I described in my last post how we were going to meet up with some of my distant relatives, and get to see the areas where my great-grandparents grew up before emigrating to the US. We were excited to finally get to meet up with someone who (unfortunately, unsuccessfully) helped us through the visa process.
The weekend could not have gone any better. The people we stayed with went way past being hospitable, with the typical Italian "Mangia, Mangia!" attitude that you'd expect. I think we left the south of Italy a little heavier than when we arrived.
On Sunday, we visited Taurasi, where my great-grandmother (bisnonna in Italian) was from, and then Frigento, where my great-grandfather (bisnonno) grew up. It was more of a moving experience than I realized it would be. To stand in the same spot where 100 years ago, my bisnonno might have stood and watched the cattle drink from the town fountain (Fontana della Madonna) and have the fountain still be there...it had an effect on me. It made me want to research my family history, to update the family tree that we got from our hosts in Avellino, and to try to connect everyone and convince more of my family to visit these places.
We live in an age where most everyone in the world is reachable with a few strokes of a keyboard. I think it would be interesting if we could put that power to use and bring together people that may not have known they were even family.
Arrivederci!
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