Welcome!
Updated November 2025
Welcome to Antenati Montagnana, a website created to help anyone who is researching, or simply interested in learning about, their ancestors from the towns of Montagnana Pistoiese, Momigno, Marliana, Casore del Monte, Serra Pistoiese, and Avaglio in the Italian province of Pistoia. This site lists nearly all of the residents of these towns from the late 1700s through the early 1900s. The records for Montagnana and Momigno include all residents of those years, including people who died young and people who were never married. The records for the other towns only include people who had marriage records.
The most recent major update (November 2025) has been posted, including the following:
- All marriage records between 1814-1903 that were available for the towns of Avaglio, Casore del Monte, Marliana, and Serra Pistoiese have been added.
- The above marriage records have direct links to the original records online.
- The number of individuals recorded now totals to more than 17,000 individuals.
- Common surnames in these newly recorded towns include Bartolozzi, Benedetti, Francesconi, Giuliani, Lorenzi, Marraccini, Martinelli, Mucci, and Parenti.
This project started out as an exercise to research my own family history - my paternal grandparents were born in Montagnana. However, because most of the early Montagnana residents shared one of only a few last names (especially Dolfi and Livi), I ended up recording the information for every resident of the town. In the process of recording the residents’ information, I mapped the family relationships of each individual whenever possible. The initial result ws a list of nearly 9,000 individuals (mostly from Montagnana) and their families. Subsequent updates have included the surrounding towns.
The best way to start exploring this website is to either search for a specific name or else to click on one of the surnames listed below. When you get to a specific individual, you can explore their family trees by clicking on the "Ancestors" tab, the "Descendants" tab, or other tabs just below the person’s name, near the top of the page.
This site should not be considered an authoritative source. Given the large number of records that were transcribed by hand, as well as occasional errors in the original documents, there are certainly some errors present in the data. If you encounter any errors, please let me know using the "contact us" link under the "Info" menu.
Ospedale del Ceppo
The Ospedale del Ceppo in Pistoia. My great-great-grandmother was a foundling baby who was most likely abandoned at the Ospedale del Ceppo as an infant.
Top 100 Surnames
This is the first page that you will see when selecting a person.
Click the Family tab to see a chart showing the immediate family, including children, spouse, and parents.
Click the Ancestors tab to see a family tree showing the ancestors of the selected person. The layout and the number of generations shown can be modified by selecting the various options (Standard, Vertical, Compact, etc.) on the second row of links at the top of the chart.
Click the Descendants tab to see a family tree showing the children, grandchildren, and other descendants of the selected person. The layout and the number of generations shown can be modified by selecting the various options (Standard, Compact, etc.) on the second row of links at the top of the chart.
