Transcription - Atto di nascita

[Nick_M]

I am hoping someone can help me understand the handwritten act of birth for Maria Discenza.

This was sent to me by the comune di Baranello as per my request. I can read rudimentary Italian and normally look up the words I do not understand. In this case I cannot read the writing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Atto di nascita Maria Discenza 1.pdf

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[AngelaGrace56]

Welcome to the forum.

The writing is quite tricky. The following might help:

Birth No 113 – Maria Discenza

Registered in Baranello on 5 October 1931

Solidea Balboni, 33 yo, levatrice (midwife) , living Baranello appeared before the official to report the birth. She was 33 yo, living in Baranello, and reported that at 1.30 am on first of the current month (ie 1 October), in the house in Via Fosse, no number, from Maria Giuseppa Antonecchia, a donna di casa (housewife/domestic duties), wife of Libero Fauno Discenza, an operaio (worker/labourer), both living in Baranello, was born a baby of female gender who she presented to the official, and gave the name of Maria.

Then it just gives the names of the witnesses to the registration proceedings, Giuseppe Cippanelli, a 25 yo sarto (tailor) and Pasquale Trivisonno, 63 yo, coltelli....? - to do with knives?

Then it explains at the base why the midwife reported the birth in place of the husband – it was because he was absent (from the town?)

Angela

[mmogno]

Welcome to the forum.

The writing is quite tricky. The following might help:

Birth No 113 – Maria Discenza

Registered in Baranello on 5 October 1931

Solidea Balboni, 33 yo, levatrice (midwife) , living Baranello appeared before the official to report the birth. She was 33 yo, living in Baranello, and reported that at 1.30 am on first of the current month (ie 1 October), in the house in Via Fosse, no number, from Maria Giuseppa Antonecchia, a donna di casa (housewife/domestic duties), wife of Libero Fauno Francesco(?) Discenza, an operaio (worker/labourer), both living in Baranello, was born a baby of female gender who she presented to the official, and gave the name of Maria.

Then it just gives the names of the witnesses to the registration proceedings, Giuseppe Pizzanelli, a 25 yo sarto (tailor) and Pasquale Trivisonno, 63 yo, coltellinaio - to do with knives

Then it explains at the base why the midwife reported the birth in place of the husband – it was because he was absent (from the town?)

Angela

[AngelaGrace56]

@mmogno
Thanks for the second set of eyes. I thought it might need some corrections as the script wasn't the easiest to read.

Now that I look at Giuseppe Pizzanelli’s signature I can clearly see his surname is Pizzanelli and not Cippanelli, and his occupation coltellinaio makes sense. I had wondered whether that’s what it might be, but from the script, to me, it didn’t look like that. I’d agree with Francesco rather than Fauno.

Angela

[Nick_M]

Thank you all for your help. I can confirm his name was Francesco

Then it explains at the base why the midwife reported the birth in place of the husband – it was because he was absent (from the town?)

Angela

One of the reasons I was eager to have this transcribed was to see if there was an explanation for this. Does anybody know if this was common practice? The comune transcribed paternity as "non conosciuto" on the estratto di nascita I requested and I found that bizarre. It seems to all be stemming from this one sentence.

[AngelaGrace56]

Yes, I agree it is bizarre that the Birth Extract you have has transcribed paternity as “non conosciuto”, when the mother’s husband’s name has been recorded on the birth record, and the child carries the husband’s surname. They must have made an error in the extract. The script isn't the clearest so maybe the clerk was unable to decipher all the words? There is nothing in the birth record that indicates the father was not known. Can you post the birth extract.

It was not uncommon for the midwife, a neighbour, or a family member to report a birth if the father was unable to do so, for whatever reason. It doesn’t always give the reason why the father didn’t report the birth, but most of the ones I have seen do. It might be due to sickness, or being overseas, or being far or absent from the town, working in another town etc. In this case (and in other cases I’ve seen) it just says “because he was absent”.

Angela

[Nick_M]

Thank you for your insight, Angela. you have reassured me that it is an error. I have uploaded the estratto di nascita for your information.

Thanks again,
Nick

[AngelaGrace56]

Thank you for your insight, Angela. you have reassured me that it is an error. I have uploaded the estratto di nascita for your information.

Thanks again,
Nick

Thank you for posting this, Nick. Yes, I think that they must have found the script tricky to read, which to be fair, it was, and didn’t have time to persevere with it. I’m glad that they sent you a copy of the original as well as the extract, and that we were able to fill in the gaps.

Angela