Letters

I would like to take you with me on my journey to Goriano Sicoli, the tiny village in the Abruzzi region of Italy.

Several years ago, I found myself at a family reunion. It was a hot, dry summer and I was visiting my family in Pennsylvania. My mother’s cousin unveiled a rolled-up stack of papers she was giving out to each of her cousins. The papers turned out to be photocopies of transcribed letters between my great uncles and their mother during World War II. It is in these letters that I got my first inkling of Goriano Sicoli, the home of the Bucciarellis and Plebanis. This journey to Goriano is about the stories that keep coming at me as I document my preparations for travel to Italy in September 2010.

As with any topic where history is recounted, or multiple voices are documented, there will be times when the information I receive is vague or slightly inaccurate. I encourage readers to correct me as needed, but please be respectful .

Without this place or these people I am about to write about and uncover stories about, I would not exist today. I can’t wait for you to meet everyone.