The featured photo above is extreme social distancing, in Italy. What did he say? My favorite poisonous oleander on the Lungomare. As Marvin Gaye asked best– “What’s going on” in Italy?  I’m back and I think I’m ready to connect again.  For a couple of months, I missed my virtual connection to my readers- friends and strangers alike.  Strange times for us all, and even though I had a lot of time the last few months to fill you in on my life here in Salerno, Italy, I just couldn’t bring myself to sitting down and actually typing the first sentence…any sentence.   All the writers out there know what I’m talking about.  I shared this recently with a dear friend and she said it’s not necessary to write my whole blog in one sitting, perfect editing included, which is what I normally do.  She said ‘gather some ideas and then later use them as different paragraphs’.  Whaaaaa ?  You mean actually organize my thoughts?  What a concept.  She said ‘have a main subject, put it in a circle and then have other ideas connected like spokes on a wheel.’   Now, I’m normally an extremely neat and tidy person, a little too organized for my own good (as a little kid, instead of playing street games with the other kids, I preferred to organize my sock drawer, or re-arrange my first cute little handbag copying all my mom’s girlie junk from her handbag…linen hanky, fake lipstick, PLASTIC ACCORDION RAINCAP, coins for church, if I was lucky enough to have any, a prayer book and holy pictures that I rather enjoyed trading with my schoolmates. The colored ones with gold dusting had way more value.) But I’m a grownup now, well, mostly, and my mind works differently.  I can no longer rely on linear thoughts to nurture my creativity because my brain is all over the place.  (and maybe that’s a good thing.)  I DO need to be more mentally organized but I fight it.  And guess what?  Today I’m doing my daily power walk on the lungomare and it hit me.  It’s June, almost officially summer, and as I glided through a truly spectacular day of Italian sunshine, perfectly-timed breezes to cool down the heat under my mascherina and rows of oleander trees in bloom, it came to me.   Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook What’s Going in Italy? To Mask or not to Mask LIKE THE FIRST COOL SUMMER BREEZE ON BARE FEET, THE QUARANTINE VEIL WAS LIFTING.   There it was.  My first sentence…not brilliant, not profound.  But it was that image of being on the first picnic of the season (pick a year, any year) and boldly removing my socks and sneakers (yes, I said sneakers-deal with it) and feeling that indescribable sensation of a gentle breeze running through my toes, circling around the arch of my feet and then dancing a happy dance on my ankles that inspired me to begin my blog again.   So, as I continue to enjoy the memory of this sensation, it simultaneously connects me back to the present where I feel that our quarantine here in Southern Italy is nearing its eventual end.  God willing and the creek don’t rise. As of today, we are still required to wear our masks outside and continue to practice social distancing.  50-50 on the mask wearing and nil on the social distancing.  Everything- and I mean everything- in Southern Italy is up close and in your face.  Including the face of your neighbors who are waiting in line at the fish store, or at the casalinga (homemakers’) store, or just walking reeeeallly close on the narrow sidewalks.  Social distancing in Italy….I don’t think so.  Initially in the first month I would walk in the empty streets to avoid the germy people on the sidewalks. This was only possible because cars and motorinis were prohibited from driving, and I didn’t have to worry about getting mowed down.  Deciding what church to have my funeral service in, out of the 50-odd churches in Salerno, would be way too time consuming anyway. But I digress.  Ah, the quarantine, the virus, Covid.  Call it what you like, we were (and still are) all fearful of the second and third wave and with all the accompanying questions, not unlike AIDS of the early eighties.  Only worse. Contagion still seems infinite and out of our control.  Unless of course we do the extreme quarantine again of EVERYONE staying home.  Period.  The first window display of chic menswear masks on April 16. I had a good laugh over that and then other stores quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Staged or real, this is a very creative baby baptism How pretty is this fishing net! All my favorite shades of water. What’s Going on in Italy? Sanity and Food I did manage to keep my sanity by starting to cook and eat healthfully again (after one year of recklessly experimenting with Italian desserts like Dr. Timothy Leary experimented with LSD.)  Fun, yes.  But unlike LSD, visible physical side effects.    So, off to YouTube I went for every kind of cardio exercise I could find, upper arm exercises to repair the damage of no more Equinox gym on a daily basis, energy healing like QiGong and Tapping to keep me in a positive frame of mind and to not rage at the TV with every depressing newscast.  And most importantly, I resurrected my old way of eating as I had before The Big Fat Move to Italy- no flour or sugar but lots of veggies and enough protein. A tall order for any sane person living in the land of pasta, pizza and pastries, but it has been keeping me very busy with shopping in the little fruit and veggie markets and then cooking up a storm every day, twice a day.  The results are in and the weight is down.  Yay for me!   And thanks to technology, I like everyone else,  discovered Zoom meetings.  My Los Angeles Game Night continued every three weeks, which sometimes turned into a catch-up gab fest, and meetups with my language exchange friends in Naples and Salerno a couple of times a week.  Expats already have occasional bouts of isolation in their new host country, but this quarantine had the potential to put us over the top.  So the Zooms were invaluable to me on so many levels.  I hope to continue some of them even after we can slowly start going back to our lives, whatever that may look like.  Many of the “are you and the family OK” phone calls turned into more regular calls.  Once our minds quieted down, we discovered we needed the social contact, even if only virtual.  We needed to see the faces of those we loved to express that love and gratitude.  This was not always an easy feat considering the East and West Coast time differences, but worth the occasional mix-ups of a message ding at 2:00 in the morning.  During the pandemic, Skype seemed to get overshadowed by its new baby brother Zoom, but my English lessons continued on Skype which felt like an old familiar friend.  It took a little getting used to proper pronunciation with the occasional delay, but it is better than the way it will be when we eventually go back to lessons in school wearing masks.  I really love teaching English and look forward to these lessons-more necessary social contact with eager and interesting students. What’s Going on in Italy? Mascherine at the Restaurant So much of the pandemic forced us to be alone with ourselves, but also to let our beautiful planet try to heal itself.  There was no annoying sound of loud motorcycles with accompanying exhaust or cigarette butts carelessly strewn about the streets and sidewalks.  My constant cough improved and the skies took on a clarity I hadn’t seen in forever.  When I resumed my daily power walking down by the lungomare, the water was crystal clear-no cargo or cruise ship waste to muck up the sea!  I knew it wouldn’t last forever, it couldn’t possibly last forever, but while it was there I could imagine Planet Earth saying a silent Thank You…oh and sorry I had to send you that nasty pandemic to remind you of who’s the boss. –Running some errands today,I noticed the streets felt the same as before except with most people wearing their mascherine, but the restaurants looked different.  The bigger ones weren’t open yet, but if they were it was just for their outdoor cafes.  Some smaller takeout places were open but with a line outside.  When a friend and I decided to go for a bite to eat, we ended up in a takeout place that had a small counter for two or three people.  Too hungry to wait till I got home, we ate there.  And guess what…no social distancing.  I know the owner and she seemed to leave it up to our discretion. She wore a mask and disinfected our table.  I guess it was enough we were wearing our masks until the food came…really!  So much for social distancing.  Consider this your up-to- the -minute report of life in Italy with Covid.  Soon we can go outside without a mascherina, but must wear one in stores and restaurants.  And this is only for our region of Campagna.  The rest of Italy, go figure.  Phase 3 will begin on June 25, but of course anything can change by then. This is Italy!  And I love it.   Until next time, be well, be safe and wear those mascherine!  My neighbor’s quarantined cat. Not happy but still so cute. Kayak-a-polo https://www.italiangenealogy.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Kayak.mov Locks of Love Paris hasn’t got the lock on this trend. Italy has evidently caught on. Come visit so you can add your own love lock. An ancient vicolo in Salerno but with contemporary lighting. Note the original wood ceilings which connect second floor apartments or offices. On the way to Vietri sul Mare, the next town north after Salerno, all kinds of photo ops force me to stop and marvel at the antiquities…this animal, fantasy or real, (maybe Egyptian?) and the circular piece at the bottom is for tying up horses in the olden days. If you look closely, a serpent is entwined around the circle. I would love to know the story behind it, but sorry I have nothing to impart to you. Just enjoy. Here’s some fun and interesting reading to get you in the mood for your next visit … or maybe a move. You never know 🙂 Did I lie? Clean water. A new paint job in anticipation of Phase 3.

Visit our shop Lenny Rizzo takes on a journey with both of his families from Castellamarre Del Golfo Sicily.  Also, how they came to America and a great story about his dad in the USN. Click here to join our group on Facebook Rizzo Family Album Picture of Castellammare in 1957 My Grandmother holding me as a Baby My Uncle Peter who gave his life on transport to Sicily in 1953 My father in the Navy in 1952. Dad in Navy with Capt Anna Rose Rizzo in her wedding dress My Grandmother holding me as a Baby Coney Island with my sister in 1964. Lenny Rizzo in Castellammare Del Golfo Sicily in 1973 with my Great uncles family. 1974 – My Dad with his sister and their Uncle Memo in Sicily. Tarantola Family in 1980. My Grandfather and Aunt on his 85th Birthday -1981 Modern day Castellammare Del Golfo Sicily

Click here to join Italian Genealogy Facebook Kathy Kirkpatrick talks about how she helped one client find her roots in Naples and Sicily.  She also talks about her services and videos on various Italian topics. Utilizing the microfilmed, electronic, and printed resources available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, we provide professional genealogical research services. On-site research is available for some locations. Latest News: Kathy Kirkpatrick will be researching in Italy and Sicily in October 2020. Researchers:Kathy Kirkpatrickloves doing Italian genealogical research here, and in Italy. She also does military research in Italy, United States, Vatican City, and the rest of Europe. Videos of previous presentations are located at www.gentracer.com/videos.html. Chris Saffellspecializes in records from Canada, Denmark, England, Italy, Scotland, Switzerland and United States.  Kathy KirkpatrickGenTracerPO Box 11955 Salt Lake City, UT 84147gentracer@gentracer.comwww.gentracer.comwww.gentracer.org    

The Ancient Tribes of Italy We are all aware of the Romans, the Gauls,  the Greeks and their infulence in the Italian peninsula, but long before them there were countless other tribes and peoples that inhabited what is now Italy.  I had never thought too much about that until I took part in a fantastic seminar by Nicola Mastronardi on the history of the Samnites, who inhabited parts of what are now parts of Molise, Puglia and Calabria.  Nicola’s talk focuses mainly on the Samnites, but also touches on some of the other tribes outlined below. Click here to join Italian Genealogy on Facebook Click the map to watch the video Besides the Samnites there were many other tribes: The Estruscans lived in what is now Tuscany The Greeks, as we know, were in the South The Latini and the Sabines lived in the area around Rome The Lucanians lived south of the Samnites in what is now Calabria The Siculians ( Sikeloi, Sikenoi and Elymoi ) lived in Sicily The Enotrians lived on the Ionian and  Tyrrhenian coasts The Opicians lived in todays Campania The Picenians Lived in what is now Le Marche The Ligurians lived in, well Liguria The Venti in Venitia Several tribes, such as the Iapigi, lived in what is now Puglia The Umbrians lived in Umbria of course Finally the Nuragi lived on Sardinia This probably explains a lot of the cultural and physical differences across one of the most diverse places in the world.  To read more about each tribe you can visit: NaplesDM LideaMagazine Saylor.org Stay tuned, and subscribe or join our Facebook  group as I plan to deep dive into each of these tribes in the coming weeks.

In this episode, Jude Metcalfe explains how he hired one of our previous guests to help his mom come to closure on a mystery from her past.  To learn more about Jennifer Petrino, his expert, her podcast is listed below, in Sicilian Family Tree. Click here to join our group on Facebook