Is it really possible to retrace the centuries to rejoin the many descendants of the sons of Noah (Noachic genealogy)? Although the most important cultural traditions of human civilisations begin with genealogies (found in the Bible and the Gospels themselves), the real possibility of documenting relationships with progenitors so far back in time is very unlikely.

Going back through the centuries, in order to retrieve information and documents on one’s family history, one faces two enormous obstacles: the rarity of documentary sources and the instability of master data, in particular, of the surname, which only in late modern times acquired a definitive consolidation of a legal nature with the creation of the first land registers and civil status.

Not as rich in genealogical data, the notarial archives complement the parish archives for this period and can be a valuable source of information, since, in some areas of Italy, they date back to the 13th century.

Very important, however, may be notarial acts concerning the sphere of family relations: emancipation of children, marriage pacts and wills, often registered separately.

For some important noble or aristocratic families, it is possible to alleviate, but not annul, these difficulties, as much information on them can be found in the archives of the public and government institutions of the Italian states of the ancien regime, mostly kept in the State Archives. Moreover, since the last century, many of them have donated or deposited their invaluable archives, declared to be of considerable historical interest, at the State Archives.

They often hold collections of ancient diplomas, especially public and other parchment (diplomatic) documents and family genealogical tables, which in the rearrangements carried out between the 18th and 19th centuries were placed among the first partitions into which family archives were divided, to represent, in themselves, the antiquity of the family and the link with royal families.