If you have never been to Italy, Rome is a must. Walking through the streets you will see thousands of years of history within eyesight as you walk down the street. The Metro is very easy to use and can get you to most of the tourist attractions. It is best to get your tickets in advance, and for the Coliseum it is a must. Our first trip there was in 1995, in August and it was nice because the Italians were on holiday and most places were empty. If you are from the south of Italy, Naples is also a must. While it may not have the reputation as some of the cities in the North, for us southerners it is where all the action took place for centuries. I have to admit that I haven’t yet made it to Florence or Venice. But my bucket list includes at least one more important stop for me as you will read below. I have been to Milan which is a great cosmopolitan city, especially if you want to see the latest fashions.
One great thing now is that you can take a fast train between most of the big cities and it is relatively inexpensive and a lot easier than dealing with an airport.
For me this time it was all about the home towns. While the big centers are great, the real Italy is the place your family came from. Even if you are not Italian, the small towns are where you experience the real Italy, people and food. We visited home towns in four different regions Molise, Calabria, Campania and Sicily and each was a unique experience. Our tour was set up by Letizia Sinisi from Italy Rooting and designed just for us.
Of course everyone has their preferences, but for me it was to discover my roots and experience the sights and sounds of my ancestors. We were not able to get to my maternal home towns Toritto and Acquaviva Delle Fonte, but we are hoping to get there this year.
Unlike the big cities, you will walk away from the home towns with a sense of connection to Italy and more important, to your own history. Everyone that makes this journey comes back a changed person and longs to go back.
You
Click here to join out Facebook group To return to Rome we took a short one hour ITA flight from Palermo. Back at the airport, I found that you can store your luggage in terminal 1 for 10 Euros per bag per day. So we left the three heaviest bags for two days. We walked over to the Colosseum and wanted to enter, but found out that you have to by the tickets online and
Click here to join out Facebook group The trip to Sciacca got off to a rocky start as the van that was to take us failed to start. After about a 45 minute wait a new vehicle arrived and off we went for the roughly one hour drive. During the trip from Palermo, we were treated to excellent views of the coast, mountains and hills and valleys. As it was a Sunday, it’s hard to
Click here to join out Facebook group The ferry ride from Calabria to Sicily was much quicker than we had anticipated, less than 1/2 hour. So we arrived before our driver, so naturally we had a pastry. It was about a two hour drive from Messina to Cefalu and we arrived just in time for lunch with my good friend Francesco Curione from 007 Italian Records and his friend Andrea Fonti. I interviewed Francesco in
Click here to join out Facebook group The drive from Scilla to Montebello is about an hour and on the way we stopped to view the mountain “ghost town” Pentedattilo, which is derived from the Greek language and means five fingers. You can read the interesting story of two barons here. Our day in Montebello and Fossato turned out to be one of the more special days. Mostly due to my cousin Cinzia Piromallo (
Click here to join out Facebook group The original plan for today was to make a quick late morning stop to the cemetery in Cercola to see where my great-grandfather, Nicola Piromallo was buried. However, at the lunch on June 4th my Zio Nicola (more about that later) told me that he wanted us to visit family in Torre del Greco. So we were able to work that into the schedule. Cercola is about 30
Palazzo Caracciolo Click here to join out Facebook group Day five had us going to Avellino the seat of the Princes of Avellino. I honestly had no idea what to expect. When we arrived in the square of the palazzo ( now used for government offices ) it was breathtaking to see an Italian flag in every window. As we entered through the massive arch, we were greeted by a trumpeter and people dressed in
Click here to join out Facebook group Capracotta is a small but beautiful town in the mountains of Molise and was the ancestral home of my third great grandmother Duchess Capece Piscicelli. The town is about two hours from Naples, and one has to wonder on how long the trip took in a carriage from Naples in the 1800’s. On the way to Capracotta we had an interesting stop where Gianfranco showed us where Garibaldi
Click here to join out Facebook group Our first full day in Naples began with a walking tour of the streets of Naples where my Sorrentino, Princi, Piromallo and Caracciolo lived. Our guide Vincenzo D’Onofrio, was great and explained various landmarks along the way. The current Hotel Caracciolo, on via Carbonara was the home of my Caracciolo ancestors and quite an impressive building inside and out. I could just imagine the parties held there over
Click here to join out Facebook group Day 8 had us taking the train from Naples to Scilla. When Gianfranco picked us up he asked if we had pastry at Gran Cafe Gambrinus the day before. When we said no that we did not have the chance. “We have time, we’ll go now” was the answer. You can’t refuse Gianfranco. We hated to say goodbye at the station as Gianfranco became a real friend. The
Click here to join out Facebook group Day 7 was a free day so we were going to go to Ercola to see the ruins there. Luckily we were able to contact Gianfranco at the last minute and he had the day free. So off we went, however, the ruins were closed on Wednesday’s. You close the ruins! So we changed course and headed to Pompeii, which was no problem for Gianfranco. Who by the
Click here to join out Facebook group One of the things I really wanted to try was the Frecciarossa fast train from Rome to Naples, and in a sense we did try it. When we arrived at the station I noticed that there were a lot of delays up to 60 minutes and increasing. That being said our train was not showing any. We were due to leave at 4 PM and our train was
https://www.italiangenealogy.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/99662202-F1C7-4940-8D8E-01C538A49B17.mov Click here to join out Facebook group So after seven days finally a bit of time to write a blog about day one in Rome. BITN booked us into the Floris Hotel on Via Nazionale. Very convenient and about a ten minute walk from the Trevi Fountain, if you go in the right direction. Make a left out of the hotel. If you make a right you are just two minutes from the Metro
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