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Preparing for Spring Trip !! It's only six weeks until I return to Italy!! I had a wonderful trip in November (see www.gentracer.com/lastrip.html)
in Sicily and Southern Italy. I'm looking forward to returning on 28 February (see
www.gentracer.com/nextrip.html). Previous Adventures (November 2003) !! As always, I flew Delta out of JFK into Roma (Fiumicino Airport). But this time I’d found a cheap flight (Lufthansa) down to Catania to shorten my travel time. I picked up the rental car at the airport in Catania (Fontanarossa) and headed for Mt. Etna. This is really my first destination in Italy and woe be to anyone or anything that tries to divert me. I got up to the Funivia (tram) station above Nicolosi. I knew the lava had gotten down to this point, but didn’t realize the accomplishment in saving the station and surrounding buildings until I saw all the new lava surrounding them. You can see where the missing tram towers should be in the line that runs from the station to the top of that ridge. You can’t see the latest active craters or the top of the mountain from there, but the view down to Catania, the Ionian Sea, and the towns on the southern slopes of the mountain are magnificent! I drove out to Mineo early the next morning to be there when the Stato Civile office opened (between 8 and 9 in most towns). I was disappointed to find that there is a new person in charge of the Stato Civile and she didn’t allow me to go across the courtyard to the Archives with a staff member so I could get more documents in less time. In fact, this time I was limited to one document that would be ready for me about two hours later (no charge). So I spent the time taking a walking tour of the town and taking lots of photos. It is a lovely town on a hilltop, surrounded by lush farmland and a distant view of Etna. The old castle and churches are impressive for their age and the way they’ve been maintained. That evening I drove to Termini Imerese and checked into the Hotel Gabbiano. It’s right near the water and the train station, so it’s easy access and nice and quiet. The next morning, I tried again (without success) to gain access to the church records of Termini Imerese.
Leaving town that evening, I took the road inland for the first time. I shot some good views of Termini from the mountains above and settled in for the “scenic” route to Lercara Friddi. I was hoping to find a place to stay in Roccapalumba (putting me only 4 km. from Lercara Friddi, but was unsuccessful, so back-tracked to Caccamo. What an impressive castle! There was also a very nice hotel (La Spiga). I spent the night there and drove in to Lercara Friddi early the next morning. In the same amount of time, I could have driven in from Agrigento on the autostrada. Oh, well, it was scenic! In Lercara Friddi, I started at the Municipio and got re-directed to the Stato Civile in another building a block away. Both buildings are on little streets off of the Duomo Piazza (rather grand name since it is really not a Cathedral, but is the main church (usually called Chiesa Madre or Matrice). Termini Imerese does the same thing (calls their main church the Duomo). They discussed the research problem with me and tried to correct the spelling of the surname. But when they located the document in their books, they found that the surname spelling I had matched the book. Seems the families in town with that surname have altered it a little (one vowel) in the last 150 years. It wasn’t a surprise to me, but these ladies weren’t archivists. In fact, while I was working there, a young woman came in requesting a birth certificate for her sister, as part of the paperwork for an upcoming marriage. Much of their work involves such requests, and cross-referencing recent marriages and deaths to the birth records.
I drove on up to Sciacca to find a place to stay. I’d downloaded a longer list from the Italian State Tourist Board (www.enit.it) one of my clients had recently told me about. It contains the best (most complete and current) hotel listings I’d ever found. Of course, I can’t always find the little places I’m seeking, but seeking them usually puts me in the right neighborhoods to find others. That was the case this time. I stayed (very happily) in the Hotel Mediterraneo in Sciacca. It was quiet, just hosting a few businessmen I only saw (or heard) at breakfast.
That evening I drove up to Villafranca Tirrena so I’d be near Castanea and the four Massa towns the next day. The view of the islands was wonderful from the third floor (Hotel Viola), but not enough light for photos when I left the next morning since I knew it would be another scenic route and I wanted to get there in time for morning mass (usually 8 or 9).
That night I took the ferry to Villa San Giovanni and hit the road headed toward Melfi. I only got up the coast to Giaia Tauro (RC) before stopping for the night at another Hotel Mediterraneo. The next morning, I continued my drive north to Melfi in preparation for working there the next morning. On the edge of town, just off the main road and near the train station, is the Hotel Due Pini. It is very nice and contained mostly businessmen (again, seen and heard only in the mornings). I left early the next morning for the Municipio, to find that the Stato Civile (and most offices) were housed in the new Municipio closer to the edge of town. The clerk there was very friendly and helpful, and found a family chart showing all of the children born to my client's immigrant ancestor, and a few more. He told me that I would need to return at 5 the next afternoon to pick up the records I’d requested, and that the Stato di Famiglia would cost 2.5 Euros per name (knowing of at least 7 children, we agreed that it was a considerable sum, but I agreed to pay it when he produced it).
At Norcia the next day, I found a hotel inside the walls. Leaving the town two days later, I found more hotels outside the walls that I must have overlooked on my drives in and around the town, but they were connected with large hotel chains, so were more expensive (I confirmed later on the internet) and with much less character than Hotel Grotta Azzura.
The next morning was supposed to be my day in Rome, but I spent the morning looking for a quiet, affordable hotel near a train or bus line to take me downtown. I ended up out in Latina Scalo. Hotel Excelsior is nice, quiet, affordable and ½ hour from Rome by train (about twice that by car). I took the train into Rome and walked to St. Peter’s. It is quite a walk, and I know there’s a Metro stop at St. Peter’s, but I’d never walked around Rome and wanted to see as much as possible. I did see quite a bit and thoroughly enjoyed the walk. I even stumbled across the Piazza Venezia and the WW I monument there. This was one or two days after 19 Italians had died in Iraq, so there were flowers on the steps and mourners (only a dozen or so) honoring them. The bodies arrived the next day to lie in state in that building until the state funeral on the 18th. I missed the Vatican Museum (my main goal) because it was open only in the morning (contrary to every source I’d read). Next time I’ll do this in the morning. But I did get a photo of a Vatican Swiss Guard in everyday dress (although on duty at one of the gates). I wondered if it was in mourning (it’s steel blue with a white collar, renaissance in cut), but I haven’t found anything to indicate that.
I contacted my client in Rome and in the morning we headed down to Salerno and inland to Potenza then into the hill town of Avigliano. She’d found a hotel in that little town and it turned out to be OK. She called her cousins in Potenza and they came out to meet us and take us back into Potenza to meet the rest of the family and then all of us went out to dinner.
World War II Studies Conference June 4-7, 2004 Last year I spoke about the 7,000 Italian POWs who
were in Utah (see www.gentracer.com/pow.html) out of 51,000 in the US. I love a
topic with a happy ending! Although I’m still researching stories about the
Italian Resistance to the Nazi occupation of Italy, my current focus is the correspondence and contact between Italian-American GIs (and their families) and their cousins in Italy during the war (more happy endings). I've published the first volume (A-B) of the Italian POW lists (in the Continental
US on 31 March 1945). You can order it at www.gentracer.com/powcd.html or order the page containing one specific name using
this email link: gentrace@gentracer.com. The next volume (C-D) will be out this summer. e-mail © Kathy Kirkpatrick 1997-2004
I stayed again at the Biancaveve Hotel in Nicolosi and enjoyed my visit with the mountain. This trip, I took along a cell phone (tri-band) to work as a modem with my laptop so I could respond to email without hunting down an Internet Point. The phone also enabled me to call home frequently and gave me a measure of security while driving through the countryside alone.
Back at the Municipio, I met some wives of American servicemen stationed at Sigonella. They lived nearby and had their small children in the local daycare. It’s a long drive from the base, but housing is hard to find and I’ve known families who chose to live as far as Lentini or Nicolosi while they were stationed there. In fact, I thought of my old client who is now stationed there but visiting home while I was visiting Sicily. Of course, he assured me that we could get together on my next trip since they would be there for three years. I could feel his smugness through the email, and didn’t blame him a bit. Luckily, his ancestral town is one of the Etna towns, so he can experience much more than the documents and photos I’d found for him a few years ago.
I then went to the Stato Civile at the top of the hill. Signora Angela introduced me to the other woman in the room, asked where I was staying, and led me down the hall to the Archives room. So nice to work in a place where I’m already known and trusted! . All in all, a very wonderful experience, as usual.
I’ve been more carefully cataloging the Termini records available in SLC this year. I found a gap in the birth records for Jan-May 1837, another for Oct-Dec 1838 marriages, another for Dec 1852 marriages, and we all (those of us who work in the Termini records) know about the lack of indexes for the Cholera deaths in 1837-1838. The good news is that Termini has now compiled a large book of the ten-year birth indexes for 1820-1839 and 1895-1905, making that search a little easier and faster for those who make the trip. I also located all of the records I’d identified as missing from the microfilm (above), except the marriages for December 1852. Maybe there were none, but that seems highly unlikely. I requested permission to make a digital copy of the indexes of the volumes we’re missing in SLC, but was denied. But it is reassuring that most of the gaps can be searched through correspondence.
It turns out that these ladies were excited about locating birth records for me, since they had a wonderful birth index back to 1844. However, they had no marriage indexes beyond those in the back of each annual volume. Toward the end of my visit there, one woman pulled out her correspondence file and assured me that my inquiries by mail would be answered since she would then have more time to go through the volumes of marriage records. A slight disappointment, since I’d hoped for more, but not an unusual circumstance. The documents I obtained were at no charge.
Early the next morning, I drove out to Sambuca di Sicilia. It’s about 45-60 minutes to drive on the highway, but I knew there were no places to stay there from previous trips. I later learned that there are several places to stay in Menfi (on the coast West of Sciacca but closer to Sambuca di Sicilia). Next time…
My goal in Sambuca was to locate a living cousin on a certain family line for an old client. We’d met with other cousins of his (from other family lines) the year before in that town, and in surrounding towns. But it turns out that the most prolific branch of this new line moved to America. I’d done work in the microfilmed records bringing the line from about 1800 to 1910 and found four possible leads for living cousins. I started in the Stato Civile office (in the Municipio) to close some gaps in the microfilmed records. Then I moved into the Anagrafe office next door and requested Stato di Famiglia (family census sheets) for one of those four families. After some searching, they found that that family had produced two daughters who died as babies. So we started on the next possible family.
This time, there were comments as folks recognized one of the names. It turns out that one of the living descendants (there were three from this one family, plus their six children) worked in the town tourist office. After receiving the Stato di Famiglia for this family and one other, plus other related documents (1.8 Euros), I went down the street to meet cousin Mariella. She was warm and interesting. We talked a little and I followed her and her husband home for lunch. They shared family letters from cousins (a different family line) in Kansas City from their immigration around 1903 to the mid 1960’s. We took some photos and went to nona’s house. She was on the other line, but had photos. Wonderful! I pulled out the digital camera and took photos of her photos and we had a great visit! 
I started in Massa San Giorgio and worked my way to Castanea and then back through Massa San Giorgio, Massa San Nicola, Massa Santa Lucia, and Massa San Giovanni. Across from the church in Massa Santa Lucia is a small grocery store with no sign, but I saw a delivery truck and the open door with the counter behind. When I asked there about the church, they produced the keys and one of the women walked over with me and gave me a small tour as I took lots of photos. In Massa San Giovanni, the electrician was working in the church, so he invited me to look around and take photos and then took me back to give me some cards portraying San Giovanni (the statue in their church). It turned out that all the churches in those five towns only had afternoon/evening mass scheduled for that day, with a special event being celebrated at San Giovanni, so I toured the towns and took lots of photos.
Afterwards, I talked to the priest. He told me how old the books were, and how hard to read, and complained that I couldn’t speak the language (never mind that he understood that I wanted that marriage record). A very discouraging day. With civil records, there are alternatives (not necessary public access there, either), but not when we're back to 1750.
So I spent the rest of the day touring the castle, outside and inside where a lovely little museum is housed. The next morning, I toured the Cathedral and the central part of town. Wonderful little town with a lot of history! All-in-all, a wonderful experience!
I immediately set off for the Stato Civile and found that one office housed that office and the Anagrafe, with only one clerk. So when I asked for old records and he told me that the archives were elsewhere and he couldn’t go get them, I wasn’t surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. He told me to write to him and was friendly, but clearly busy with the other customers in his office. As I toured the town that afternoon, I discovered a small shop run by Benedictine monks (also not a surprise, since this is the town of St. Benedict’s birth). The young man working as cashier was an American and we got to visiting. He told me I’d just missed the town historian and that she was a very friendly and helpful woman. He said he might be able to set up a meeting with her. In fact, that night, he left a note at my hotel telling me of a meeting he’d scheduled with this historian the next day. Wonderful!
That afternoon, when everything opened for business again, I toured the town’s Norman castle, Basilica (main church), and their related museums, along with the Roman museum in town. The next morning, I appeared for my appointment at the Monastery shop with the historian. She didn’t show, and although my friend at the shop made some phone calls and several folks in town (including her husband) were looking for her for this appointment (people dropped into the shop, went out to look and talk to other folks and dropped back in with progress reports, plus the phone calls), she couldn’t be found. I hope all is well with her, but after over an hour, I left my card and the descendant chart with my friend in the shop and headed out of town.
During with wait, I discovered that the small order of Benedictine monks in Norcia is only six strong and they’re all American. Rather strange to talk with folks dressed in that distinctive clothing and hear Midwest American speech. They’ve only recently moved their office to Norcia from Rome (where half of them are studying), but hope to increase their ranks and visibility with their presence in a place of such importance to them. Visitors from around the world make the trip to St. Benedict’s town of origin, especially on Benedictine celebration days. My new friend is working for them for a year, but not part of the order. It’s amazing where and how one finds answers to research questions. Talking to lots of folks around town can lead to not only information, but also to unexpected friends.
It was quite a feast at one of the local agri-tourism farms. All of the food was grown and processed on the farm (fresh and wonderful)! There were country and traditional foods, and lots of them. My client remembered many of them from her Grandmother’s kitchen in NY. The next day Tina (my client) spent the day with her cousins while I worked in town. My goal was to access the church records, but while the church was open for a play practice for the children, the priest was not around. I’d taken my notes along, so I knew those records were available on microfilm back home. I spent the remainder of the day touring the town and taking photos of all the historic sights (a few churches and piazzas) and stores with the family names on them. I also photographed some of the local countryside and discovered a nearby observatory and lots of windmills. We found out later (from her cousin, Luciano) that the windmills are a major source of energy in the area. Burning wood is a major source of heat in many homes, but Georgia-Pacific is creating lots of paper products for export (we saw evidence of recent clear-cutting). That was a disappointment. That evening, Tina got out the photos she’d brought from home and I shot them with the digital camera and burned them onto a CD for Luciano. So nice to have that technology!
The next day I went to the Stato Civile and was taken into the back room where the archives were kept. The woman in charge found the Stato di Famiglia for the first family in short order. It answered lots of questions caused by gaps in the microfilmed records and fuzzy family memories. Wonderful! She told me she would produce all of this to be picked up first thing the next day. Tina and I spent some time touring the town and then met with the cousins. They took us out to a local church on a hilltop with an extraordinary view of the countryside. That, along with the history lesson from Luciano, enabled us to better understand the area. We then went to the castle at Lagopesole. This is the big Norman stronghold that so significantly affected the whole area. It has been restored (always some major difference of opinion in historic circles on that topic). It is well done, leaving lots of space so you can feel the vastness of the interior. I was especially taken with the windows and my photos show it. They created such small openings, but gradually increased the opening through the depth of the walls so that it was really large by the time it got to the interior. That, plus the vaulted ceilings and plastered walls, really maximized the available light without making the place too cold or indefensible. It was a delightful tour, and the woman who guided us through it was friendly, patient, and helpful.
The next morning we picked up the papers at the Stato Civile and ordered the Stato di Famiglia for two more families. We paid 2.5 Euros for each name for two of those documents, but will pay for the third when we receive the second in the mail and find out how much the third will cost (research is required to find out how many in that family first). Then we headed for Rome. The autostrada is really a delight to drive, lots of open spaces and no speed limits (except occasional construction zones). Rest areas are plentiful and the bathrooms are clean and the food is plentiful. Very nice!
Next on-site research trip March, 2004
I'm offering professional research services in Southern Italy and
Sicily. The completed report includes a log of locations and records searched,
an analysis of the information found, and copies or extracts of the documents
located. On-site research can also include extracts from local phone books,
and/or photos of the area. In some cases, I can accompany a client to view their ancestral town and meet (and translate) with Italian cousins. Please reserve your time soon, since it fills
quickly. Future trips are planned for each spring and fall. More details are
available at my on-site research page at www.gentracer.com/onsite.html.
So far...I'm planning to research in Messina, Catania, Agrigento, Palermo,
and Termini Imerese in Sicily. On the mainland I expect to work in Potenza. I'm looking forward to meeting with both American and Italian
friends (old and new), as well as returning to favorite places and visiting
towns I haven't seen before! 
TRACES will be holding its third annual conference at Coe College in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. More information on this project can be found at www.traces.org. Looking forward to being there!
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