Finding Relatives in Sicily

Looking out from Lipari

Toni and I bid Sallie arrivederci when she boarded her plane back to Sweden, then we rented a car and were off by ourselves for another week of touring.

We headed east and discovered we could drive from Trapani on the west coast to Milazzo, almost on the east coast, in five hours. We took a hydrofoil to Lipari, the largest of the Aeolian Islands, and were amazed at how mountainous the UNESCO World Heritage Site is. The east coast is covered with lemon groves, which we didn’t see anywhere else in Sicily. There are vineyards and olive groves everywhere, and we learned there are 30 different kinds of olives and many different types of grapes grown in Sicily’s rich soil.

RoseMarie's Regaleali B&B

The best road in Sicily, the autostrada, runs between the large cities which are all located on the coasts with the exception of Enna in central Sicily. We visited Mt. Etna near Catania (that's me in a lava tunnel) then drove to Enna and got on a secondary road to get to Vallelunga Pratameno, the village from which Toni’s grandfather came. We stayed at the Regaleali B&B two nights. Our host, RoseMarie Tasca d’Almerita, is the largest landholder (about 1200 acres) and employer in the area. Her family has owned the land since 1830 and has a state-of-the-art wine bottling plant, which we toured. We also enjoyed two different types of wine with the two dinners we ate there.

RoseMarie listened carefully to Toni’s story about her grandfather and translated the copies of Italian documents Toni had. The next morning RoseMarie took us to the Municipal Building in Vallelunga and she and Toni watched as court clerks searched a hand-written family history book written more than 140 years ago. They didn’t find any new information in the book, but one clerk knew of an old woman in town whose maiden name was Gaetta, Toni’s maiden name.

Lucia and Toni

Guiseppa, Toni's Great Aunt

We followed the directions to the old woman’s house and knocked on the door.  A woman named Lucia greeted us. We were invited in and she introduced us to Guiseppa, her 97 year old mother. After showing Lucia the only photo Toni had of her grandfather and great-grandfather, we were able to determine that Guiseppa is Toni’s grandfather’s sister, and Lucia is her second cousin! What a great family reunion!

RoseMarie had two copies of Toni’s photo made for Lucia and the next day we returned to give them to her. Lucia got out a box of photos and told us that the last time any of the family that went to America came back to visit her was August, 1986, 26 years ago. Lucia showed the photo to Toni and Toni’s mouth opened. There, in the photo with Lucia and Guiseppa, were Toni’s parents! Lucia had two copies of that photo and gave one to Toni. What a great exchange! Lucia thanked us for coming and invited us to come back. Toni is planning to take her sister there next summer.

Sicily is a beautiful country. I'm so glad I went! I enjoyed being there and being with Toni when she found part of her family.