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Day Three
We all awoke with excitement thinking about our journey to find the Crescenzi family heritage. One of the main reasons we choose this area for our family trip was that our villa is located within 300 kilometers going in different directions to visit both the Crescenzi and DeLuca family heritage. This was all unknown until a few months ago when we began planning this trip, kind of spooky maybe Rich and I were destined to find each other. Or maybe we would find out we were related
From our research we knew that the town of Castle Denova Della Duania had a population of 1,600 people. We have all probably been to sporting events with more people in attendance that this entire village. I had memories of a picture I had seen for many years of my paternal grandparents wedding which took place in this town. Memories of their entire wedding party standing in front of a wall near the town church.
Once again we piled in the travel mobile heading 300 kilometers into the north east section of the heel of Italy. The trip would take approximately 3 hours. With our GPS and Rich driving the stick
The Village
Small Small Townshift of our 7 passenger van we were on our way. Traveling these back country roads in a car of this size where you do not understand any of the signs and courtesy does not seem to be common is quite the adventure. We spend quite a bit of time holding our breath, or bucking up and down streets the size of large sidewalks.
My kids and husband asked me what my expectations were for the day. I stated, my hope was to find some great history about my family, and that I hoped I was not disappointed by uncovering something that was better left unfound. As we got close to the town we proceeded to head up the mountain curve by curve looking down on the land below. The land below was mostly farm land and was very green with crops. The closer we got to the top the smaller the land below became and the more isolated the area became. Unlike other parts of Italy there were not many olive trees here, this area seemed to be more of a farm community. Still with stone wall after stone wall and a few poppies here and there.
We came
Town Hall
Our Saviors......... up to the town and looked into the walls of the Piazza which is common in Italy. Most towns in Italy are surrounded by large stone walls the interior is made up of a large open area called a Piazza with homes surrounding it. The town was desolate with few people to be found. The first view was a large poster board on the side of a building with death notices pasted upon the wall to let the towns people know of the recent deaths. Although by the size of this town I am not sure how anything could happen in this town without the entire town’s knowledge. It appeared that Guiseppe Crescenzi had just passed away on May 17th at the age of 57.
As we walked through the small Piazza they were about four small dead end streets that spidered out of the main Piazza. We walked towards the church and low and behold there was the wall I had seen for so many years in my grandparents wedding picture. It appeared so much larger in pictures. As we were taking in the view an old woman came up to Adam and said Bellisimo! Adam was winning over
Town
Great Grandfather's Butcher Shop the woman in Italy even if they were 85.
This town or village was no larger than one city block with not a soul around. It was like being on a movie set while the actors were on break. We walked through a door way and as luck would have it we entered into the town hall. Remember we had driven three hours to find just this place. They were not many people working, which we have found is pretty common in these parts. We followed the voices we heard and asked if anyone spoke English, we were met with lots of no comprande. This was not going as well as we had expected. One woman stood up and decided to help us as best as she could, she brought us to another room and spoke to the gentleman behind the counter to try to get him to help us locate some old family records. He seemed about as happy to get out of his seat as we were of getting back in a car for three hours finding nothing.
We proceeded to take out a copy of our family tree, pointing to names he spent a lot of
time shaking his head and putting his hands in the air. At that point I wanted to say Mister, I just flew my entire family to Italy almost died meeting your friendly locals drove three hours up hills and curves that we had no right trying to drive a seven passenger van on and all you can do is throw your hands in the air!
About this time the town cabernieri looking like he just stepped out of a Disney movie appeared with a big smile. He also spoke no English but was interested in helping us. There was a lot of Italian conversation going on, pointing to me smiling. All of a sudden we heard Toronto coming up frequently. We understood enough based on their sign language and our limited understanding that they were looking for the town person who had spent time in Toronto. The next thing we know in walks a gentleman that can speak English. I showed him the family tree and told him that my father’s Uncle Leonardo was the last relative I knew of that lived in Castle Denova Della Duania . He said Ah, Leonardo; I said “yes did you know him he
Dinner
Endless Food died in 1987”. He said” yes” as he puffed up his chest we were not sure if Leonardo was big or his wife was big chested, he then said Leonardo married twice with a big smile, I guess that meant he was a big man on campus. They took out his birth, death and marriage certificates out of the many books stored across the wall. Before we knew it another town member came into the office more pointing and yelling in joy. They said to me your second cousin still lives here she is in her 80’s she is Leonardo’s daughter. They asked me if I wanted to bother her which made me think she was not up for visitors so we elected not to “bother” her.
We asked for certified copies of my great grandfather’s death certificate, and my grandparent’s marriage certificate. They gave us posters of the town and said come follow us. So off we went following through the village, they showed us exactly where my great grandfather and my grandfather’s butcher shop used to be located hundreds of years ago. They also showed us where my grandfather’s brother Leonardo used to live. This was all within
Our Chef
Cooking on the open fire five or six houses it was an amazing feeling to be walking and standing where my ancestors spent so many years of their lives. It made me realize why the North End and East Boston were where my family had settled the similarities where uncanny.
We then said our good byes after meeting the “new” butcher he also smiled when they told him I was Leonardo’s niece! We then headed towards Foggia a somewhat larger town that my Dad had referred to many times. We decided that we would find somewhere to have a light lunch. Laura with her handy lonely planet guide pointed us in the right direction. The restaurant had been a horse barn many years ago. We were greeted by the proprietor who was very happy to see us but once again spoke no English. We left our lunch to chance and he said he would bring us something wonderful. We were not disappointed. At the end of the lunch he brought the “ladies” out a drink that tasted like an orange creamsicle but had the potency of high test fuel. Needless to say the ladies slept the entire way home.
Tonight was the night we had hired a chef to shop and prepare dinner for us at the villa. We walked in to find the farmer’s wife in front of the stove, the aromas were unimaginable. It was 6:30pm and she said dinner would be ready about 8pm. We all got changed into our comfy clothes and drank more wine while waiting for the feast. Seems like we are stuck in the EAT portion of our journey. At 8pm we were called into the kitchen for a feast that seemed to never end. The first course was every kind of grilled vegetable you could imagine and some you couldn’t name. All seasoned to perfection along with cured meats, cheeses, olives, breads, oils. Along with this were small bread and meat balls, a bean puree with dandelion greens. Next course was homemade pasta, red sauce, meat, grated fresh ricotta, more bread and olive oil. While we were eating this course wondering how we would every fit all this food into our stomachs; she proceeds to go out back and light the wood fire to grill up more meats. The flames were roaring, before we knew it she came back inside with grilled homemade sausage and bacon wrapped around some type of meat. We all ate enough to be polite and looked down and the leftovers figuring we would probably not have to cook the rest of the week.
We helped her clean up and paid her for her services and the food which came out to around $250 USD. It was such an unbelievable day, finding my heritage and feeling like my grandmother made me dinner when we arrived home.
Priceless……………
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Tom
non-member comment
fantastic story
glad to hear of your success today. I'm sure you will never forget these new memories!