18–24 May 2026
The Archivitaly Access Watch provides a weekly overview of verified access disruptions affecting archival research in Italy. This issue covers the week from Monday 18 May to Sunday 24 May 2026 and includes only institutions for which an access limitation, closure, reduced service, unavailable holding, or relevant procedural constraint has been identified through an official notice.
At a glance: archive disruptions in Italy
This week’s verified disruptions concern Alessandria, Ancona, Brindisi, Cosenza, Genoa, Gorizia, Macerata, Milan, Palermo, Pescara, Turin, Vercelli, Vibo Valentia and Vicenza.
Alessandria
Archivio di Stato di Alessandria
Disruption: Public services are reduced until further notice because of severe staff shortages. The notice was published on 15 April 2026 and remains open-ended.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Ancona
Archivio di Stato di Ancona
Disruption: The Teatro delle Muse fonds is excluded from consultation for digitisation needs, with no end date stated in the homepage notice.
Affected holdings: Teatro delle Muse fonds.
Official link
Brindisi
Archivio di Stato di Brindisi
Disruption: The reading room has been closed since Monday 23 March 2026 for extraordinary maintenance works connected with PNRR accessibility measures. Until the end of the works, only cadastral searches are being carried out.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Cosenza
Archivio di Stato di Cosenza
Disruption: From Monday 18 May 2026 and until further notice, part of the documentation is unavailable for consultation because of urgent maintenance work in the deposits. The notice identifies notarial records and several Prefettura, Affari generali series.
Affected holdings: Notai, nn. 1132–1168; Prefettura, Affari generali, including Sanità pubblica, Opere pie, Terremoti, Strade nazionali, Strade ferrate, Acque pubbliche, Delegazioni e commissioni, amministrazione provinciale e comunale, Guardia nazionale e tiro a segno, Amministrazione carceraria, Elezioni politiche e amministrative, and Affari generali.
Official link
Genoa
Archivio di Stato di Genova, Campi branch
Disruption: The Campi branch, in via Renata Bianchi 63, is closed to the public for safety reasons. The archive states that it cannot currently predict when the reading room will reopen.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services at the Campi branch; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Gorizia
Archivio di Stato di Gorizia
Disruption: The number of available reading-room places has been temporarily reduced to four because of technical maintenance work on the systems.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Macerata
Archivio di Stato di Macerata
Disruption: From Monday 18 May 2026, and for the duration of the transfer to the new premises, both in-person consultation and correspondence-based searches and reproductions of archival items are suspended. The Camerino branch remains open according to its usual schedule, unless otherwise communicated.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services at the Macerata site; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Milan
Archivio di Stato di Milano
Disruption: On Monday 18 May 2026, a general strike may cause delays or changes to workflows, although essential minimum services are guaranteed. In addition, on Friday 22 May 2026, the reading room and connected services will be closed from 8.00, reopening at approximately 11.00, to allow staff to attend a training course.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notices.
Official links here and here
Palermo
Soprintendenza Archivistica della Sicilia / Archivio di Stato di Palermo
Disruption: At the Gancia site, several fonds are excluded from consultation from 9 February to 31 August 2026 because of architectural redevelopment and archival-deposit adaptation works.
Affected holdings: Carceri giudiziarie di Palermo; Circolo ferroviario d’ispezione; Commissione centrale di vaccinazione di Palermo; Commissione consultiva di Sicilia; Commissione dei Presidenti; Commissione della Consulta araldica siciliana; Commissione liquidatrice dei debiti dei comuni di Sicilia accollati dallo Stato; Commissione per l’esame dei titoli per le medaglie commemorative; Consulta di Sicilia; ISES – Istituto per lo sviluppo dell’edilizia sociale; Ispettorato per le nuove costruzioni ferroviarie – Ufficio di Palermo; Soprintendenza alle Grandi Prigioni, già Deputazione di Santa Maria – Visita carceri; Provveditorato agli studi – Refezione scolastica.
Official link
Pescara
Archivio di Stato di Pescara
Disruption: The reading room is temporarily closed to the public from 9 March to 30 June 2026 for scheduled PNRR works. Correspondence searches remain available, subject to the constraints of the ongoing works.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Rome
Archivio Centrale dello Stato
Disruption: Several groups of records are temporarily excluded from consultation or subject to special consultation procedures. The page was last updated on 20 April 2026 and includes documentation excluded for digitisation, reordering or inventory revision, and maintenance works. The Ministero del Turismo e Spettacolo, DG Spettacolo, Sale Cinematografiche (CS), fascicoli CS 9,000–18,000, are excluded until 30 June 2026. Additional holdings and library materials are also listed as unavailable because of INAIL maintenance works.
Affected holdings: Ministero del Turismo e Spettacolo, DG Spettacolo, Sale Cinematografiche (CS), fascicoli CS 9,000–18,000; selected Segreteria particolare del Duce materials listed for digitisation; Archivi di famiglie e di persone; Fondo Italo Balbo series listed for inventory work; Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Servizio Informazioni e Ufficio proprietà letteraria, artistica e scientifica; holdings connected with the Sala degli archivi di architettura e del design italiano; fonds and library materials listed as unavailable because of INAIL maintenance works, including Agenzia Stefani, S.P.D.C.O. (Segreteria particolare del Duce), Giornali dell’emigrazione, selected collocations and Fondo Leone Piccioni.
Official link
Turin
Archivio di Stato di Torino
Disruption: The reading room of the Sezioni Riunite is closed from 11 to 25 May 2026 for extraordinary PNRR accessibility works. Some nineteenth-century volumes of the Insinuazione di Torino may also be unavailable because of digitisation work, and the holdings kept in rooms 12–17 of the Sezione Corte, together with the Biblioteca Antica, remain unavailable until 29 July.
Affected holdings: Sezioni Riunite reading room; some nineteenth-century volumes of the Insinuazione di Torino; fonds held in rooms 12–17 of the Sezione Corte; Biblioteca Antica.
Official link
Vercelli
Archivio di Stato di Vercelli
Disruption: The Vercelli reading-room service is suspended on several dates in May 2026, including 19, 21 and 22 May.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Vibo Valentia
Archivio di Stato di Vibo Valentia
Disruption: Because of a staff shortage affecting reading-room management, from 30 April to 25 May 2026 searches and related reading-room requests are handled by appointment.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Vicenza
Archivio di Stato di Vicenza
Disruption: The reading room closes early, at 13.30, on Monday 18 May and Thursday 21 May 2026 to allow a staff training course to take place.
Affected holdings: General access / reading-room services; no specific fonds exclusion identified in the notice.
Official link
Disclaimer
This report provides a clear overview of archive disruptions in Italy for the week ahead and is provided as a planning aid only. It is compiled from official notices, official institutional pages, and other publicly accessible institutional communications available at the time of publication. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, completeness, and timely updating, Archivitaly does not warrant that all information reported here is exhaustive, error-free, or still current at the time of consultation. Access conditions, consultation rules, opening hours, retrieval procedures, and temporary exclusions may change at very short notice, and institutions may amend, replace, remove, or publish notices without warning. Readers are therefore strongly advised to verify the current situation through the official links provided and, where access is essential, to confirm directly with the relevant institute before travelling or making research arrangements. Archivitaly accepts no liability for losses, delays, inconvenience, missed consultations, wasted travel, or other consequences arising from reliance on this post, including where notices are subsequently modified, withdrawn, corrected, or newly issued after publication.
