SURNAMES IN ITALY

Genoa Passenger Lists and Emigration Records

Genoa Passenger Lists and Emigration Records

The Port of Genoa was the main gateway for Italian emigration to the Americas during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This guide explains what records survive today, where to find Genoa passenger lists, passport records, and other archival sources that can help trace Italian ancestors.

Among Italian ports, Genoa handled the largest share of Italian emigration for almost a century. According to the Maritime Health Records of the Port of Genoa, between 1833 and 1850 approximately 14,000 emigrants departed for the Americas. Their principal destinations were the Río de la Plata region (68%), the United States (16.5%) and Brazil (8%).

However:

  • From 1876 to 1901, about 61% of Italian transoceanic emigration departed from the Port of Genoa.
  • During the twentieth century, other Italian ports such as Naples and Palermo also became major departure ports.
  • A significant proportion of Italian emigrants also departed from ports located in other European countries.

Passenger Departure Records from Genoa

Unlike some other ports, there is no complete collection of passenger departure lists for the Port of Genoa. Most original passenger lists have not survived, and researchers must rely on a number of fragmentary archival collections preserved by different institutions.

CISEI – International Center for Studies on Italian Emigration

Founded in Genoa in 2004, CISEI was created to recover and publish records relating to Italian emigration. Today its database combines several important collections, including records preserved by the State Archive of Genoa.

The CISEI database currently includes:

  • Boarding lists from the Maritime Health Records (1833–1856).
  • Memorial do Imigrante (São Paulo), 1888–1912.
  • Castle Garden passenger lists, 1820–1912.
  • Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos (CEMLA), Argentina, 1926–1950. Barcos de Agnelli includes only passengers of Italian origin extracted from the CEMLA database.

Important: The Maritime Health Records available through CISEI only cover the years 1833–1856. According to the State Archive of Genoa, copies of these original records can only be requested when the exact archival reference of the document is known. In practice, CISEI is the main tool for identifying those records before requesting copies from the archive.

State Archive of Genoa (Archivio di Stato di Genova)

The State Archive of Genoa preserves several collections that may help identify emigrants who departed through the Port of Genoa.

  • The collection Matrici dei Passaporti (1858–1873) contains passport stubs issued by the Prefecture of Genoa. Although only fifteen years survive, each year preserves traces of approximately 1,200–1,500 passports.
  • Unlike the original passports, which were issued as a single document and normally remained with the traveller, these passport stubs were retained by the authorities. They often preserve much of the same information recorded on the original passport, including the traveller’s birthplace, residence, occupation and destination.
  • The archive also preserves three archival units containing passport stubs dating from approximately 1910–1925. These records are not part of a complete indexed collection.
  • Passport records are not indexed by name. Searches by surname are generally not possible and the archive cannot provide copies unless the exact archival reference is known.
  • Part of the passport records (1858–1872) can also be consulted through the Immigrant Ancestors Project, which currently includes 9,145 indexed records.
  • See also Naples Passenger Lists and Passport Records for Italian Emigrants.

Maritime Health Records of the Port of Genoa (1833–1856)

Before embarking, many emigrants underwent a medical examination performed by the port physician or by the shipping company’s physician. These examinations generated the Maritime Health Records, one of the most valuable surviving sources for early emigrants departing from Genoa.

The examination usually resulted in a certificate stating that the passenger did not suffer from contagious diseases such as tuberculosis or trachoma, conditions that were also checked by immigration authorities upon arrival in the United States.

These records may include:

  • Archival information: archive, collection, series, record number, passport number, issue date and other archival references.
  • Personal information: surname, given name, sex, age, birthplace, parents’ names, occupation, last residence, destination, ship name, captain, flag and other identifying details.

What Records Survive for the Port of Genoa?

Although no complete passenger lists survive for the Port of Genoa, researchers can still consult several important documentary collections:

  • Maritime Health Records (1833–1856) – Available through the CISEI database. Once the archival reference has been identified, copies of the original documents may be requested from the State Archive of Genoa.
  • Passport Stubs (Matrici dei Passaporti, 1858–1873) – Preserved by the State Archive of Genoa. These are not the original passports but the official stubs retained by the authorities, often containing much of the same genealogical information.
  • Passport Stubs (approximately 1910–1925) – Three surviving archival units preserved by the State Archive of Genoa. These records are not indexed by name and must be consulted directly at the archive or through a professional researcher.
  • CISEI Database – In addition to the Maritime Health Records, CISEI integrates passenger databases from São Paulo, Castle Garden and CEMLA, making it one of the most useful starting points for researching emigrants who departed through Genoa.

Although the original passenger lists of the Port of Genoa have largely been lost, these complementary collections still make it possible to reconstruct the journeys of thousands of Italian emigrants who left for the Americas during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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