Records

Are Fogli Matricolari available online?

Partially. Some Fogli Matricolari have been digitised and appear in Italian archival databases, particularly those for men who died in service. However, the majority are held in physical archives and require a direct request. Digitisation is ongoing, and availability increases each year. Check the Archivio Centrale dello Stato website and your relevant provincial Archivio di Stato for current status.

What if my ancestor emigrated before WWI — will he still have a Foglio Matricolare?

Yes, in most cases. Italy registered men for military service at age 20, regardless of where they lived. Even men who had emigrated to the United States, Argentina, Brazil, or Australia received a conscription notice through the Italian consulate. The Foglio Matricolare will typically note that the man was emigrato (emigrated) and record whether he responded to mobilisation or was recorded as absent. This can tell you whether your ancestor was in contact with the Italian government during the war years.

How long does it take to receive a Foglio Matricolare from an Italian archive?

Response times vary greatly. Some archives respond within a few weeks. Others take several months, particularly if they are understaffed or if the request requires extensive searching. Writing in Italian, providing very specific identifying information, and being patient all improve your chances of a successful response. If you do not hear back within three months, a follow-up letter is appropriate.

Can I hire someone in Italy to search for Fogli Matricolari on my behalf?

Yes, and for complex searches this is often the most effective approach. Professional Italian genealogists can make in-person visits to archives, read handwritten documents, and navigate the bureaucratic processes that can frustrate researchers working from abroad. Several reputable genealogy research firms operate in Italy, and many Italian genealogists offer remote consultation services. The Associazione Genealogica Italiana (Italian Genealogical Association) can provide referrals.

What is the difference between a Foglio Matricolare and a Ruolo Matricolare?

The Foglio Matricolare is the individual record for one man. The Ruolo Matricolare is the register — the book that contains the Fogli Matricolari for an entire conscription class in a given district. Researchers sometimes find it useful to view the entire Ruolo Matricolare rather than a single Foglio, because neighbouring pages may contain records of men from the same village — relatives, neighbours, friends of your ancestor who were called up in the same year.

You Might Also Enjoy

How to Trace Your Italian Ancestry – Step-by-Step Guide for Americans

Antenati: How to Use Italy’s Free Genealogy Archive to Find Your Ancestors

How to Find Your Ancestral Italian Village

Sharing is caring!