The Tavolare system, also known as the land registry (libro fondiario), is a public register that certifies with full legal validity the ownership and other rights to a real estate property. It is a system inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire that offers the utmost legal certainty regarding property data. Registration, or intavolazione, in the registry has a constitutive effect. This means that a deed of purchase or inheritance has full legal value only after it has been registered.
The Tavolare is in force in some areas of Northern Italy that were once under Habsburg administration. Specifically, it is used throughout Trentino-Alto Adige, in the (former) provinces of Trieste and Gorizia, in fifteen municipalities of the (former) province of Udine, and in a very few municipalities in Veneto and Lombardy.
This registry is organized by property, allowing one to trace the chain of ownership in a certain and continuous manner, deed after deed, through sales, donations, and successions. It traces inheritances: every transfer of ownership by succession precisely records from whom and to whom the property went, confirming family ties and providing useful data for research. It provides names and data with maximum legal validity and precision.
It is important to note that the Tavolare is not the first tool to use when starting a genealogical search. Parish or civil status registers are more immediate. The Tavolare becomes an advanced and supporting tool, not the starting point. You should use it when you know the property but do not know the name of the ancestor who owned it in a certain historical period, or to reconstruct the economic and patrimonial history of a family branch by finding deeds of division and co-heirs.
If you are ready to delve deeper into your family’s patrimonial history with the help of advanced tools like the Tavolare, Studio Esistenze can guide you in your research.
