My grandpa came to the USA in the late 1800's. I believe he was from the area around Castellammare del Golfo or Palarmo. One of my uncles changed the spelling of their last name. Here it is spelled Sindoni and I think at least one uncle spelled it Sindone. My mom thinks the oringal spelling was Cinnoni. My grandpa had seven or eight sisters who remained in Sicily. His first name was Rosario. I know nothing more about my grandpa's family that he left behind in Sicily.
My mom just had her 90th birthday and I have decided I would like to search my family roots. It has always been an interset of mine, but with the pasing years and my mom being the last of her family still living, it seems more important to me than ever.
My grandma's family, DaVitta, is from the same area as my grandpa. My grandma's brothers and sisters all came here to the USA. So i have lots of happy memories of them, but there is an empty space where my grandpa's family isn't. i would like so much to find out if there is anyone who knew his sisters or could help me search for his birth records.

Before you try to search in Italy, you should collect as much information as possible on this side of the pond so you know where in Italy to look.

Census records can show you when they arrived.

Passenger lists for the ships sometimes include their hometown. The Ellis Island passenger records are online at Ellis Island - FREE Port of New York Passenger Records Search.

You can also search the names of those who arrived earlier at Castle Garden at Castle Garden, though that website doesn't let you see the original record.

Marriage and Death records (including church records) sometimes will tell you where someone was born as well as their naturalization papers.

If you can read Italian, some Italian records can be viewed on microfilm at Family History Centers run by the Mormon Church. Their website is at FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records and you can search through their catalog and find a family history center near you.

Best wishes on your search!

__________________
God has given you your country as cradle, and humanity as mother; you cannot rightly love your brethren of the cradle if you love not the common mother.
Giuseppe Mazzini

thanks for your suggestions, antonio. i'll go check out some of these sites.
my mom doesn't have much info on where her parents were from. so 'm kinda starting from scratch...sighs...

dogrbest, go to ItalianAncestry.com . Also ItalianGenealogyOnline.com The 2nd site has many excellent resources for your needs, including a map of Italy, both all of italy and regional, which shows the distribution of people with your ancestors' last names. You also can get addresses and phone numbers. For example, I know my maternal grandmother's maiden name and that she came from Caltanisetta in sicily. I entered that information and a page came up showing 17 families in caltanisetta with the same last name. Now it's up to me to contact them to try to figure out which ones are her descendants and therefore my cousins, etc. I am moving to siena, italy on july 20 and plan to find all 3 sides of my family (both my grandparents are from sicily; we have already found and met the 4th side, which is my father's mother's family who live in Comiso, Sicily). Good luck, let us know how you make out.