5 years ago when I made this trip with my sister Laura, I vowed to bring my family back. I invited Laura to come with, but she was unable. I began to doubt my ability to recreate even 1/2 the trip that Laura and I had enjoyed. Laura is older than me and knew my great grandmother Rosario – I was 2 when she died. So I wasn’t sure I’d be able to remember anything useful. Laura had actual memories. I did not.
But that’s where My Bella Vita comes in. I basically sent in the same “ancestry information” as we did 5 years ago with one exception. This time I had an address on a photo of my Great Aunt’s son. I never heard a word from our guide Domenico if he needed more information or what he might be showing us. In fact yesterday, I tried to bring it up. I said, Domenico – were you able to look up Luigi’s address? He said, “It is a surprise. It will be revealed tomorrow.” Ohhh. Okay.
For 62 years I have known of Rosario (my great grandmother) and Carolina her sister. The two of them immigrated from Mendicino, Italy to Portland Oregon and raised their families there. They talked of a sister Teresina who had a son Jack (out of wedlock) and then 12 years later had a son Luigi. Luigi came to the US as an adult man to meet his brother Jack (who had moved to the US – on his own – when he was 13.) My dad knew Jack, so perhaps Jack ended up in Portland as well. Luigi lived only in Mendicino, but visited the USA one time. That’s the photo I have (of the two brothers).
Today I found out it is not Luigi – it is Ligio – last name of all is Reda. AND I found out that there were six girls (no boys). Giuseppina, Teresina, Rosina, Carolina, Rosaria, and Caterina. Whaaaat! In the 5 years since I have been here they have begun digitizing the birth certificates and the marriage certificates. So our guide Domenico who speaks fluent Italian used that website to track down much of this and we used City Hall record books to track down the rest.
Our driver picked us up at 9 am. We picked up Domenico (our guide) along the way. Our first stop was this coffee shop.
We then took a ride through Mendicino which was very hilly and beautiful. We stopped along the way for Domenico to show us where the “Redas” had lived. We also went to the cemetery where Ligio was buried.
From there we went to lunch which once again was not just a meal but an “experience.”
After lunch we walked back through the streets of Mendicino and it took us to the steps of City Hall. What we found out was that Ligio’s home was just steps away from City Hall where Laura and I had both been 5 years ago. We walked past Zahra’s house (Ligio’s daughter) and just up that street was where her father Ligio had lived.
Mendicino is a small town/village. Everyone knows everyone. So when this van full of American’s show up, everyone is excited and wants to know more. This man in the blue shirt behind Ben wanted to show us a renovation he was working on. He was making the bottom floor into an Air BNB and the top floor into a home. He constrained us to come inside and look.
We went to City Hall from here and looked up my great-grandmother’s birth certificate and her sister Catarina’s birth certificate. Because until today, I did not know about Catarina. Elections in Mendicino are the first week of June so City Hall is busy with other items and they were lightly staffed when we arrived. They told Domenico we could look up two items, that’s it. They would pull a records book from 1877 or 1866 and find the document and he would translate it for us. The man at City Hall said we cannot take a copy. Domenico said “It is public record, but it depends on who you talk to at City Hall.” So we did not get copies this time. Then it was like a light bulb went on in this man’s head. He was like, they are from America??? What else would they like to know. So we got to look up Ligio to see who it said the mother was. There was no mother on the birth certificate (that happens if out of wedlock); but there was a side note that Teresina “claimed” him (for lack of a better word) four years later. So then we had Teresina’s age at the time she claimed him and we counted backwards to 1866 and Domenico was able to find Teresina’s birth certificate. It was very fun detective work.
We needed to leave at this point because Ligio’s daughter Zahra (age 95) and her son were waiting for us. We went to the son’s house and had THE BEST time ever. Zahra’s does not look 95 and she was SO excited and talked loud and non stop. Domenico was busy translating for well over an hour although it seemed like just 5 minutes. She mentioned that Carolina and Rosario (my great grandma) never came back to Italy after they left. Her grandmother Teresina had always wanted to see them again, but they hadn’t come back. I tried to get the words in there that they always wanted to come back but never made it. (It wasn’t easy like it is today with airplanes.) Zahra’s son and wife had three or four boys. They were supposed to go somewhere but asked to stay home to meet the Americans. The older boy stayed in the kitchen with us the whole time, listening to his grandmother. Zahra’s son told Joe he looked just like his nephew. I know these are just words to a lot of you, but this was pretty spectacular to be walking in the streets of your ancestors and then actually meeting them.
We took a group photo and I asked Zahra if I could give her a hug. She gave me the Italian cheek to cheek kiss and then held me so strongly and so long with tears in her eyes and I felt that. This moment will not happen again. Zahra is 95. We may never see her again, but what a world we live in that we chose this time to come and we got to meet her. It was an incredible day. My words cannot describe it well enough.
We closed out the evening with a Gelato and watched the sun set. Until tomorrow. Arrivederci.
