A Visit to Grandpa's 17th Century Family Home

After spending three amazing days in Rome, then driving across the Italian countryside to finally meet our Italian cousins, followed by a visit to the sites in and around Teramo, we were now finally going to visit our grandfather's family home in Valle Vaccaro, a small village in the Appennine Mountains. The house was home to the De Federicis family since they built it in the early 1600's. I can't even describe the feelings and emotions of finally seeing the house where my Grandfather lived until he was 15 years old. What we had just found out was that his father had given him money for his education, but instead Grandpa left for America! That was in 1912, and he never returned to see his family, his homeland or his home. And now, here we were, five of his grandchildren, on our way to visit the home that he left almost 95 years ago!

After spending a few hours in Fratolli visiting the ancient church and enjoying our picnic of walnuts in the churchyard, we all got in our cars and continued up the mountain to Valle Vaccaro. We were in the midst of nowhere, with mountains surrounding us on all sides. As we got nearer, we passed a small, ancient stone house which Rossella told us was where the washerwomen used to do all the laundry. This was the entrance into Valle Vaccaro and several yards in front of us were some ancient stone houses, a church, and a school house. This was the entire village. Before we left for our trip, I had pictured what I thought Valle Vaccaro would be like. I had expected one single old farmhouse with an overgrown yard surrounding it, with the roof and shutters falling off! It was nothing what I expected! The stone houses were solid and sturdy, and the area was very beautiful and well-kept with stone walkways and beautiful views. The area to park our cars was above the houses, and our first view of the house where grandpa lived was very exciting! We took pictures from above before we went to get a closer look. When we got out of our cars, it was to find that more "cousins" had joined us. Besides Luigi and his family and Gigi and his family, everyone was there including Zia Irma, Annalisa (Francesco's sister), and Cousin Diana and her daughter Barbara who brought us old family photos to look at. Barbara was a beautiful soft-spoken young girl with long dark hair and she spoke almost perfect English. We all walked down towards the house, and sitting in front of Grandpa's house were a group of old Italian men playing cards. It was such a perfect picture of what you would expect to see in Italy. We spent a long time in front of the house and looking at the other houses in the area. The "old-timers" - Cesare, Irma, etc. really enjoyed seeing their old home and talking to the villagers. We met an old woman who said she remembered her cousin Mario, but we all agreed later that she would have been much too young to remember him and she probably just remembered stories about him. We took our picture with her and she seemed very pleased. We didn't get to see the inside of the house, but Annette and I walked all around it and in the back, just a few feet from the house, there was a small pasture with goats in it. As we walked up a little stone walkway alongside Grandpa's house, I noticed a small window that was open and decided to peek in. I only saw a little bit because there were people inside, and all I really saw was a stone floor and a little bit of furniture. The stone houses were so solid and it was amazing to know that they were a couple of hundred years old. We thought it was funny when we saw a modern convenience - a satellite dish attached to the side of the house! Our cousins pointed out a few things including the family name carved above some of the doors, and also - something we didn't know at the time - the family motto. It was very old and carved in stone on the front of the house and it was written in Latin, but it translates into the "golden rule" - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". I thought that was a great motto to have as our family motto since it's something I always try to live by.

After spending time in front of the houses, we went for a walk in the woods surrounding the house. What we were all immediately impressed with was that the surrounding grounds were so much like the farm. Our Italian cousins were so happy to hear that and to know that Grandpa found "a little bit of Italy" home in America. There were hazel nut trees, elderberry bushes, and gullies to walk through - I laughed because I thought except for the mountains and the 17th century stone houses, it could be the farm! We walked to the edge where there were beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and valleys, and they pointed out how far away everything was and showed us in the distance the old road that Grandpa would have had to walk just to get some kind of transportation into a main town. I sat on the edge of the mountain and looked all around me and it was all so beautiful, and I wondered how Grandpa could have left all of this. But then as I looked around and realized how remote it was and how it must have seemed to a boy of 14, I realized how he could have easily looked out into the mountains and wondered what else was out there, and even though it was so beautiful, I could understand why he would want to leave.

We walked back to the houses and we saw the schoolhouse where Blandina taught. We also saw the house near Grandpa's house that Gabriella's family still owned.

Then we took a photo of me, Gary, Danny, Joyce and Annette in front of Grandpa's house, and hoped that somehow Grandpa knew that after all these years his grandchildren were here to visit the house that was his boyhood home.



See: Lunch in Frattolli