Sandro

When you’re planning for a life-changing event–a new job or a new place to live–if you’re anything like me, you cast a wide net to gather all of the advice and support you can.  I’ve followed the same path for our trip to Italy. In order to feel free to do what we want while we are there–unencumbered by the restrictions of an actual tour–requires as much preparation as possible.

One source of support and information I received was from my father, and his partner Maggie, who went to Italy five years ago.

Maggie has friends in Italy, one of whom was able to connect me to a gentleman named Sandro who helps Italian Americans find their roots in Abruzzo. I emailed him right away with everything I knew about my family. I was pleased that he wrote back promptly to tell me about his mission.

Every time I can be helpful to someone with Italian blood, it makes me happy and I do my best to help them find family roots here in Italy. I know how important this is for everyone, specially the ones that have roots in our beautiful “Abruzzo.” We abruzzesi are known as “popolo forte e gentile” (strong and gentle people).

Then he told me a few things he already knew about the family name.

I know that most of the Bucciarellis are originally from the province of Chieti (in Abruzzo there are four provinces: L’Aquila, Teramo, Chieti and Pescara). Then they split all over the region.

This started out very promising!

I promptly provided all of the information he asked for to help him in what turned into his new quest. Five days later, on a Sunday, I received an email and several photos from Sandro! He had traveled to Goriano Sicoli on his motorcycle, an hour from where he lives.

Sandro in Goriano Sicoli

In the letters from World War II that I mentioned in my previous post, one of my great uncles got to visit Goriano Sicoli. It was an amazing story. (I hope to be able to publicly post excerpts from the letters once I receive a blessing from my family to do so.)

Sandro was able to meet and talk with people who live in Goriano over a cup of espresso at Bar Centrale. This is a picture of his motorcycle parked out front.

In my next post, I’ll tell you more about Sandro’s day trip. The photo at the top of this blog’s homepage is of Goriano Sicoli and is courtesy of Sandro.

On our upcoming trip, I want to see the historical sites of Italy, for sure, but I also want to find other parts of the country that aren’t as heavily traveled. It makes sense to focus on seeing Goriano so we can see explore a less touristic area outside of a major city. And the fact that there are stories attached to the area makes it extra special.

Tags: Goriano Sicoli, Sandro