Discovering my Sicilian roots
written by Angela Alvino
Growing up in America, I always knew that my family had ties to Italy. It wasn’t until I did a DNA test that I discovered that my ancestry had more specifically come from Sicily. As I started to research about the island I quickly realized that although Siciliy is a region of Italy, it has a culture uniquely its own. It wasn’t long before I knew that I needed to travel to Sicily to experience all that it has to offer for myself. I planned a trip to Palermo with the hopes of uncovering more of my family’s history, but I ended up with so much more and the experience of a lifetime.
While I was in Palermo, I arranged for a driver to pick me up and bring me to the town where my great-grandparents were born. A few weeks prior to my arrival I sent my driver, Josephine, all of the information that I had on my Sicilian-born relatives. She said that sometimes, this information is helpful so that they can contact the city hall ahead of time to request documents.
The town was about an hour outside of Palermo, and the rolling hills and clear skies made for a beautiful drive. Josephine took me to city hall first to see what familial records they would be able to locate for me. We were greeted by a very friendly employee and I quickly became grateful to have Josephine, a native Sicilian, with me to help translate. We were led into a room lined with cabinets filled with books full of the town’s history. We were met by another city hall employee who seemed excited to help. I provided her with the names and dates of birth of the relatives I knew of, and the city hall employee quickly got to work looking through the books trying to locate any information she could find.
Discovering my Sicilian roots
As she was flipping through pages and pages of records dating as far back as the late 1800’s several other people came in to help out, or just to say hello. Josephine let me know that one of the women assisting us told her that they don’t often have Americans come to see them and they were happy to have us. I was overwhelmed by how inviting and welcoming everyone was, and even though it has been quite a while since anyone in my family has been to or lived in the town, I was treated as one of their own. After about an hour, I left the city hall with copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, a family tree they helped me piece together, and even contact information for one of the employees in case I ever wanted to return.
As we were leaving the city hall, a man stopped us and began speaking to Josephine. She told me that he wanted to show us around a town museum down the street. We followed him to the museum and entered the large room with bright-colored pictures around the walls. The man walked us around to every photo and explained to Josephine, who then translated to me, the story behind it. Even though I didn’t know exactly what he was saying I could tell that he was so proud of his town and its rich history. After our tour, the man sent me on my way with pamphlets of information about the town and all of their upcoming events.
After Josephine and I returned to Palermo, I felt more proud than ever to be Sicilian: a culture of such kind and accepting people. The rest of my time in Sicily was filled with amazing food, breathtaking sights, and meaningful history. The thing that I continued to be most impressed with, however, was the people and how well they treated others. I was able to come back to the United States with not only an abundance of knowledge about my Sicilian roots but a new appreciation for its beautiful land and culture!
Discover My Sicilian Roots written by Angela Alvino for Sicilian Food Culture.
Lovely story Angela! What town were your great-grandparents from?
That is a trip of a lifetime. I would love to return to Catania and find out about my ancestors.
Angela, I would love to know the names of the towns/villages where you were able to find your family records and even more so, where you found Josephine! ☺️ Lovely story and thank you for sharing this.
Beautiful story. I have been attempting to fulfill my father’s request to find and visit his family. I have and the people who say we are related are wonderful. Your account is so similar to those of us who take this path. Grazie mille
Go to https://www.italiangenealogy.com They can direct you to the town your family was from. Plus much more!
3 years ago my family went on a trip to Europe and we made sure that we would go to Sicily as this is where my husbands family is from. My husband and our 3 children hired a taxi cab to take them to Sant’ Elia and all loved this place so much. Not disappointed at all. Homes had plaques with their family names and streets as well. The taxi cab driver took them back to Palermo and told them where to eat and they loved this. Thank you for your post.
My Great great grand parents came from Bisaquino and one of my nephews went there, looking for information about them just about a week ago. My nephew went there about a week ago, armed the the CORRECT spelling of my G-G grandfather’s last name, COLCA (for over a hundred years their were going by “Corca” in New Orleans, LA) we are so excited about going to Bisaquino next May and hope to find out more about our family and hopefully find some relatives there ❤️
Our story is close to yours. We found our family in Castellammare del Golfo . We also got our Italian Citizenship. We have now been there 5 times so much beauty in Sicily .
My father is Giovani Bisconti , Mom is Nunzia Martorano My mother’s sister married John Spera , my mother’s sister married john Butucavilo . All from Belmonte Mezzagno Via vecchia Palermo . Sadly they have all passed away . If anyone has ever heard of this town ?? would really like to hear Thank you Happy New Year .
Candi Sims. Omg my maiden name is Colca and my grandfather came from Bisaquino
[…] places of the city a unique charm and indescribable beauty. It is enough to take a walk in the historical center, between Piazza Verdi and the Quattro Canti to fall in love with Palermo and taste the Christmas […]