I have recently had the opportunity to engage in a new hobby; chasing my ancestral roots in Italy. This was spurred on by the Basilicata Region’s Origine outreach program that was looking to help descendants of the Region to explore Basilicata while they explore their roots.
As a regular visitor to my parent’s hometown over decades, I have become a lover of the Region, as I found myself lovingly welcomed by my distant family, and by the inhabitants in general. My parents instilled in their children their strong respect of their hometown and its customs; more than once we pondered how they could leave such a place that they longed for.
Though I consider myself firstly a proud Canadian, I am also very proud of my Italian heritage. Origine has helped me dig deeper than even my parents thought I could; I have made my way back to the early 1800’s on one branch of my father’s side, and the early 1800’s on two branches, and on the fourth branch I have hit a snag with a grandfather who came to Pisticci from a town in Calabria; some point I will go to that town.
My initial research started with asking all my living relatives to help me start my family tree with any information they could recall, names, maiden names, birth dates, marriage dates and deaths of grandparents great-aunts, and great-uncles.
Domenico Montemurro
My maternal grandfhater
Maria Grazia Gesualdi
My maternal grandmother
Francesco Giannone
My paternal grandfather
(Nonno Ciccio)
Antonietta Viggiani
My paternal grandmother
Next, the town of Pisticci has a very accessible central library providing the resources to start digging deeper, but I also took advantage of the help of an assistant librarian that helped me quickly understand the strategy to be successful.
Since the early 1800’s, Pisticci has logged and indexed births, deaths and marriages on an annual basis. Most importantly, this person helped me to understand the handwritten script, which got more archaic and fanciful as logbooks got older. It was very fulfilling to follow a track and eventually find, and then cross-confirm a great-great grandmother, an uncle, or an unexpected relationship.
An example of the “eureka” moments was when I found out some information on my father’s grandmother on his mother’s side. As a youngster I had met Nonna Marietta in Pisticci; everyday on my way to the Corso she would be sitting on her stoop, and I would look forward to spend some time with her. As I continued my research around her branch, the Viggiani, I noticed a diverging path that led me to realize that her husband was first married to her sister. Her sister died young, and as was a custom in southern Italy, the younger unwed sister was asked to marry the widower and to take on the family obligations. It was interesting to see how unaware my father and his cousins were of this; they don’t know which of the eight children were born to the two sisters until I showed them. What I still need to explore is why the two sisters had different last names.
Let me introduce you the Viggiani family
including: Zia Gina; Nonna Giannone; Zia Lenuccia; Zia Rosina and her new husband Zio Rocco D’Avenia; Zia Giulia; Zio Romeo Cassano (husband of Lenuccia); my father Giovanni Giannone up front; Nonno Giuseppe Viggiani; Nonna Marietta
A hint for future ancestry explorers: in Basilicata, the first two boys and the first two girls are by default named after the paternal grandparents first and then the maternal grandparents; sometimes its a derivation, say Francescantonio, my great great grandfather, becoming Francesco, (my grandfather, me, and my grandson).
Last year I actually ran out of room on my on-line family tree app; max 250 people. So when I go this year, when I get to Pisticci this fall, I will arrive with my new transcribed tree with room for over 1000 entries. A lot more room to continue exploring. I have also done some preliminary research for a couple of guests that visited our Hotel Torre Fiore, to get them started.
Admittedly, though I was born in Canada, I was born speaking the dialect of Pisticci, so I have an advantage. This part of Italy has generally evolved to speak the standard Italian, but more important is that Basilicata is steadily improving with its ability to help visitors in English, making my explorations easier.
If you need help, our hotel can set you on the right track.
