If you enjoyed our content please consider subscribing to our channel, or even watching another one of our videos! It would really help us a lot. Thank you all for watching! -- M & D
Very cool video. I couldn't go all that way and then NOT call a realtor to try to see the inside of the house. :) My ancestors came to the US from Pescaglia, near Lucca. Waiting for dual-citizenship to come through sometime in August this year.
Do you know that if you obtain Italian citizenship and love to travel, the Italian passport is the first in the world. You can enter 194 out of 227 countries. .
My grandparents were born in Avellino and came to America in the 1900’s. When they naturalized as United States citizens they lost Italian citizenship. Several years ago, I applied for, and was recognized an Italian citizen de jure sanguinis by the local Italian consulate. Once I received my Italian passport, I booked a flight to Italy on Alitalia. While approaching the the coast of Italy, I took out my Italian passport held it against the window of the plane and said, “Nonno e Nonna, thank you for all the sacrifices you made for us leaving Italy and going to America. Now your grandson 100 years after you left returns to Italy reclaiming the Italian citizenship you lost.” Yes, I was crying and everyone around me on the plane was crying too. Viva l’Italia! 🇮🇹
I know how you must have felt because I was born in Citta’ Palermo and never returned because both of my parents died when I was very young. The first tIme I returned,I got off the plane fell on my knees and cried. Everyone there came over and put their arms around me and said welcome home ! We Southern Italians are very special people !
Similar story here. My grandfather left Caltavuturo, Province of Palermo, Sicily in 1907. I returned in 2009, with my Italian passport in hand to meet family, see his home, make friends and learn about the culture that was "gifted to me". I have returned many times and will do so again this year. It has been and continues to be EPIC, - big beyond words.
Sono una turese e sono orgogliosa della vostra visita. Ammiro l' amore che hai per le tue origini. Turi è un piccolissimo paese ricco di storia , tradizioni, specialità. Si presenta tranquillo nonostante le svariate attività dei suoi abitanti. È un piacere avervi ospitato ❤. Complimenti per il favoloso video ben strutturato dalle belle immagini turesi.
Sono passato per la prima volta da Turi giusto un mesetto fa (per me è un'oretta di macchina) per vedere lo storico carcere. Non ho osato chiedere se siano previste visite all'interno ma essendo ancora in uso immagino di no...
I’m neither Italian nor American, but it is lovely to hear you speak in such clearly enunciated English and, no doubt, Italian. I wish more of You Tube was like this! Thank you.
I was born in Germany of a German mother. I never knew my father. I was sent here to the US when I was 7 years old and adopted by Americans. I had my DNA run about a year ago and found out I am 28% Italian, mostly Greek Italian and some Bulgarian and a pinch of Scandinavian. My adoption papers are "lost" by Catholic social services so can't so I don't have any way of getting any more info on my family. I remember people saying I looked Italian when I was a kid. I am not a blond haired, blue-eyed German. 😅 For some reason, I have always had more affinity for Italian things, especially food, and have almost no affinity for German things, especially food! 😂😅😂 I am turning 75 on the 25th of this month and live on social security, so I have little chance of going to Italy no matter how much I want to. I just have to watch anything I can on youtube about italy. Ciao
@wernerdanler2742 Hello Werner! That was such a lovely comment. Your personal story is so fascinating. We're so happy we can bring a piece of Italy to you!
I love to see other Italian Americans visit their ancestral homeland and history! Your videos and adventures in Italia are awesome! My real name is Saverio and I was named after my great grandfather who came through Ellis Island in 1906!
@@marossi8755 ed infatti! Non sono più da considerarsi italiani! Cambiando nome hanno voluto cancellare, se non rinnegare, le proprie origini. NON DEVONO NÈ PENSARE, NÈ DIRE CHE HANNO ORIGINI DEL BEL PAESE.
Hi I did the same, my family immigrated in the 50' first in UK and after few years they moved to Milan. I was able to find my relatives in the south till 1792. Two years ago I wen in a summer holiday and I went outside my gran gran Father house, I saw a lady coming out of the house, I explained her why I was there and she actually was the decendent of my grand grand father's neighbour, who bouth the house. And in her family they keept the memory of their neighbours. When she was a kid she was told the story of my Family. She invited me to enter and see the house. That was big for me!
What an amazing stroke of luck! And what a beautiful story as well. We asked around town if anyone heard of my great grandfather. We weren't as lucky but it was still a great experience to see the town.
@@TravelDialoguessono sicuro che a furi ci siano ancora dei tuoi lontani parenti,qualcuno dei discendenti dei fratelli e delle sorelle del tuo bisnonno,saranno ancora li,da qualche parte,magari con un cognome diverso se derivanti dalle tue prozie. saluti
I am going to Italy in September for my first time. I will be going to the village where my maternal grandfather was born in Abruzzo. My story is very similar. All my grandparents were Italian. My paternal grandfather's last name also changed from ending with an I to an O upon arrival. However, when my father was born they put the I back.
That is so exciting! It's really special to go back to the villages and imagine what life was like 100 years ago. I still do not know why the ending of the last name changed from an "i" to an "o" for some names, let me know if you find out why!
Not at all. As an Italian from Italy, I can tell you the small changes in the names were very frequent, mainly because very few people were able to read and write.
Bear in mind that back in the days communication could be difficult even among Italians since people used to speak dialect. Mispelling names was a common mistake. Luckily he lost only an I over an O. Many had their names completely changed.
As an italian, my guess is the following. "I" at the end indicates a plural noun, while "O" indicates a singular. Hence it often happened that people intended the plural form as the name of their family as a whole, and the singular form as their own last name. Specifically, Pagliarulo means something like "hay worker" (I don't know a proper english word for it sorry). So working class people, most of the time uneducated, would decline their last name as if it were a noun
I’m Italian born and raised. But my grandparent went in USA just for working he was an engineer. His family choosed to stay in Italy so he went two times in the USA for a bunch of years each time. I found his name at Ellis island and it was very very emotional to me. More than one century later
Your story is the inverse of many Italian Americans, but is still an important one. Some Italians immigrated to America, stayed for a while, then returned to Italy and stayed there. While my great grandparents stayed in America, I have relatives in Sicily who lived in America many years ago, but returned to Sicily and raised their families there. They speak English, know American culture, and worked for American companies. To the point of the video - I did this exact thing last year. I went with my parents to all the towns my great grandparents were from. On my dads side, we were the first people to ever return to the town since my great grandparents left 100 years ago. We saw their home, and met relatives. It was very special, especially to share that with my parents.
essere italiani è un privilegio, vedere e respirare l'Italia da appartenente e non da turista:è un onore! Sii fiera delle tue radici, e non dimenticare mai che questa nazione ha ispirato con la sua storia, il mondo!
di quale italia parli? di quella del rinascimento, quando c'erano decine di Stati che si facevano guerre a non finire? di certo non si consideravano italiani. o magari parli di gente come cristoforo colombo? che faceva parte della repubblica di genova, ed era al servizio dell'impero spagnolo? di certo non si considerava italiano o magari dell antica Roma? che di certo non si consideravano italiani .
I think that your grand father name was Pagliarulo (because Pagliaruli is more a surname from the north of Italy, because there is an “i” at the end). I think that in the register of the community in Turi someone wrong to write the surname, it is a common thing in Italy and it happened also to my mother (she had to do a legal trial in order to put the correct name in all documents). Someone prefers to leave the name in the register, without change, in order to avoid to pass trough a legal trial. Probably your grandfather was happy to have again the real surname without a legal trial. I am happy you came back to meet your past. I wish you all the best, great job.
Returning to Italy after 120 years. Abruzzese/Canadian and decided to stay. Juri Sanguine is for Italian citizenship to global Italians who want to come home.
Jus sanguinis, è latino e vuol dire diritto di sangue/genetico; mentre lo jus soi è il diritto di avere la cittadinanza dove si nasce, ad esempio gli Stati Uniti
you're not Italian. The fact that the fascist legislation of this shithole called Italy let you have an (undeserved) citizenship just because your fucking great grandparents were Italians means nothing. And at the same time there are people that have been born here, did school here, work here that still don't have a citizenship just because their parents were not Italians. Fucking fascist cancer of a country, hope it's gonna sink in the Mediterranean Sea asap.
I'mma tell you something. I'm planning to visit my great grandfather's little town in Italy next year and I'm super thrilled about it. Fascinated. And if I get to find out where he lived in 1870, and the place still exists, and it's small and modest (affordable), and it has a For Sale sign... Look I'm not religious, but I'm taking all that as a freking signal! 😅🇮🇹
How exciting this video was I cried for you all the way so emotional you are so lucky specifically their home ..you found their house wow …I been to Italy few times and I love every corner I was born in Argentina living in USA for many years and I don’t have family that I know from Italy but I believe I probably lived in Italy in my past life it feels like home good luck to you and thank you so much for sharing…I can’t wait to go back and finish my journey thru Sicilia 🌺🌷
Good for you! I went through the same process but in the Campania and Abruzzo regions. I found my ancestors and now I live full-time now after retirement from America in Campania after obtaining my citizenship through my maternal grandfather. I love italy and I love Puglia! It's my favorite region for travel. I look forward to your future videos and I'll catch up on your older ones!
That's awesome you obtained citizenship! I know that's a lot of work. Puglia is such a beautiful region - you truly could explore it for a lifetime. Thank you so much for watching our videos, it means a lot! More to come!
I am a European and I'm always struck by the efforts that our ancestrors invested into the quality of our housings, architecure in general. Europe is so romantic. love Europe so much!
Dear Marissa, I have to say to you that before the so called "unification" no people emigrated from South Italy, After they was litterally starved by the unification politic, so tat they littelally escaped from South Italy in order to find bread. Note: The Puglia Region since the ancient Roman Empire was the granary Region of te Empire!
Thank you for researching our roots! Your grandparents would of been so proud of your research and hard work. Your could see you put so much love into this video!
Here in Portugal the Jews were expelled in the 1500's. Many came back recently, 500 years later. Some still had the original keys to the house, which they kept in the in hope of returning. You can see these keys in the local museums, donated by the descendents.
I really enjoyed the video. Italy is one of my favorite countries because of the history, the landscape, and the language. Those small Italian towns that have preserved their historical layout are marvelous. It is so nice to get out of the big cities filled with tourists. My own grandfather immigrated from Denmark to the US in 1905. I too went back to discover my roots--like Marissa the first one in my family--and I visited the small village where he was born. It was a beautiful experience. I only wish I had been able to talk to him about his life but he passed away when I was a child. Why is it that most of us only become interested in our family tree when we get old and all of those who might help us find information have died? Marissa is to be congratulated for being interested in her family's roots when she is still young.
Thank you Ray! That's great that you were able to visit the town your grandfather immigrated from. I agree, it is such a beautiful experience. Why we think of our family tree when we are older? Good question. For me, it's at least partly that I started to reflect more on who came before me and I was curious about what their lives were like.
First of all : you are a beauty and compliment for your grace . I live in California 30y now . I'm from Apulia, ostuni ..my grand ma was from putignano. I just want to say ..the valley of TRULLI is so so such a magic ✨ unique breathtaking place . Be proud . Apulia it is destined to become a world recognize destination. It is already one but only European knows . In USA they think only Tuscany is a destination. Hug from Napa valley.
I’m quite emotional after looking your video. My great grand parents left Corato, n xD to Bari in the north in the late 40’s for Dijon, Burgundy in France. 2 years ago with my parents we came to Corato where my great grandparents get married and got their 4 first children before to move abroad. We visit where my great grandparents are born, both in centri storichi of Corato and Trani, and were my grandmother is born too in Corato. We also enjoyed the local food that was exactly the same that my grandma and my mum cooked in France at family dinners. The luck I have is that my grandma is still alive and full mind, and she has the memory of her childhood in Middle Puglia during the war, how was the trip to France (and it was quite an adventure). Almost 40’000 people left corato in the late 40’s and early 50’s for mostly the city of Grenoble in southwest France (my great grandfather went there first, leaving his family in Corato) for working into city reconstruction after ww2 bombing. He left then for Dijon and wife and children joined him in 1948. She remembered the first thing his father told her when they arrived at the Briançon train station at the french/Italian border, after not swing each other for more than a year “my darling, this is how to say hello in french, this is how to say thank you in french”. Italians had a very bad reputation im France back at this time and he worried about integration. France is very different than the US and the notion of community barely exists. My great grand parents got 11 children reaching adult age, 4 in Puglia and the 7 others in Burgundy. The 11 children married non-Italians only 😅 (French, Réunion Island french, German).
Amazing, like so many italian-brazilians we can relate to your video , I am about to do the same for my wife and son, both have Italian passports and their ancestors are from Northern Italy, Veneto region a small comune called Lentiai, your video shows how exciting this can be, I had tears of joy 😊 thanks for sharing your family story really appreciated.
Totally correct about train travel in Italy. Your reporting is a breath of fresh after all these years of dull blogging self indulgence. This is real tele reportage. Brava👍
I was stunned to find the address of the house where my grandfather was born on his birth record. So, we're going to visit Acerra, which is just outside of Naples, in November and plan to visit his birthplace 130 years after he was born.
Ernest, that sounds amazing! We hope you'll have a great "family reunion" when visiting Acerra in November. It's such a unique experience to be able to see in person the places that our families left many generations ago.
I did something similar about 20 years ago when I went to Ellis Island in search of news about my grandfather, who emigrated to the United States in the late 19th century and then returned to Puglia at the end of World War II. Although with some inaccuracies I found a lot of information about him. Exciting experience.
My family is also from Turi. I believe my great grandfather was on the same ship to Boston with your great grandfather. I can’t wait to arrive there in Turi and hopefully meet the large family that remains there.
Hi! My ancestors are from Turi, my advice is to go in late August. The 26th is eagerly anticipated in the small town because of a religious festival. They put the saint statue on the top of this huge chariot carried by horses in the centre of the Town. That's the most Southern-Italy thing I've ever seen😂. It's def worth a visit
@@ashlyn9499 thank you so much for this. I am actually planning to go in August, as long as everything goes according to plan. However, if it does not go according to plan, I will have to miss it, and I will not be going until sometime in the late fall. Either way, I am certain it will be amazing. However, thank you so much for the tip. If I do not make it this year in August, I will certainly make it next year. :)
@@BeyondAestheticsAZ you're welcome. The 26th is the day you can't miss. Warming atmosphere all day long till the climax I described before in the night around 10pm. Anyway, Puglia is a beautiful land, you're gonna enjoy your time there❤️
Da italiana non ho mai visitato Turi ma devo dire che è un incantevole paese come del resto tutta la Puglia. Sei una dolcissima ragazza e ammiro davvero la tua passione per le tue origini e ammiro anche l impegno che ci hai messo per scoprire da dove provieni. Un bacie grande a presto!
Brava Marissa! My maternal grandfather, Leonardo Armanetti, was from near Bari. And my maternal grandmother's family was from Avellino. It was really intersting to hear you talk about the name change that occurred in your family. My paternal grandparents both came from near Benevento, and my paternal grandfather's family in Italy, to this day, has the surname Capozzo, but when my grandfather arrived in the US around 1920 his name was changed on the immigration documents to Capozzi, which is my surname. Such interesting history, and thanks for sharing yours!
So nice you came to Italy to see where your ancestors came from...and Thank you for having taken the time to learn your ancestral language...Much respect.
My brother left Italy to Florida, USA, in 2005. It's been a while, since he has got American citizenship. He has a daughter now, and even if they come to visit us almost every summer, his daughter doesn't speak, nor understand, italian. That shocks me and makes me think if ever she will have the will to connect more with he origins (imagine that my parents come from Puglia but us, me and my siblings, were born in Florence and our parents and us, me and my sister, live in Florence. It's already a story to know and discover)
Great video and it’s just wonderful that you had such a desire to find out about your family’s past. I was born in Italy and my dad went to the USA during the 2nd great immigration in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s. My mom and I went a few years later. But being “richer” years than those your great, great grandparents had, we came back often and never lost touch with either our country or family. My whole family stayed in Italy and in fact , at a certain point my mom and I came back to Italy and have been living here ever since. My dad had died in the US but we had him sent back here since no other family was in the States. So happy to hear you were interested enough in your family to find out where you were from. Did you find any distant relatives?
Great video, great story. ❤ We have found our family roots in northern Italy, Trentino. And now are in the purchasing our family home, still occupied by a distant cousin, that was owned by my great-great grandfather. 😊
Lovely video! My ‘progenitore’ are also from Italy. My grandmother’s family is from Calabria, and my grandfather’s family is from a small village about an hour’s drive from Rome. I have been able to trace my grandfather’s family back over 200 years using archived records online. It’s really exciting learning about one’s family. My grandmother’s family has also been traced to the street where her parents lived. So wonderful to ‘see’ your history!
I am yet to make this journey myself with my brothers and cousins. My Italian family comes from the north, around the Veneto region. I have found some distant relatives on facebook and have been in touch with them for years now.
My grandparents came to America in 1894 and 1900. They came from Cimitile in Caserta. His name was Saverio Cataldo-a farmer. Did I see the name Cataldo on your grandfather’s birth certificate?
Moyan quote on finding our roots - "we spend the second half of our life slowly saying goodbye to ourselves". This includes knowing where we come from genetically before we die.
Loved your video...simple and delightful. Lucky you. I'm not Italian but have always wished to be since I made my first trip over 40 years ago. I have been back almost every other year and it is a pleasure every time I visit. Enjoy your time, your heritage, and Italy.
Hi! I'm italian and I can say that it's true, Italian migration to America followed different paths. Southern Italians preferred the USA or Canada, northern Italians preferred South America, Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina. I'm from Veneto and there is a township in Brazil called Santa Caterina that has Talian as an official language, which is a very conservative form of Venetian dialect. In Argentina it is estimated that 1/3 of the population has italian origins. I have my history of migration and return, my father's uncle emigrated to Venezuela and came back after 50 years. Some of my relatives went to Germany, France and Switzerland to find work and, eventually, stayed there.
From what been able to discover, there are a lot of Trenti who immigrated to the US. Many ended up as miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan (in my case), Colorado, California. And those that left before WWI were citizens of Austria, with Tyrollean/italian culture. Complicated as much of history is. 🙂
Thank you for the video of your experience. I am doing something similar and hope to be stopping in Conversano. I stumbled on this vid but I’m glad I did if for no reason other than the coincidence of living in the next town over (Southington) for over 55 years. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
@@TravelDialogues The timing could not have been better because I am doing on online search of Bari/Conversano records and my family there also had a name ending with an O that changed to an I when they came to the states. I'm now looking into why that kind of thing was happening.
Compliments on your excellent Italian pronunciation!!! Ottima pronuncia!! My maternal great-parents also emigrated to the US nearly 120 years ago but then moved back to Sicily in the 20s. A few years ago, I renovated their house in Sicily and live in it!!!
I was in the archives of Ancona, doing research on a relative who had been head of the Resistance in the Marche. After spending a whole day reading the journal Zio Oddo edited, a very old man came out and asked if I was Renato Gigli's grandson. I told him I was, and we had a nice "chiaccherata." The people at the archives were warm, helpful, and extremely well-educated. It was a wonderful experience.
Amazing genealogy research. Young lady you deserve a special recognition for traveling practically blind and encountering a surprising slice of your past that is still alive and well.
I love to see the excitement and joy in finding one's origins, though I find one aspect of the video even more fascinating; the concept of time. Marissa speaks of 110 years ago as if it were an era in the distant past whereas for a European ( specially a person from a Mediterranean country like myself) a century ago seems only like yesterday... we have a few people in Italy still alive who are that old
Ho visto il tuo video x caso Volevo solo dirti “BENTORNATA A CASA “ Spero che adesso tu ti senta completa, perché è importante sapere da dove si è partiti per essere completi ❤
Hi! I'm from Turi, and i would like to thank you for sharing your story. Davide was right about the 1800 part, there wasn't a lot of buildings on that side of the centro storico, so probably your ancestors really walked just a few steps from their home to go out working in the fields :D
I'm Italian so sorry for my not perfect English. You reminded me of the story of my maternal grandmother, her entire family emigrated to the USA in the 1920s, leaving her to relatives because she was too young for the journey. 80 years later she still wrote to her "American relatives", children and grandchildren of her brothers who had emigrated to the USA. Some of them came from the US to visit her and it was beautiful. We would have loved to take a visit to the States with her to introduce her to all her nephews and great-nephews, but she was too old so taking such a trip was not an option. She left us at 95 and I miss her.
È stato un piacere vedere questo video, sei stata nel mio paese di origine e nel quale ho vissuto fino a 17 anni fa quando, molto probabilmente per gli stessi motivi che hanno spinto i tuoi bisnonni ad emigrare, mi sono trasferito nel nord Italia. Emigrare in America a quell'età è stato davvero molto coraggioso. Ho visto che la tua tris-nonna aveva il cognome Topputi come quello di mia madre, magari siamo anche parenti alla lontana 😂.
Very nice video! Maybe it is late for this suggestion, but one thing you may want to check is whether the street numbers have been changed, to be absolutely sure it was your great-grandfather home (more unlikely in the town centre but nevertheless...). Italian towns (and European as well) from time to time renumber the streets due to urban needs (examples: in Italy, in the town where I was born, the street number of my parents' house was 26, it changed to 72 at one point. In Belgium, where I live, when we bought our house it was at street number 35 about 24 years ago, it become 6 as of 2014 as they renamed a part of the street to something else).
I loved your video and your connection with your own roots, seeing your ancestors home must have been an incredible moment. Next month me and my brothers will fly to Bari with our mother for a weekend together as a gift for her birthday and your images of beautiful Turi make me want to include it in the tour!
Thank you for this comment Luigi. We hope you'll have a great time visiting Bari with your brothers and mom. Happy to know that you might include Turi in your tour!
Hi cousin! My family is from Bristol and of the same clan! My grandmother was your great grandmother's sister! I also had a similar experience visiting Turi!
I'm a Canadian with Italian ancestry. Last year I visited where my parents were born in Montalto Uffigo in Calabria. I cycled through the Puglia Region. What a tragedy about the olive trees. Different regions and towns seemed to emigrate to different parts of the world/Cities depending upon the time. From my parents town they all seemed to follow their friends and relatives to Toronto Canada in the 1950s. It looks like people from your great grandparents home town went to Boston. And yes they all must have been very brave.
Very well done video and so cool you found his house! My great-grandfather was from a small town in the hills above Cosenza. Went there in 2022 to find it almost a ghost town. The road his birth home was on had been renamed, and the only structures on it were in ruins. Sad to see. One cool thing however is we met a cop who drove us up to the cemetery. In the only unlocked crypt, I stumbled across the grave of my great-grandfather's sister and a few other more distant relatives.
My great grandfather left the town of Arce (now part of the province of Frosinone, Lazio, then part of province of Caserta, Campania) in 1906. Like you, research brought me to my ancestral town in 2000, where I now have many cousins and friends I didn't know about before! I pursused recognition of italian citizenship through descent, and now hold both Italian and American passports. (see my picture 😅)
Me emocioné mucho con el vídeo. Mis tatarabuelos emigraron a Argentina desde Génova y ha sido un sueño para mi poder ir allí a visitar mis tíos abuelos y primos italianos! Mis abuelos siempre nos hablaron italiano en casa desde pequeños a mis hermanos y a mi, así que he podido comunicarme bien con ellos
Complimenti cara mia! Ho fatto il mio viaggio nel 2000 per fare proprio l'stesso🎉 ma i miei eranno ancora piú lontani 1874...dicciamoci 125 anni! Giorni indimenticabili! Buona fortuna !
In my opinion, the change of the 'o' into an 'i' probably happened at immigration desk in USA and was due to the use of the shwa in Souther Italy languages: distinguish the two letters was almost impossible for immigration officials and, at that time, just few Italians could read and write, even their own name and surname.
i have never heard of the use of the schwa in italian. not too surprising, though, i never really learned italian past the basics. Still in the birth records the name was clearly spelled with an 'i" so why would some enterprising clerk at Ellis Island put a schwa, or assume a schwa and replace it with an "o"?
At that time in south Italy people would starve, real famine. My grandma is from a small town in Puglia and she was telling me bad stories about it. Leaving was the only option for a better, dignified, life
The only solution to the major problem of low birth rate in Italy(same in Greece and most of Europe) is the return of Americans with origin from these places..Please buy this house! :)
This issue is common in other Mediterranean countries. Spain for example gives preference to get citizenship for decent from former colonies in Latin America with as little as 2 years. Many towns in Spain, Portugal and Italy for example have super cheap house in rural towns.
I can't believe you didn't take the opportunity to call the number in the sign and ask to see the place, even if you're not gonna buy it... They didn't need to know! 😅
