How it all got started

Ever since I was old enough to realize that my grandfather, Mario, came from Italy, I wanted to visit the country of his birth. I had been thinking about it a lot lately so one day I sent an email to "friends and family" and said I wanted to go on a trip to Italy and asked if anyone else was interested. No one responded.

About 6 months later, in the Summer of 2006, Gary invited Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Eugene out to his cottage on the lake. It was a beautiful day, and we all went out for a ride on his boat. When we got back we had a cookout, and when we sat down to eat dinner, Aunt Evelyn said, "Guess what! I want to take you up on your offer." I just looked at her because I had no idea what she was talking about. So I asked her what she meant, and she said - "I'll go to Italy with you!" Then she said, "I have the money, and I have the time - I just don't have the know-how." Well, from that moment on we began planning. Both Jamie and Debbie said they were interested in going too, so we started planning a trip for four. We decided to all get together to plan our trip, and Debbie flew in to meet with us. We met at Aunt Evelyn's and she took us all for a ride in her new convertible! Earlier that day Debbie and A.E. had gone shopping and bought us all some very "fashionable" hats for the occasion. When we got back from our ride, we sat outside and had lunch. We took our pictures with our hats and laughed as we planned out trip.

At that meeting we decided we would fly into Rome, then rent a car and drive through the town where Grandpa was born, then continue on to Florence for a few days and end our trip in the "Italian Riviera" area of Cinque Terre. Aunt Evelyn had a name and address of someone named Blandina De Federicis that Annette had written to years before. We were unsure how she was related, but Aunt Evelyn decided to write a letter to her in Italy to tell her we were coming. We didn't know what to expect since we didn't even know if we still had the right address. We never met any of our Italian relatives, and did not even know if they knew we existed. After just a short while, A.E. received a letter in the mail with this response:

Dear Evelyn,

I am very glad to know that you and your family want to come in Italy to visit the area where Mario grew up.

My Grandson Francesco is writing this letter because I'm unable about English language, and is sorry for his not good English too. I am very glad to know that you are well. Unfortunately, I have had a road accident four years ago, and now I can hardly walk by myself and I am on oxygen almost all time. I cannot give hospitality in my house. Anyway I can provide to find a comfortable place in Hotel near my house, if you want. However, we (me and my family) like to help you to visit the area where Mario grew up. You can reach Rome airport (or Pescara airport in Abruzzo, 60 KM from Teramo) and then one of us can take you in Teramo far as possible. I still live in Teramo, but my address is not the same. Now I live with my daughter Franca and her family.

Love, Blandina

We were all very excited and Aunt Evelyn asked if anyone else wanted to respond to her letter, so I decided to write back. I wrote one copy in English and another copy in Italian as best as I could, and I mailed them both to Blandina. Just before I mailed them Gary said - "Why don't you put your email address on the letter?" I didn't think I needed to because I thought she must be in her 80's and wouldn't have email, but Gary talked me into it and I'm so glad that I always listen to my older brother (well, almost always!). I was so excited when less than a week after I mailed the letter to Italy I received an email with the subject message: "Da Blandina, Italia" (From Blandina in Italy). It was very exciting, especially when I found out that the email was actually from her son, Luigi, who spoke very good English. He explained the family relationships and we found out that Blandina was a first cousin to Theodore, Eugene, and Gloria. That started an ongoing exchange of emails, information and photos and it was all very exciting. They seemed happy that we were coming for a visit, and what started out as just driving through Teramo for a few hours to see where Grandpa lived was quickly turning into a 3-day visit with the family.

In the end, it wasn't the original 4 that went on the trip. Jamie had decided to back out, but the more we planned, the more interested everyone else got in our trip. Gary and Danny were expressing an interest in going. Originally they were just going to go on their own and meet us in Teramo - they didn't want to be involved in our plans and wanted to make their own arrangements for their trip... but we all know how that ended up!!! Poor Megan (our tour consultant) - she had to keep changing all our arrangements when Gary kept asking why he and Danny weren't included in anything!!! Around that same time Bob had his annual corn roast, we all went and we were talking about the upcoming trip. I remember asking Joyce why she wasn't interested in going, and before she had a chance to say anything her husband Dan said - "She didn't know about it but I told her she should go". I reminded everyone that I sent out the original email to everyone a long time ago but no one responded so I didn't think anyone else wanted to go. That night I emailed all the information that I had to Joyce, and that was the start of a great "working relationship" between the two of us as we continued to make all the arrangements. Annette also was interested in going, especially when she found out we were going to be meeting the family. It was a good chance for her to get more information for her family research.

A few months later we all decided to take Italian lessons in a little Italian dessert shop on Hertel Avenue called "Caramici's" Dessert & Pastry Bar", owned by Diane, a friend of my daughter Michelle. (See the link to this site to the right under "My Favorite Links to All Things Italian"). We went once a week and learned some conversational Italian from Pietro, our teacher. We had fun and enjoyed Diane's homemade desserts and tea as much as we enjoyed the lessons! Pietro really liked Aunt Evelyn and liked her enthusiasm. He called her "Zia" and from that moment on she became "Zia Evalina".

So that's how our trip got started - we owe it all to Zia for saying she wanted to go, and for writing that first letter that after all those years finally got us together with our Italian family!

SEE NEXT POST: Friday: Driving to Teramo