A Journey Measured in Generations, Not Miles It often begins with a whisper. A story you’ve heard a hundred times at the family dinner table about the ones who left. The name of a town in the old country—Campania, Sicily, Abruzzo—that sounds more like a myth than a real place on a map. It might…
I’m thrilled to share an exciting event coming up that I’m honored to be a part of! On Saturday, March 16, at 10:00am PDT, I will be joining the Southern California Genealogical Society Italian Interest Group for a special discussion on Italian genealogy. During this virtual meeting, we’ll delve into the considerations of working with…
Taking an ancestry tour in Italy can be a rewarding experience for those looking to explore their family history and connect with their Italian heritage. However, before embarking on this journey, you should know some important things to make the most out of your experience. Here are the top five things to consider: By considering…
A remark about how we should name locations in Abruzzo for our genealogy purposes Currently the Abruzzo region includes four provinces (L’Aquila, Teramo, Chieti and Pescara) and 305 municipalities (“comuni”). To know more about them please take a look at our database. However, the current situation is the result of many changes that have taken…
The following are the notaries for the area of Guardiagrele. Please note that notaries of an area drew up deeds also for people of other towns, that used to apply to him, and the notary himself could have worked also in other areas. This sometimes can make harder the study of notary deeds, because finding…
The year was 1882 and in Colledimezzo, a village in Abruzzo lying on the hills in the valley of the Sangro river, life was quiet but hard. At the time not more than 1700 people lived in the village and most of them were farmers or farmhands. And also Giovanni and his wife Maddalena were…
While analyzing documents from the 18th century, or before, we may read sometimes the wording “in capillis” referred to a woman, often listed as daughter or sister of a head of the family. So we may read respectively “figlia in capillis” or “sorella in capillis”. This literally means “in her hair” that, out of its…
Past week we did a hike on the ridges of the Porrara Mountain (Majella National Park). The hike allows to enjoy a pure nature and to live the traces of recent history. In fact the place was a strategic stronghold for Germans during WWII, because offered a wide view over the side valleys and over…
We receive quite often requests from persons who look for ancestors that, at some point, are listed in the papers as born from unknown parents. Provided that it’s not possible to make a general analysis of this kind of situations, it’s quite common in these cases to find children that grew up away from their blood…
Some days ago we came across this interesting book dated 1899, the Biographical Dictionary of the Italians in the Plata (“Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani al Plata”), that reports origin, a short biography, and the work and social position of the Italians emigrated during 1800s that achieved the success. Among them many were shop keepers, mainly…