well, not really forever as, for some unknown yet regrettable reason, even notaries die. The deeds are nevertheless always available, and I'm especially proud that my city, Genoa, owns a fairly complete eight centuries old collection. The most famous deed of the whole archive is from Gerolamo Ventimiglia, Civil Law Notary in Genoa, dated August 25th 1479
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what makes this deed really unique is that one of the parties happened to be
Cristo Ferens Columbus civis Janue
Christopher Columbus, Genoese citizen