As a third generation Italian American born in the baby boomer era, I remember growing up getting bits and pieces of my family roots from my parents about my paternal and maternal grandparents who emigrated from Southern Italy around 1910.  My Aunts and Uncles of the second generation also provided me insight into their early upbringing as children of Italian immigrant parents.

My childhood was filled with the typical Italian-American experience of family traditions so many others enjoy.  I grew up in the Little Italy enclave of Philadelphia (South Philly).  In my mid-twenties I started to wonder about my family tree, where did my grandparents come from in Italy and how would I ever go about researching and finding out whether any relatives were still there.