WTI Magazine #61    2015 May, 29
Author : Jim McKenna      Translation by:

This is my great grandmother Rosa holding me as a baby in 1967. While is one of my first memories of her, the mystery of where she (born Rosa Nigro) and my great grandfather Pietro Maiurro came from in Italy has lingered in my head and heart for 47 years. As I grew older, I learned they came from a tiny village called San Fele, but I never really had the chance to deeply explore my family roots there until April of this year.

To celebrate my mom Rosemary's 70th birthday, as well as my aunt Joann's 60th birthday, we decided to make the journey back to Italy to see exactly where our family came from before emigrating to Brooklyn in 1914. When we booked this "Rooting" experience with Agrifeudi, a bit of mystery shadowed the upcoming journey. We were told there would be "special surprises" awaiting us when visiting the village. We weren't truly prepared for just how amazing those surprises would be.

The day before visiting our ancestral village in Potenza, we stayed in a beautiful nearby local countryside guest house called Villa delle Rose. We were treated to interactive cooking lessons and a wonderful dinner of local foods prepared with the help of local "nonnis." It made me remember stories of my great grandmother making her own pasta and ravioli (and laying them on sheets on her bed to dry). But to see the process with my own eyes today--and try it myself--gave me a newfound respect for what my great grandmother went through each day in order to feed 7 children.

The next day, the weather was postcard perfect. Azure blue skies beckoned us as we made the drive across the valley and up the hillside to the picturesque village of San Fele. Strolling down the narrow streets, we were escorted to a meeting in the Mayor's Office where he warmly welcomed us back to the home our ancestors had left over a hundred years ago. After a heartfelt and very emotional speech, we were then made speechless by the next introduction that occurred.

First a little background: when my great grandparents left San Fele, we knew nothing at all about my great grandmother's family. She never discussed siblings, and we thought she had nobody at all left behind in Italy. And the reality at the time was that she and my great grandfather were illiterate, so there was no letter writing and zero communication with the family she'd left behind. Throughout her life, she signed her name with an "X." Facebook and email was nearly a century away in the making.

Now back to the Mayor's office: a door off to the side of the room opened up, and an elderly man and woman in their 80s walked in arm in arm. Our Agrifeudi hosts then turned to us and announced, "This is Francesco Nigro and his wife Maria—he is your great grandmother's nephew." As my mom, aunt and I did the mental calculation of what this meant, we were then presented with a book that detailed the entire family trees of both my great grand parents. My great grandmother actually had two brothers and a sister. My great grandfather—who we thought had only 3 brothers—actually had 14 siblings.

Looking at Francesco and Maria, and their son Vito, along with wife and children—flesh and blood of our family, who we knew nothing about for nearly eight decades and across 4,000 miles of ocean—brought us to tears. The realization that we still had family in San Fele after all these years left us speechless.

After a walk through the village and seeing the house where my great grandparents had lived, we were treated to spectacular lunch in a local countryside restaurant. Afterwards, a dance troupe from San Fele came to welcome us with open arms and show us the typical, true spirit of Basilicata and to completely welcome us back home.

In addition to getting to know first-hand the people, family and entire "village" of my ancestors, the highlight of our return to San Fele was the incredible book that Agrifeudi prepared for us. Not only did they have an expert genealogist research our family trees, they had a complete, professionally bound book prepared including copies of the birth, marriage and death certificates of everyone going all the way back to my great great great great grandparents in the early 1800s. It also went so far to include census reports from Brooklyn in 1925 showing the birth of my grandmother, Josephine Maiurro—the matriarch of my immediate family.

The memories of this visit will stay with me forever. And this incredible book—the heart and soul of my Italian roots—is a vivid, tangible unforgettable reminder of my deep and forever roots to Italy. For anyone considering a truly deep, genealogical research experience back to their Italian family roots, I highly recommend the services of Agrifeudi. They gave my mother, my aunt and me an unforgettable and priceless connection back to our origins. And it's one that I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.