My Brother Found Our Family in Italy 

My last brother to make an appearance! any questions I should ask him next time? ▶My Italian american experience playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLvzaW1c7S5hRqNP0hfcOXGRuhqgJ0nPZ1 ▶☕Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal ▶Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN ▶Download the first section FREE of my "Be a Good ancestor" course here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos-bjks6 ▶Get the full course to save your family history here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos

My husbands Father was from Sicily. One of nine siblings. When he mowed grass in the summer he was so dark. He was naturally dark. His family went to Mexico when he was 6 and he got lost. The lady that brought him back thought he was Mexican. I miss him very much. We were married 33 years when he passed away.

Man I love you guys chemistry! Your brother is hilarious 😂. Would definitely grab a drink 🍺 with him. Nice interview as always.

Gli orari di apertura dei negozi sono esposti sulle vetrine e se c'è una pausa non è per sedersi sulla porta a non fare niente, ma andare a prendere i figli a scuola, oppure andare a casa a fare tante cose, ecc. I "centri storici" delle città sono "vecchi" perché non è consentito abbattere i muri per costruire nuovi edifici: le case, i palazzi si ristrutturano, cioè non si toccano le pareti esterne, ma all' interno gli appartamenti hanno tutti i confort moderni. In Italia si parla italiano: se qualcuno usa il dialetto non vuol dire che non capiscono se parli italiano. Napoli è una bellissima città, ma in effetti è un po' lontana dal rappresentare la tipica città italiana.

I like how your brother felt accepted. People always talk about hostility but when I went back to sicily as soon as they heard my last name they were very accepting of me corrected me when I said I was Italian by calling me one of their own, reitalianized my given name and then used the nickname for it. Exchanged whatsapp with some people that I still keep in contact with

"A bag of sauce! " 🤣

This is the funniest and most refreshing video yet. Your brother could easily pass for southern Italian with a plus, very hansome. Keep them coming love your work. ❤❤❤

What a fun interview! Your brother seems to have lived a very interesting and adventurous life. Thanks for having him on.

Chris has had an AWESOME life so far!

Your family members are just natural media personalities. All one has to do is turn on a camera and ask a question and the interview just flows. I have an image of your brother in his T-shirt and bathing suit traveling Europe like it's normal occurrence. He's so chill and could field any question that was presented to him regarding his attire.😉🙂 ❤ LOVED this interview. ❤😍❤

Your brother is so funny 😂. Thank you for sharing. He should write a book about his travels. Very informative and inspiring.

I have seen a few of your videos and enjoy them. I was born here but never was there a time we weren’t Italian. Your brother was a farmer they must have loved him for that. Have ever thought how many things you do or think that are linked to this rich culture? As Italians we take pride in many things that others just don’t think about. One of the things I love about southern Italians is you KNOW they are there and no one does it better than them. Did your brother realize he found part of himself? Saluti

You guys rock.

The reason you were able to go to Croatia and renew your stay was because at that time Croatia was not in Schengen zone. Now it is and you would need to go to other non-Schengen zone country to renew your stay in Schengen zone. That would be for example Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“That was a strong story that everybody could get behind” 🎯

Oh yes, the Italians are just as your brother described. I’ve been twice and each time I leave my heart gets confused and my emotions flame up as though I’m supposed to stay. Mi piace tutti! Thanks for sharing your brother’s story.

Your conversations with your family are always rich in details and good stories

Im from North Carolina and i like how yall are Italian-Americans who actually embrace yall’s Italian background, my dad is dark just like your brother and thats makes sense because yall look like Hispanic-Americans who are Mestizo of Honduran/Salvadoran origins which is interesting since both ethnics have their roots tracing back to Latin Europe.

Chris has a great way with words and communicating. You should have him on again.

Great interview.

You both look good in jean colors. I only travel to Mexico and that was a different experience than the Mexican-Americans I grow up around in the USA. I came back using a lot of their grocery products. I used their laundry soaps/detergent. Buying different kinds of catus, potatoes, onion, and chiles which I would have passed up. Zote and foca soap is so good. You two should travel together.

Great interview!

This is very interesting/informative

Fun and interesting interview!

That was very enjoyable !!!😊👍👍

So interesting. Thanks for that.

This is an awesome interview with your brother. Thank you.

Danielle, I loved this interview with your brother. Italy would be at the top of my bucket list to travel. I love American Italian food so i was really bummed out working on our tree to not see any Italian. My two sisters did not show any either in their DNA results. Your brother reminds me of my 40 yr old son. When he used to cut grass in high school, etc, he was always getting questioned what was he - Mexican, Arabic, native american. He looks just like my dad who tanned really well. We are still searching. One of the political tarot card readers, Celtic Sheila, was invited to Sicily by an older female subscriber last yr or so. She saw them harvesting the olives and pressing for olive oil. It was wonderful. Also I think Lake Cuomo is where actor George Clooney, wife Amal and children live. Keep up the good work Debi from SW Ohio

Another interesting video, Danielle! Your brother has certainly been full of wanderlust! Hope you bring him back in the future!

I love all your video's. They give me a lot of hope that ill be able to find my missing ancestors. Right now Im stuck on my 2nd great grandpa's parents. They were Italians from Turin. His fathers last name was Rinaldo. His mothers last name was Obdenini. Apparently Obdenini doesnt exist as a surname. So im stuck 🤷🏽‍♀️ I may never find out how or why my 2nd great grandfather left Italy. But I have hope 💚 Great video! I enjoyed listening to you two 🤗

Wow, this was interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Another great interview. What an interesting life your brother lives. Wish I could go to another country like that for 3 months and explore. What an adventure!

In the United States, it is totally acceptable to eat as you want, foods mixed together, in any order. On a trip to Italy, I was surprised to learn that Italians have food rules; foods are eaten in a series of courses; foods must be eaten only in certain ways and in certain combinations.

Your brother is such a cool and wonderful person. His travels and experience are so picturesque and hilarious! I would love to hear more about your family ties and American experience. What to ask Chris the next time.... anything! 😊😊😊

When I was a child the "three days sauce" was a nightmare for me! All the family was reunited ti di tomato sauce for 10 hours a day, everyone contributed. But than we had good tomato sauce for an entire year and it was very good. I didn't think that people in the South still do that (I live in the North).

Hilarious interview with your brother: I laughed so hard, my eyes watered!

Thanks! I am greatful for your channel and the conversations you are having. ❤

A most excellent viewing experience!❤❤❤

I absolutely love this family. Bringing SO much knowledge and originality.

Thank you for the vid - very interesting interview & experience of your bro. Btw can you enable subtitles/ closed caption? Thnx!

Your brother reminds me of my brother! He’s traveled all over the world and he makes friends and does crazy things like that all the time!

Very adventurous brother for sure. Great video.

This is awesome! In my next life, I want to be your brother, LOL !!!! I've travelled quite a bit for business and leisure, but nothing like him. Thank you so much for sharing this!! Went to Italy in 2018, going back in 2024 to visit some small towns in the south where my ancestors were from. My sister spent a month in Rosetto Valfortore and she said it is the true southern Italy. Soooo different from the larger cities. Merry Christmas !!

Danielle I've wanted to tell you a story for a couple weeks. My paternal Grandfather is mostly Irish and both his parents were immigrants to Canada. His Dad was born in what became Northern Ireland and his mother was born in Windsor England but had an Irish father born in Glasgow and an English mother. Both my grandmothers have very strong and old New England lines. I expect a lot of connections in North America through those lines. But I found a connection to my direct paternal line that immigrated to North Carolina or southern Virginia in the early 1700s. My last name is Farrell and I now know by Y DNA testing that it comes from county Longford although in recent times my family is from County Fermanagh. They had to have moved north. The people who came to North America in the early 1700s had the last name Harrell, at least when they got here. It looks like they were part of the same sub group of the clan or whatever that was allied to British or English. Maybe even different choices after serving in the army at some point. It makes me have to rethink some of my matches. I have huge number of matches in the Southern United states that I still assume connect through another line but it is amazing to see how everything connects.

Not the marriage opportunity! LMAO That definitely let's you feel welcomed and a need to run at the same time. 😂 I hope you get to visit Italy one day! And traveling with your brother there would only make it better. AND, maybe we will get to see some too!

The way your brother describes Napoli made me want to get up and go now 😅

I would wonder how it would effect you emotionally if you visited Ghana and the Slave castle, would be an interesting project given what you know about your heritage.

I betcha your brother gets darker in the summer months. I grew up in a Black /Latino neighborhood. He could probably "pass" for either, especially during the months of July and August.

Didn’t realize your family is from the Benevento region! My grandmas side is as well as she’s been back 6 times I think and maintained contact with the family so after I graduated college I went too. Everyone was so excited and much more accepting than whatever opinion people online that try to push the “Americans are so distant from Italian culture they don’t know anything!!” Narrative. Although we’re very different, when it’s family they didn’t care how distant it was. We’re still family.

Wonderful family!

I watched twice. I am happy he learned about permaculture as well.

This video makes me want to find my relatives who live in America (or who knows where) and invite them to my house to let them discover their origins! (p.s. I laughed too much at the tomato sauce part)

To be honest I grew up around alot of Italian people I wouldn't see your brother as full blooded Italian. I would def say Hispanic , Arab , even mixed black

I see some fellow Sicilians, I click. Great show!

Rookie mistake by your brother ~ Neapolitan and Sicilian are actually considered separate languages from Italian, with quite a few different words, pronounciation and even grammar. They are of course all Romance languages ~ but Neapolitan/Sicilian and Italian are still as different as the Scandinavian languages would be from German or Dutch. 😉

Your brother mentioned seeing shrines and monuments like statues along the road where people would bring tribute honoring the site. This reminds me of a time when i traveled through Mexico. People would leave contributions at such shrines.

“Hey, that was my work sauce!” 😂😂😂😂❤

I was born in Cefalu ,Sicilia and moved to California as a 11 yr old in mid 80's. You look somewhat Siciliano. But with a something different added. But your surname is Northern Italiano. As you well know. Just my two cents. Grazie per il video. Salutamu!

Yep 😂 people were asking for live streams we would eat it up

😅There was too much fighting. So our merchants moved to France. Many wealthy Italians built the Chateaux in the Loire Valley.😊

Southern Italian people look iust like your brother, Napoli n down. 🇮🇹✌🏼🇺🇸

Reminds me kinda of Assassin’s Creed with the Desmond Miles story. It’s funny how much we can plug into history and enlightenment from it if we try.

:-) Nice to see the interpretation of a country by those who don't understand the language. He more or less understood about Italy what a Martian would understand when visiting our planet ;-)

Your brother looks a bit like the African American/ Italian football player Franco Harris. Franco passed away last year but he has a son. Maybe you can interview Franco's son about what his father experience growing up.

Ummm.. do you guys know that Northern Italians consider Calabrians and Sicilians ... the "n word"? Then within THAT amongst Italy's mafias, the point of division is "mainlanders" versus... I forgot what they called Cosa Nostra, but Ndrangheta and Camorra allied in the 1920s in the US to attack the Sicilians based on the identification of the outsider being less Italian, or fake Italian. I learned the "racism" thing from a fellow volunteer at a homeless shelter in L.A. who was from Calabria and went to law school in Rome, but quit law to become a preschool teacher. The mafia thing I learned here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_OUD1ooe0BQ.html.. and, as I wrote this, I can give you some kinda speculative evidence as to the seriousness of these Identity Conflicts amongst Italians.. I was SHOCKED to realize the recent movie with Denzel Washington, Equalizer 3, seems to suggest that an alliance of MAINLAND mafias have taken over Cosa Nostra and are using it to do business with Islamic terrorists and deflect HEAT from the "men behind the curtain", of the Ndangheta and Camorra. But I assume whoever wrote that movie did so in an "art imitates life" kinda fashion, as opposed to having a fantastic and abounding imagination, with the capacity to bring the impossible to the realm of ever so slightly plausible. What she described reminded me of the Union versus the Confederacy kinda reversed, as well as, as violent as the Anglican towards the Anglosphere. Exemplified in the first official rugby game between Britain and Australia. Equalizer 3 is worth watching just for the scenery! Such magnificent beauty and so many majestic views.

I always tell people that there is a war going on inside me. The Italian side of me wants to enjoy life eating bonbons and stopping to smell the roses,, and the German side wants to go outside with a broom and sweep up the curb - and the Italian side always wins!

Wow! Your brother looks like my little brother. Your brother is cayute too! Some ppl think we are pr, dr or Brazilian. He is light like you guys but i am wayyy darker.

My GGG-Grandmother's surnames were Aviles Sanchez Curcio. Her Grandfather's surnames were Sanchez Curcio Lopez. He came to Puerto Rico from Murcia, in Spain. His G-Grandfather Thomas Pedro Antonio Curcio was from Bagnoli in the kingdom of Naples and went to Spain after a military career of over 30 years in Naples, where he served under Joseph Puxmarin Fajardo, count of Montealegre. So I confirmed my Italian ancestry right after the Ancestry update took away my 1% Southern Italy. 😂

Have you interview your husband about his family tree

This was dope...i went to school in Hawaii

How did you come out with RU-vid? Can't find the video where you were worrying about that.

Some funny stories! The people who most wanted to change left, maybe?

""I am a star traveling together with you," the initiate confesses in the Mithraic liturgy." [Psyche and Symbol , Carl Jung, 1958, Part 2, Ch. 6-Two Chapters from: The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche; Sec. III. Forerunners of the Idea of Synchronicity, p. 253] "In the name of Light, who are you?" [The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff, 1954]

A few quick takeaways...in regards to Italy being poor: while there is an immense socioeconomic disparity between north and south it remains a G7 country, as far as crime is concerned the amount of theft and fraud committed in the north inordinately dwarfs that which is committed in the south and lastly if you are the rightful beneficiaries of an estate in Italy there are law firms in the US that can assist you

I am Sardinian and I also can't understand people from Sicily or Naples if they speak dialect, and I am Italian 😊

Your brother is making me laugh out loud literally...

Cute 😊

My point exactly languages change, it grows with the generations.

In Sicily, each region has its own dialect and slang for their words. There is at least 20 different ways to say chicken in Sicily. Agrigento is where most of my Italian family is from and it is very interesting learning about my heritage there.

If I hadn’t read the title and just looked at the thumbnail I would’ve assumed that your brother was at least North African or from the Levant, or at most black/mixed. Even though I have Italian American relatives (through Marriage) they are all very white “Northern European” looking, but with dark hair and broad-ish noses. I’ve never met any this tanned, (which isn’t a bad thing).

😊

I’ve commented before when you showed your family pics, I see the Mexican in your family, I see comments saying Italian and others but I can See it, your brother looks like in the summer he can be Dominican and Mexican in the winter…..where my Mexican side of the family is from there are rarely short men there,,,,that’s a huge misconception of people in the states….the guys in my family are 5”11-6”4

Italy is ANCIENT, don't forget roman empire gave birth to 30+ countires. Genetic diversity reflect magnificent and rich history.

Hahaha same here. Anything that was positive about the family is because we were Italian.

Good video BUT try to avoid the overuse of "LIKE."

im going to buy one of those castles and i will be referred to as Lord or Don

this one went to Naples with his prejudices without going beyond his nose... long live ignorance

Italy is just a bunch of "Kings fighting"... Interesting! Kings/The rich fighting for power.

Is this two Americans? I see nothing European here.

Here’s a crazy story: My BF’s Mom is from Scilly, and she’s blonde hair, blue eyes, shirt stature woman, but his Dad’s AA, and we’re at his parents home, and she screaming racial words at this TV show, about how much she hates wyte people… Yo I’m looking at her, and looking at my BF, and thinking she’s a full on wyte woman, and he saw the puzzled look on my face, and started laughing, so he told his Mom to explain what’s up to me, and she said she’s not those European barbaric wytes, from Northern Italy that they were different, and she even said they had African blood that makes them humans, and said those Northern Italians aren’t us humans ( crazy), but at that time in my younger years I wasn’t interested in learning history, or anything further ( my regrets) than what she was saying… I told my BF I bet your Mom checks she’s wyte on her job app’s, and the US census she wyte, and he just looked at me… Side Note: She divorced his father, and went back to Italy!

Do any of your Italian relatives have connections to Belgium and coal mining? I believe that was a major destination for Italians after WWII followed by Greeks, Spanish, Moroccans, Turks.

I'm looking at your brother and he got 'Brotha' all in his face. Them eyes, them cheekbones and them lips say African all day. Serious italian nose and chin though.

"Formal Italian is like 40 years old.." is the most hilariously accurate thing I've heard in a long time!😂

🧔🏾‍♀️🤌🏽 🛋️

There seems to be a strange phenomenon that happens with descendants of immigrants the more far removed they are from the home of their ancestors. They conceptualise and daydream about the old homeland being such an important part of their identity and part of their personal history even when they themselves and maybe even their grandparents never saw that land. Their family has had a new homeland for generations but they attach this big emotional emphasis on the ancestral homeland that the original immigrant generation would not have. First generation immigrations and their children often very proudly identify with their new homeland and don't feel like they are missing something. Second generation immigrants tend to have visited their ancestral home with parents and felt that although it was interesting , the country they grew up in is where their roots and life is. This effect seems to be way more pronounced in the USA. There are large amounts of people in the UK descended from immigrants from the Carribbean, India, who came in the mid 20th century, and a Yemenis who came in the mid 19th century. But they do not sit around in this conflict of living in the "fully British way" but fantasising about the homeland. Most still speak their ancestral language, follow their old religion and cultural traditions. But balanced with British culture. Those with an interest and inclination still visit their ancestral home even if the original generation migrated a long time ago. Americans have a whole different dynamic. The black folk can be excused because of their history and contemporary marginalisation. Things are setup for them to daydream and make up fairytales about wakanda without ever actually visiting. But the descendents of European immigrants, who have all gained their whiteness and acceptance as part of mainstream USA. Especially Italians and Irish. They have something very weird going on. They live fully American lives, have no experience of their ancestral land, no language or culture they practice, they don't keep up with events in the ancestral land but yet there are so many who either fiercely fly flags and claim an Italian or Irish identity. And those who analyse their family trees and take genetic tests and work out percentages of their ancestral makeup. My 2c, fwiw, is that we are whatever we presently are, the life we have experienced and the land and community we know. As a second generation immigrant I know my parents homeland only has a special interest because it is where my parents, who I am attached to, grew up. The ancestral home has no additional special interest. All the other parts of the world that I have no connection to are equally interesting. The significance of genealogy/family history is a myth created by European elites whose importance rode on careful documentation of their lineages and all the stuff they achieved and owned. This experience of documentation, accomplishments and ownership is a highly privileged and overhyped experience of an elite ruling class, and of a very western European way of doing things. That became the backbone of capitalism. Black Americans yearn for that history and lineage that schools teach them the white Americans seem to have rooting them to Europe and more people with documented history. But how many people in Africa have documented history past two generations? I know in my parents homeland people typically only know their lineage 2-3 generations back and with documentation only existing from the 1980s onwards. My family only knows the names of our grandparents, nothing past that, there is no way to find out. Our parents did not know the names of their grandparents.

Damn y’all had property in Italy and didn’t even know it

LOVE YOUR CONTENT, IHEY HAVE YOU EVER RESEARCHED WALTER PLEAKER AND WHAT HAPPENED TO VIRGINIA INDIANS BEING PASSING FOR NEGRO OR COLORED

Just cause real Italian recipes are simple doesn't mean their poor.

Happy to see your brother isn't wearing that flat brimmed black man hat. ☺

Overthinking family