vedovo

Vedovo is a man whose wife has died. In a marriage act the groom is described as celibe, never married, or vedovo, widower, and the second word tells you to look for an earlier wife and her death.

The act may add the late wife's name, as vedovo di Carmela, or vedovo della fu Carmela, which gives you her first name before you search for her death act. Vedovato means widowed, and the feminine is vedova, widow.