antenati

Antenati is the Italian word for ancestors. It is the plural of antenato and refers to forebears in a person’s family lineage. The term derives from Latin ante natus, meaning born before, and has been used in Italian to denote ancestors and, more broadly, historical or cultural forebears.

Grammatically, antenato is masculine singular; antenata is feminine singular. The masculine plural antenati refers to a group of ancestors regardless of gender, while antenate is the feminine plural. In ordinary usage, antenati most often means male and female ancestors collectively, as in i miei antenati.

Antenati can also be used in a broader sense to denote the founding figures or archetypes behind a culture, idea, or tradition.

The Antenati project is a digital archive initiative with the same name, created by the Italian Ministry of Culture and the National Archives. It aims to digitize and publish civil status records—such as birth, marriage, and death registers—from many Italian municipalities. The archive provides scanned documents and searchable indexes to support genealogical research. Access is online through the official portal; coverage varies by municipality and time period, and access to more recent records can be restricted by privacy laws.