This story begins about nine months ago when I got a notice from ancestry.com that my great grandfather’s naturalization papers had been posted on line. While I am not hugely into genealogy, I do dabble just to see what I can see. I am one half Italian (third generation), on my father’s side, but the lineage trail had always died at the edge of the Atlantic ocean I knew my grandmother’s family was from Calabria but that was about it and I knew nothing about the Scudere side other than it was thought that my great grandfather had departed from Naples as a young (18) man.
So, back to my grandmother’s side where in the naturalization papers I find that my great grandfather William Biagio Succurro, his wife Barbara (nee Mancina), and their four week old child Sarah (my great aunt Sarah) made the crossing from Naples to New York in February of 1905! In those papers I find that my great grandparents were born in San Giovanni in Fiore (SGiF from here on because I am a lazy typist :-)).
It was at about this same time that I came to realize that if I collected the appropriate paperwork (which I am still in the process of) I should be able to apply for dual citizenship based upon my Italian ancestry. Thus, I dug a little further to learn some more about SGiF. In doing so I found that the present Sindaco (Mayor) of SGiF is a young woman by the name of Rosario Succurro.
I had always had Italy on my bucket list as a country I wanted to hike in and was seriously considering doing a portion of the Via di Francesco, the path of Saint Frances of Assisi when I discovered the Kalabrian Coast to Coast trail that the previous posts have documented. I have subsequently found that there are several treks in the vicinity of SGiF in the Sila National Park (Parco Nazionale della Sila). Here is a link to a very nice youtube video of the park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2F0To330DQ , I may have to include this is my hiking to do list. 🙂 If interested, for more information go to camminasila.com .
Our trip to SGiF started via train from Soverato to Crotone connecting via Catanzaro Lido. To call it a train might be a touch of a stretch in that it was more like a bus on rails lol.
The “train” honest to God had a manual transmission that you could feel the engineer shift both up and down as we moved through the mountains
We did get a glimpse of the Ionian Sea along the way and came to realize that this region was in the midst of a severe drought similar to what is presently occurring in southern California.
Arriving in Crotone our driver for the day Vincenzo Panaja of Crotone Taxi (crotonetaxi.it) met us at the station and, as we were leaving, and weaving, through the traffic in Crotone, my decision not to drive in Italy was again affirmed. Not that I could not have done it if I knew the rules of the road, but, not knowing, trust me, I would have been a hazard to navigation LOL.
It took us about 45 minutes to drive from Cortone to SGiF but we finally made it to City Hall. Now, for the record, I had been in contact with Signora Succurro so we weren’t just dropping in from out of the blue. But, given that SGiF is a really city with a population of 20,000 and Signora Succurro is a very busy person, the initial reaction at the front door was huh LOL? Now, everyone was pleasant and trying to figure out what was what and, after a speak and say conversation, a young lady from the Mayor’s office who could speak a bit of English appeared and we were brought up to a waiting area near the Mayor’s office. Another member of the Mayor’s staff came out and asked how I knew the Mayor and I related my story about my great grandfather being a Succurro and having emigrated from SGIF to which she replied “You know there are a lot of Succurros in SGiF” to which I smiled replied “Si” and shrugged my shoulders to which she smiled back. Shortly there was a bustle in the hallway and Signora Succurro came in with several of her staff. We had a cordial conversation an an exchange of gifts.
We gave her a picture of the State street sign in Bristol TN/VA
The Mayor and her staff were extremely welcoming and gave us several gifts of books and items related to SGiF. One item which we were given was a pastry called Pita ‘mpigliata. This is a holiday delicacy which is known in my family as Pita Piata, a pastry of nuts, honey, raisins soaked in wine and lots of sugar and cinnamon. It has been made by my grandmother, mother, sisters as well as myself, typically at Christmas or Easter. I was happy to find out that the recipe emigrated well…the gift was savored by myself and the guys after we got back to the states. Thank you Signora Succurro for generously sharing your time and gifts.
In the course of our conversation, the Signora Succurro asked what we would like to see in the city. Of course one site is the Abbey which was the original center of the town 900 years ago. Another which I wanted to visit was the Monongah mine disaster monument. In 1907 there was a terrible mine disaster in Monongah WV where a minimum of 362 miners perished (the number was probably higher as many miners brought child “helpers” into the mine who were not counted) of the miners 171 were Italian immigrants many of whom, like my great grandfather (who fortunately was not a victim of this disaster) had come from San Giovanni in Fiore. In 2003 a monument was erected in SGiF in remembrance of former residents who had lost their lives.
Signora Succurro was very generous to share Signore Antonello Martino, the City’s Counsellor of Education and Tourism with us to escort us to the monument as well as the Abbey and the museum associated there with….which will be included in the next post.
Lou Hikes? 