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

Friday - Driving to Teramo

Friday, September 21, 2007:
Today I had one of the most amazing days of my life! To quote Marco when he came to America, "I have no words" to be able to describe today.

The day started out fantastic and only got better. It was our last morning in Rome and we had to be at the Hertz Rental Car Agency by 10:00 a.m. Gary and I decided to make the most of our last few hours in Rome, so we went to the hotel's breakfast at 7:30 a.m., then we walked the streets of Rome. I have to first say, Megan told us that she loved Rome because there are two different Romes - daytime Rome when it is busy with tourists, shoppers and street vendors, and nighttime Rome, when the city becomes even more alive, and even more beautiful, if that is possible! But now I have to add that there is a third Rome - the third is the morning Rome, and that Rome belongs to the Romans, and this morning we are one of them! We first walked into a supermarket - the first one we have seen since we've been here. It was tucked away into a little side street. It was small, but it had everything you would need and was filled with people picking out their daily needs. Gary and I commented how shocked they'd be if they saw one of our Wegmans in comparison! We then walked a little further and found a small shop filled with homemade pastas of every size, shape and color along with a variety of olive oils. We each bought a bottle of olive oil in a decorative glass jug. After this, we walked a little more then turned a corner and found the street where we had lunch with Megan our first day in Rome, in the outdoor cafe. All the little cafe tables that lined the street where we ate were gone and in their places were rows and rows of stalls of fresh fruit, flowers, vegetables and more varieties of fresh fish than I ever saw in my life! We watched as the typical old Italian women picked out and bargained for their fresh foods. It was fascinating! A little further ahead we found a Patasseria where Romans - men and women, young and old, were lined up at the bar drinking their morning caffe. I talked Gary into going in and getting a cup of coffee even though neither of us drink coffee. We walked up to the bar and trying not to be too conspicuous I said: "due cappuccino, per favore" and we were served! I loved it, Gary didn't, but he drank it anyway. Then we had no idea how we were supposed to pay as everyone at the bar, except us, had a little receipt in front of them. We were the only ones in there not speaking Italian, but somehow we managed to figure it all out without being too embarrassed. We then walked past the Spanish Steps one more time. For once, it was not loaded with people and other than a few pedestrians we were the only ones there except for the street cleaners and a policeman. We walked on the steps one last time and it was a great way to say good-bye to la bella Roma!

It's hard to believe that was only several hours ago instead of several days. I feel as though the day lasted forever, but not the kind of day that goes on and on, but the kind that couldn't possibly get better, but does. Like I said, "I have no words" because I can't possibly describe it all because it's not only what we saw and did, but what we felt.

After we left Rome we drove the Autostrada 24 with two rental cars and this too was amazing. Not only because we didn't get lost, but because we drove into Abruzzo, the region where Teramo is, and some of the most beautiful and scenic sights were right before us as we drove through the Appennine mountains. Gary had a great idea before we left home, and that was to bring two sets of walkie-talkies with us. Even though they were extra weight in our luggage since there were four of them along with their chargers, it was worth it! It was an easy way for our two cars to stay in touch and to make sure we didn't lose each other. We used those walkie-talkies throughout our entire trip. As we drove along the Autostrade we decided to stop at an Autogrill. It was a convenience store with restrooms and a restaurant - the food looked great, but then we noticed something you'd never find in a thruway rest area in America - a wine bar! Yes, we were definitely in Italy!!! We left the Autogrill and continued along our way. We knew somewhere up ahead there was a 10 km tunnel that we had to drive through at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain, but what we didn't know was that we would be driving through several other tunnels as well. Each time we went through one, you knew you were driving through a mountain and it would be very dark, and the road twisted and turned as you drove through the mountains at top speed, then suddenly instead of darkness you would see "the light at the end of the tunnel" and an amazingly beautiful sight would appear before your eyes. The two hour drive went so quickly that we could hardly believe we were already turning off the highway to get to Teramo, the home of our grandfather's family.

We found the hotel very easily - the Abruzzi Hotel on Viale Mazzini, and had to park our cars in the garage under the hotel. The narrow twisting road to get down into the garage with its low roof was actually comical and I screamed, laughed and ducked at the same time because I thought Gary was going to kill us driving down into the parking lot. But I have to say that Gary and Danny did a GREAT job getting us safely out of Rome and into Teramo.

We somehow managed to get to our rooms even though the hotel staff seemed to consist of only one old man who carried our mountains of luggage for us and only spoke Italian. Then we had no idea what to do next. Our communication with Luigi had been very vague as far as how we would meet once we got to Teramo - we knew a little about what we would be doing once we were there, but there were no real details. So as we got to our rooms we unpacked and checked it all out while we waited. Zia and Debora had a double room, Gary and Danny each had their own single room, and Joyce, Annette and I shared a triple. Our hotel looked like something left over from the 70's, but that didn't matter since our room was more of a suite than our small 3-person room in Rome. I had my own room, and Joyce and Annette had another room and our rooms were connected with a hallway and bathroom with two doorways leading into each of our rooms. Both bedrooms had a sliding glass door that led onto the wrap-around balcony. It was a corner room, and so the views were different in each direction. The first thing I saw out my part of the balcony were buildings going up the side of the hill, and the houses had lines of laundry hanging from their balconies It was a typical Italian scene and I took a picture. In the corner of the balcony you could see a beautiful view of the side of the mountains that looked so close and looked within walking distance. Behind that, the Gran Sasso (Great Stone) mountain rose majestically and was beautiful! Out the front of the balcony, where Joyce and Annette's room was, there was a view of the streets of Teramo which were busy with all kinds of people - young and old - walking around. Our hotel room was a great set-up, and almost before we had a chance to unpack and check out our whole suite, the phone rang and we knew that news travels fast in Teramo! It was cousin Luigi, and he knew we had arrived!

SEE NEXT POST: Friday - Meeting our Italian family