Praisefor

FortyDaysinItalyConLaMiaFamiglia:HowtoResearchYourItalianRoots&TraveltoItalyon

YourOwnTerms

“Anthony Fasano is living thedream! He returned to bella Italiaand unearthed his glorious roots infour ancestral villages. His journeywill inspire and delight you. EveryItalian American and everyAmerican of immigrant descent (isthat all of us?) will find much tosavorhere.BravoAntonio!”

—AdrianaTrigiani,BestsellingAuthorofTheShoemaker’sWife

“Anthonyisoneofthoserarepeoplewho lets passion and curiosity spur

him forward. As he began to learnmore about his Italian-Americanheritage, it was inevitable the pathwould lead back to where it allbegan,andhewould letnoneof theeasyexcuses—lackoftime,money,languageskills—stophim.

“Through fortitude and a deep,genuinedesire toreconnectwithhisItalianroots,Anthonydidwhatmostpeople only dream of: he found hisItalianrelativesandtraveledtoItalyto meet them! In doing so, he’sreunited the American and Italiansides of his family for futuregenerations as no one before himwas able to. And now he’s givingyou a guide to do the same for youandyourfamily.”

—DoloresAlfieri,Co-HostofTheItalianAmericanPodcast

“In his eminently practical anddeeply passionate guide to visiting

Italy and discovering his extendedfamily, The Italian-AmericanPodcast co-host Anthony Fasanodetailsstep-by-stephowtoresearchandretraceyourancestralroots.Thefruits of his efforts affirm that wenevertrulyleavethepastbehind,butrather our past shapes and informsthepersonwebecome.”

—MariaLaurino,AuthorofTheItalianAmericans:AHistory

“My own dream of Italy wasfulfilledwhenIvisitedmyancestralhometown in southern Italy in thesummerof1995by just showingupwithsomenamesofancestorsandafew pages copied out of a localphone book which I found at theItalianTourismBoard inNewYorkCity.

“I wish there had been somethinglike Anthony's book to guide me atthe time. This is both a practical

guide and a love letter to Italy andItalian-American culture. It makestheprocess lessdaunting.Ifyouareeven thinking about finding yourItalianroots,getAnthony'sbookandmake the trip — your life will bechangedforever!”

—KathyMcCabeHost,DreamofItalyonPBS

FortyDaysinItalyConLaMiaFamiglia

HowtoResearchYourItalianRoots&TraveltoItalyonYourOwnTerms

AnthonyFasano

ForewordbyCassandraSantoro,CEO+FounderofTravelItalianStyle

FortyDaysinItalyConLaMiaFamiglia:HowtoResearchYourItalianRoots&TraveltoItalyonYourOwnTerms©2017byAnthonyFasano

PublishedbyNicheContentPress

Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans—electronic,mechanical,photocopy,recording,scanning,orother—exceptforbriefquotationsincriticalreviewsorarticles,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.

Whiletheauthorhasmadeeveryefforttoprovideaccurateinternetaddressesthroughoutthetext,neitherthepublishernortheauthorassumesanyresponsibilityforerrors,orforchangesthatoccurafterpublication.Further,theauthorandpublisherdonothaveanycontroloveranddonotassumeanyresponsibilityforthird-partywebsitesortheircontent.

ISBN-13:978-0-9989987-1-8(E-book)ISBN-13:978-0-998-9987-0-1(Print)

EditedbyElisaDoucette,CraftYourContentCoverbyRobertBridgesInteriorLayoutbyJamesWoosley,FreeAgentPress.com

Dedication

ToGrandpaSal,whodiedbackhomeintheStateswhilewewereonthisforty-dayjourneythroughItaly;weknowyouweretherewithus,especiallyinSortino,wherewevisitedthehouseyourmother

grewupin.

Thanksfortheinspirationinwritingthisbookandforbeing

therealways.

ContentsForeword

ANoteforYou…

Introduction

PartI:Dreaming,Research,TravelPlanning,andLearningItalian

Chapter1:LearningaboutYourOriginsfromYourRelatives

Chapter2:MakingtheCommitmenttoLearnAboutWhoYouReallyAre

Chapter3:UnderstandingyourOriginsandFindingYourFamilyinItaly

Chapter4:LearningtheBeautiful

ItalianLanguage

Chapter5:PlanningtheTripofaLifetimetoItaly

PartII:TheTripofaLifetime

Chapter6:Italy—Arrival&Acclimation

Chapter7:TheEternalCityandtheAmalfiCoast

Chapter8:LaMiaFamiglia

Chapter9:SiciliaHereweCome

Chapter10:Great-Great-GrandmaRosina’sHomeofSortino

Chapter11:TheBeginning,ortheEnd?

Acknowledgments

AbouttheAuthor

ForewordGrowing up in a Sicilian-American family,

my father frequently played the 1993 ESPNspeech by the legendary Italian AmericanbasketballcoachJimmyValvano.ThepartofthespeechthatalwaysstoodoutthemosttomewasJimmy’sadviceforsuccess:

“To think aboutwhat’s important in life, tome, are these three things: where you started,whereyouare,andwhereyou’regoingtobe.”

Thisideastayedwithmefrommylateteenson,especiallyafterthelossofmyfather.

Aboutthreeyearsaftermyfather’spassing,IembarkedonajourneytoItalytodiscovermyroots and to learn where my family reallystarted. I began slowly, traveling throughoutItaly and Sicily. I began doing genealogicalresearch and applying for dual citizenship. IknewIwantedtoholdontomybeautifulItalianmemoriesaslongaspossible.Iwantedtoknowaboutmygrandparents,theirparents,andallthat

shaped us as Italian Americans. I knew thisjourneywastheonlywayIcoulddiscoverwhoIwasandwhereIwantedtobe.

It took almost a decade of living back andforth between Italy and NewYork, conductinghours of personal research, hiring dozens ofgenealogyprofessionals,andstaringatmybankaccounts thousands of dollars later, until Iproudly held my Italian passport as a dualcitizen and could claim with confidence that Iknewthehistoryofmyfamily.

Shortly after completing this journey, Ilaunched a company specializing in Italiantravel. It wasn’t long until I introduced theconceptof familyhistory travel throughcustomItalian Heritage Trips. In collaboration withexpertgenealogists,localhistorians,andItalianarcheologists, my company researches thefamilyhistoryof our clients and creates a tourof the region where the family originated.Wewalkthemthroughchurcheswheretheirparentsmarried,bakeriestheirgrandparentsworkedin,or simply spend time explaining the local

culture and history in depthwhile strolling thestreetsoftheirfamilytown.

When Imet Anthony and he toldme abouthis familyhistoryadventureanddocumentationof his process, I could be nothing but inspiredandawed!Anthony’sjourneygivesyouthetoolsto discover the past.Youwill be able to openthedoortothelivesthatshapedyouandembarkon an unforgettable personal journey, one thatyoucansharewithgenerationstocome.

We are all excited to seewhere your ownfamily research may lead you— perhaps onestep of your journey will include a familyheritage trip to Italy. No matter what, don’tforget where you started, where you are, orwhereyou’regoingtobe.

As Anthony and I discovered, beautifulthingscanemergefromrememberingwhereyoucomefrom!

Conimiglioriauguri

—CassandraSantoro,CEO+FounderofTravelItalianStyle

ANoteforYou…This book has two distinct parts. Part I

containsspecificinstructionsastohowyoucanlocate your living Italian relatives or simplylearnmoreaboutyour Italianancestors.Part IIis an account of my own 40-day trip to Italywithmy family of five,where Imetmy livingItalianrelativesfor thefirst timeandstarted tobuildbeautifulrelationships.

Itismyhopethatyouusethisbooktogetthemost out of your Italian American experience;believeme—itcanbeanamazinglyrichone.

Additionalphotosand information frommytrip,aswellasinformationonhowyoucantakeyour own trip, can be accessed through mywebsite for this book, FortyDaysInItaly.com.Thereisalsoaspecialtravelplanningdocumentthat you can use to plan your trip on the bookwebsite.

IntroductionIwasrunningasfastasIcould,pullingtwo

wheeled suitcases, constantly looking back tomake sure the rest of my family was closebehind. My 10-year-old daughter Brianna wasrightbehindme,runningswiftlywithtwobags.My seven-year-old son AJ was close behindher,alookofterroronhisface,andmywifeJillwaslastinline,pushingthestrollercarryingourfour-year-old, Penelope and running as fast asshecould.

We were in the midst of the first leg of alongtripfromourhumbleabodeinNewJerseyto the home of our ancestors (and some new-foundlivingrelatives)inItaly.

The first stop of what would be anunforgettable 40-day journey was set to beLericiinnorthwesternItaly,closetoLeCinqueTerre, but it was a long and complicated 24hours of travel to get there. Especially with afamilyoffive.

Wewere in the Florence train station, andhadarrivedatTrack18,fromwherewethoughtour 1 p.m. train was about to leave, only torealizeat12:57 thatwehadmisread theboard— our train was on Track 1A. I immediatelystarted sprinting and the rest of the familyfollowed.

My poor son AJ, who has anxiety, wascryingthroughouttheentiresprint,buttherewasnotimetostopandconsolehim.AsIran,IwasaskingeveryoneIpassedwherethismysteriousTrack1Awas.

We found it, but just as we arrived at thetrain,beforewecouldgeton,thedoorsclosed.

I stopped, my mind invaded by terriblethoughts of sitting in the station for hourswiththreeyoung,upset,andtiredchildren.Suddenly,awomanstandingontheplatformwhohadseenusrunning,walkeduptothetrainandpushedabutton.

Thedoorsopened,andmywifeandIlookedat each other with a look that screamed, “We

made it.” We all smiled, thanked the woman,and climbed aboard. As we unloaded ourluggageandfoundseats,thedrynessinmythroatand tightness in my calves became moreapparent.Isatdownandtriedtogathermyself.

Littledid I realize that theemotional rollercoaster we had experienced over the last 15minuteswasonlyasmallsamplingofwhat thenext40dayswouldhold.

Fromtheplanningstages—whichincludedconnecting with living relatives throughresearchandlearningtheItalianlanguage—toourvery early flight fromNapoliAirport backto New Jersey on day 40, the whole trip wastrulyanamazingexperience.

I am excited to bring you along on ourjourney through the pages of this book, and indoing so, provide you with a blueprint (andhopefullysomeinspiration)fortakingyourownonce-in-a-lifetimetrip.

Andiamo(Wego)…

—AnthonyFasano

PartI:Dreaming,Research,TravelPlanning,andLearning

Italian

Chapter1LearningaboutYourOrigins

fromYourRelatives

I can’t type fast enough asmy 86-year-old grandmother rattles offour entire family history, sentenceafter sentence. As my fingers flyacross the keys, I’m trying tocorrectly spell the names of thepeople and places without missingothercriticalpiecesofinformation.

She gives me her parents andgrandparents’ names, along withtheir dates of birth anddeath. ShetellsmethevillagestheywerefrominItalyand thestoriesofhowandwhytheycametotheUnitedStates.

It is all fascinating information,and the entire time I am asking

myself two questions internally.Firstly,whyhaven’tIaskedherforthis information before? Secondly,whatifIhadneveraskedherforit?

I leaveNonna’s thatdaywithmoreinformation than I could haveimagined and an excitement aboutmy heritage that I haven’t feltbefore,allbecauseIasked.

GrandmaJo’skitchentable—Nanuet,NY

Fall2014

TheDesiretoKnowWhereICameFrom

It wasn’t until my mid-30s that I reallystarted thinking about where I came from. Idon’tmeanwhereIgrewup;Imeanwheremyfamilycamefrom,generationsearlier.

I had known I was 100 percent Italian formy entire life. The loud Sunday dinners withover 40 people gave it away, along with ahundredothertraditions.

Igrewupwithmyparentsandtwobrothersin the small town of Suffern, in RocklandCounty,NewYork—thesuburbsofNewYorkCity. We were a typical Italian-Americanfamily:hard-workingparents, close-knit familytraditions,andregularlargefamilygatherings.

Asmuchasmyfatherusedtotalkabouthisgrandfather,Antonio Fasano,whowas a hard-workingimmigrantbarber,Ineverthoughtmuchofit.

Thenonedayithitme.Iwas35yearsold,

thinking about my past and my family, and Idecided it would be nice to really understandwhereinItalymyfamilywasfrom.Actually, itwould be nice to learn anything about theimmigrants in my family, who came to theUnitedStatesandgavemethelifeIhavetoday.

Soonafter,Ihadanotherrealization,butthisone was much scarier. The four people whoheld thekeytomypastweregettingolder,andthe window for accessing this invaluableinformationwas closingquickly.As lucky as Iwas to be 35 years old and still have fourgrandparentsalive, theyweregettingolderandnotassharpastheyusedtobe.

SoonedayIcalledmyGrandmaJosephine,known within the family as Grandma Jo. Shewas the only one of my grandparents who IdistinctlyrememberspeakingItalianwhenIwasyounger. I asked her if I could come over forlunch and ask her some questions about ourfamily history. Anyone who knows Italiangrandmotherswillknowwhatheranswerwas.

Grandma’sKitchenTableAs Iwalkedup the stairs toher apartment,

laptopundermyarm, I felt like Iwasabout touncover a treasure that I should have startedlookingforyearsago.

She had warm eggplant parmigiana and aloafofItalianbreadonthetable—theperfectwaytostarttheafternoon.Weenjoyedthelunchwith my Grandpa Serafino (Sal), and then heretired to the television to watch his gameshows, and my grandmother and I began todelveintoourpast.

I openedmy laptop and used a note-takingprogram called Evernote to capture theinformationthatGrandmaJobegantoshare.Shefocused on her parents and my Grandpa Sal’sparents, one at a time, going throughwhat sheknewofallfourofthem.

She didn’t just give me the hard, factualinformationthatIwouldneedtodigdeeper.Shealso told me stories about my ancestors andstories about growing up in an immigrant

neighborhood, which was really powerful. Istarted to understand the odds that my great-grandparents were up against when theytraveled on a boat from Italy to a country theyknewnothingabout.

Theyhadnomoney.Theycouldn’tspeakthelanguage.Theydidn’tevenknowif theywouldsurvivethetripoverseas.However,theyallhada common goal. They wanted a better life fortheirfamilies.

With every story she told, I became moreand more thankful for the life I had, realizingthat success hadn’t just been handed to myfamily. It was the product of hard work, dayafterday,puttingfamilyaboveallelse.This isthe Italian American philosophy — Prima laFamiglia(FamilyFirst).

Thisfeelingwasworthmorethenallofthefacts that I gained while sitting at Grandma’skitchen table that day. My Great-GrandpaGiuseppehadcollectedjunkandsoldittofeedhis children, andmyGreat-GrandmaRosa haddone seamstress work whenever she could to

bring in money. These were the invaluable,almost-lost stories that Icouldnowpassdowntomychildren.

AsIwillsharewithyoulaterinthebook,itwasonlythebeginning.Withthisinformation,Iwasabletofindmuchmoreonmyown,whichculminated in visits to my great-grandparents’original villages in Italy. You can make thisjourneyintoyourownheritage,too.

AGlimpseintoWhatILearnedfromthatConversation

ThiswasjustthefirstlearningsessionwithmyGrandma, but Iwould go on to havemanymoreoverthenextfewyears,andstilldotothisday.Iwanttosharewithyousomeofmynotesfrom those visits in this section, to give yousomeinsightintothetypeofinformationthatyoumight search for. At the end of this chapter, Iwillgiveyousomespecificquestionsyoumightconsiderasking.

Giuseppe Baselice, WW1 Veteran(foughtforU.S.)

Born:February7,18XX

Died:3/28/1984

Born in Sarno, Italy, province ofSalerno(SalernoisnearNaples)

Mom:VittoriaBalestrino

Father:AnielloBaselice

Hehad two sisters:RoseBaselice,MichelenaBaselice

Notes: Both of his parents werekilled in 1943, in the Battle ofSalerno inWorldWar II.GrandmaJo remembers when the letter wasdelivered, a white envelope withblackborder;he immediatelyknewtherewasadeathinthefamily.Hewas a salvage dealer (junk man).Heused togo intoapartmentsandget old newspapers from thesuperintendents.Heusedtolieandtell them he only had a certainamount of money. He gave themthatmuchandkepttherest.Hehada horse and wagon and used it totransport the papers. He met aprosperous Italian man namedPasquala Giordano, who said toGiuseppe , “If I buy you a truck,you trade only forme.”And that’swhat he did. They were very poor.AfterWorldWarIhecouldn’tgeta

job.FiorelloLaGuardiagavehimajob. An English-speaking friend ofGiuseppe wrote Mayor LaGuardiaa letter, and toldhim thata friendofhis(Giuseppe)wasaWorldWarIveteranwith five kids, had no job,and his kids were hungry. OnThanksgiving Eve, the Mayor senthis staff to theirapartment togivethembasketsoffoodandofferajobtoGiuseppe.Theyneverforgotthatday.

RecordingMemoriesforFutureGenerations

Afterthatinitiallunchwithmygrandmotherin the fall of 2014, I sat downwith her a fewmoretimes.Then,ofcourse,lifegotintheway.ItwasnowJuly2015, Ihadexperiencedsomesuccess in my career creating, hosting, andbuildingpodcasts,andIwasataconferenceinTexascalledPodcastMovement.

If you are not familiar with podcasts, apodcastisadigitalaudiofile,publishedontheInternet for downloading to a computer orportablemedia player. It is typically availableas a series, and new installments can beaccessed by subscribers automatically.Essentially, a podcast is an on-demand radioshow.

Mypodcastsatthetimewereallfocusedonengineering and science. I was sitting in theaudience, listening to one of the conferencekeynote speakers, an Italian-American namedLou Mongello. He was talking about howimportant it is to be yourself as the host of a

podcast,asthiswillallowyoutoreallyconnectwithyouraudience,andlettingyourpassionforthetopicshinethrough,episodeafterepisode.

Noweven though Ihad sloweddownabitonmyfamilyresearch,thepassiontodigdeeperwas still there. I wanted to do more than justlearn about my family history, I wanted topreserve it for future generations. ThesethoughtsofmyItalianheritageandpreservingitwereconstantlypoppingupinmymindwhenIfirst had the idea: The Italian-AmericanPodcast. What a perfect way to record andpreservemyfamilyhistory.

Atthenextbreak,Iranuptomyhotelroomand purchased ItalianAmericanPodcast.com,which has since been changed toItalianAmericanExperience.com. Later thatevening, I sketched out the initial plan for theshow.Theinitialplanwasbuiltaroundtheideathat Iwould visitmy grandparentsmore often,recordtheirstories,andincludethesestoriesasepisodes so that years from now, my childrenandtheirchildrencouldlistentothem.

As planning for the podcast progressed, Iwas fortunate to convince a long-time familyfriend,DoloresAlfieri, to co-hostwithme. Infact, therewas no convincing needed, just onesimplephonecall.Doloresisafirst-generationItalian-American — both of her parentsimmigratedtotheUnitedStates.

IknowDoloreswellbecausesheisrelatedto my sister-in-law and grew up in the samesmall town that Idid. I alsoknew that shehaddedicated a few years of her life to writing amemoiraboutgrowingupItalian-American.

I felt like things were starting to cometogether with my family research. I now hadmany hard facts frommy grandmother, aswellas some stories on audio, and the podcastofferedatangiblewaytorecordit.

Beforewemove on tomy next stepwhichfocuses on the commitment required for thisjourney, I want to leave you with somequestions that you can use when having thesecriticalconversationswithyourrelativesaboutyour familyhistory.Youwill findsections like

thisattheendofmostchapters,designedtohelpyou take action on planning your own amazingfamilyjourney.

ActionItemsforYou:QuestionstoAskYour

Relatives

WhileIampassionateaboutwriting,writingdoesn’tmeanasmuchtomeifmyreadersdon’ttakemeasurableaction in theirown lives. I’veaddedthesesectionsattheendofmostchaptersto provide either action items to help in yourownendeavors,orlessonsthatIlearnedduringmyjourney.Thisshouldhelpyoutoensurethatyoudon’tmakethesamemistakes.

Iwanttoinspireyoutodigdeeperintoyourfamily history, starting with talking with anyliving relatives that may be able to help you.Thequestionsbelowarephrasedinamannersoyou can literally read them off, one-by-one, atthetable.

1.Whatwasthelastnameofallofmygreat-grandparentsormyrelativesthat

immigratedtotheU.S.fromItaly?You can start with your grandparents andworkbackwards.Iwasluckytoeasilyfindseven out of eight of my great-grandparents’surnames.

2.WhatvillageinItalydidourfamilyoriginatefrom?This is a critically important question. Ifyou know this or can obtain this answer,thenataminimumyoucanvisitthevillageand start to understand where you reallycame from. You might even find livingrelatives, or at least people who knowyourfamily,bymentioningthelastnames.

3.Whatarethebirthyearsofmygreat-grandparentsormyrelativesthatimmigratedtotheU.S.fromItaly?This is another critically important pieceofinformation.Ifyouhaveboththevillageof origin and birth year of one of yourrelatives, you can most likely obtain or

view their birth certificate by visiting thevillage.MoreonthisinChapter2.

4.Whatarethedeathyearsofmygreat-grandparentsorotherrelativesthatneverimmigratedtotheUS?If you know of a relative who was bornanddiedinItaly,andhaveboththevillageoforiginanddeathyearofthatperson,youcan likely obtain or view their deathcertificate by visiting the village, whichhasa lotofdetailedinformation.MoreonthisinChapter2.

5.WhatyeardidourfamilymembersimmigratetotheU.S.?Ifyoucanfigurethisout,youcanattempttofindthemanifestoftheshipthattheycametotheU.S.aboardbysearchingonline.

These questions will get you started withyour researchandhelp toyou findsomeof themostcriticalinformationforfindingtherecordsof your family. You can download these

questions, and find other helpful resources, atFortyDaysInItaly.com.

Thesehands-ontoolsandguidelinescanallbeveryhelpfulinyourresearch,butnextImadeadecision thatwouldsupercharge the researchintomyfamilyhistoryandheritage,waybeyondthechoiceofthephysicaltoolsthatIused.

AbouttheAuthorAnthonyFasanoisaproudItalianAmerican

whose family comes from both the regions ofCampania and Sicilia. Anthony’s professionalbackground is in engineering. He started hiscareer in civil engineering, but has sincetransitioned into coaching and training forengineers.

He has created several successful contentbrandsandpodcastsincluding“TheEngineeringCareer Coach Podcast,” which has beendownloaded over one million times. He hasalso created “The Civil Engineering Podcast,”andof coursemost recently, his favorite, “TheItalianAmericanPodcast.”

Fasano has authored several booksincluding a self-published book for engineersentitled Engineer Your Own Success, whichwas picked up by Wiley Press, as well as aseriesofchildren’sbookswhichheco-authoredwith his now 10-year-old daughter, titled

Purpee the Purple Dragon. They havedelivered hundreds of copies of the books topediatric cancer centers around the UnitedStates.

You can find Fasano’s latest ItalianAmerican related projects, including allepisodes of The Italian American Podcast, atItalianAmericanExperience.com.

LearnMoreat

FortyDaysInItaly.com