Are we all proud Italians? A smidgen of ancestry will work or just a wannabe is good enough. Is that desire because of our Guys? I think so.
On January 3rd Jane posted some Italian fluff. I don’t know if everyone saw it or Laura’s comment…
“Love their acappella and Piero’s laugh. Thanks very much for those fun videos. I suddenly got a little ‘misty’ hearing Ignazio speaking at one point, He said something that sounded just like my paternal grandfather when he’d say something in his native language. (Southern Italian (Campaniaregion). (Paternal grandmother – northern Italian (Piedmont region). Don’t know if I mis-spelled the names of those areas. 🙂 They each always spoke in English, but on occasion, if translating something into Italian for us, Grandpa would often correct Grandma’s Italian translation. It often would escalate into an argument between them which was funny. It was a case of dialect differences apparently, so she really wasn’t ‘wrong’! Poor Grandma. 😂 “Barone” happens to be a family name on her side, though not her own last name before she (Laura Marie) married him (Enrico). I’m sure they would love Il Volo! Concerning ancestral DNA searches, I think it’s fascinating, but. personally, feel leery of doing that online, for a couple of reasons. Marie, I do think it’s very cool, though, that your sisters gave you your DNA results for your birthday present. ( It would, indeed, be awesome if you’re related to Daniela’s Beppe).😊 I think if we go back far enough, we all probably do share common ancestors and so we are all related, lol…🌲💕”
~~Laura
I’m sure we are all related too, Laura. What warm Italian memories! Anyone want to share one? I’ll add mine later in the comments.
I have ordered my DNA kit.
I was born in England and have traced my mother’s ancestry back for 200years. She is English all the way through that time, but I never knew my fathers parents.
Those Romans are “scallywags” we know that because of a certain three that we love. So maybe I could have Italian ancestry also. I hope so🙂
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I have a mixture of ancestry: English and Dane for one quarter ; Italian for one quarter and Norwegian for one half. But my cultural core has been dictated by the music that I work on even from childhood. I spent many months in Italy and Germany and Vienna and that was a huge influence.
I’m half Italian, my grandparents were from Abruzzi. But I never met them, they died before I was born. However, I think I can claim Gianluca as a probable cousin right?
My maternal Nonno (Grandpa) was 100% Italian. In fact was from Palermo, Sicily. He would sometimes, when excited, utter an Italian phrase and forever retained the accent. He came to the U.S. and met my Scotch/Irish nonna here. Anyway, they had this long solid wood table in their dining room. Once a year Grandpa would make ravioli’s. He would roll out one huge layer of dough then roll it up on a fat stick-like thing. Then he would roll out a similar dough onto the table. He would fill this slab of dough with little mounds of a meat mixture. As children we were not allowed to know what was in that mixture. I was always suspect. When I was older I found out it was because he used some kind of animal internal organs in the recipe. Don’t know what organs….I did not investigate further…I ate too many and don’t need to know. So, he would then put the dough layer from the stick on the top. I watched in childhood fascination as he formed the dough around the little meat mounds! FINALLY, he would let me help! I was allowed to, very carefully, roll that red wavy ravioli cutter in a straight line up and down. The rest you can guess. They were cooked then covered with his sauce that had simmered all day. We ate like little Italian piglets! Gosh! I’m drooling!
One regret I will always have..I did not learn Italian from him. I never asked about his ancestry, family or background. I was an idiot child.
I think Marie, we all have regrets about things we should have asked about and didn’t. I have regrets about not learning more about my maternal grandmother’s family. She had several sisters and brothers and I don’t even know their names.
Marie, what sweet memories you have, I bet you can still remember the smell of fresh pasta that hung in the air.
You have described a typical scene of an Italian family that cooks in a traditional way before the holidays.
How many things I did not ask my parents and the only grandmother I had know, now I regret a lot of this, but when you are young, you do not think about the past, only the future.
Well, Penina and Daniela I am glad I wasn’t the only one. I guess it’s typical of a young person who thinks they already know it all when most of the answers had already been lived. If only we had asked….
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My youngest daughter had her “Ancestry.com” done last month and it showed that she was mostly Easter European and a part English/Scotch (her dad).
I believe I am all Easter European and no matter how hard I tried to find Italy in that area i was so disappointed.But loved the music and stories about Italy from the time I was a young girl.
I am Irish/German/English. Not a drop of Italian in me, but that does not change the fact that I am drawn to that amazing country by three talented young men who don’t know me from Adam, but have changed my life forever. I have found you don’t have to be Italian to LOVE Italians. 🙂 (Jane)
I waited today to comment because I wanted to read your comments first and also because ,,,,,,, in fact my memories are all Italian.
You are all so kind and so sensitive to your Italian memories that even if you do not have or do not have certain Italian ancestry even far away, you would have liked, with all your heart and I think it was so much fueled by three young boys who bring so well the Italianness in the world, which fascinated you.
I too, like Marie have a very Italian background… My father and his family were also born in Palermo and My mother and her family were born in Naples… My father and mother came to America when they were young… My father was old enough to have great memories of Sicily, my mother not so much…They met as young adultsin the USA …We lived in Little Italy in Brooklyn, I was raised with the Italian culture deeply rooted in my blood… My grandparent had a storefront where they sold eggs and chickens, and my father and his brother had small trucks and would deliver eggs and chickens to the neighborhood much like the milkman did back in the day… Behind the storefront was a huge back room where my grandmother would cook for the family and we would go there rather than their tiny apartment for Sunday dinners… My grandparents had nine children and that meant with marriage of their children and grandchildren we were many… My mother would help her cook and so would my aunts… So many different things to eat at Sunday dinner that you would think you were at an Italian buffet rather than a Sunday dinner… Those were my greatest memories as a small child.. Playing with my cousins at the back of the huge room and everyone sang Italian songs while my grandpa played the concertina, and my father the harmonica and my uncles the guitars… Oh those were the days… Thank you Marie for helping me bring back the greatest memories of my childhood…
Jeannette, what good memories you have.
You and Marie have in common a Sicilian descent near Palermo.
You must absolutely return to Sicily and meet your distant cousins, this time you must do it.
😘Marie, How nice of you to mention my comment in your post. What a surprise! I only discovered it today; I’m so sorry, Marie and I also regret that I didn’t have the opportunity to read on IVFC until today. I was writing this reply to you earlier today, ready to post it, but the page suddenly slid off-screen. When I figured out how to possibly get it back, it was too late to do so. Now, I am short on time and can’t quickly re-do what I wrote to you and to all the folks who commented on your post, so all i can quickly tell you now is that I think your idea to ask if anyone else has fond Italian memories to share was such a fun idea and I so enjoyed reading your memories and about your heritage and every response to your invitation. So interesting and fun! Thank you, Marie! (Hope you see this, which is on 5th day since you posted! My Italian “Nonno” still had his charming Italian accent, too, even when he was 102.😅 Penina and Daniela are so right about the fact that we probably all regret anything we forgot to ask our elders while we still had them here! 🌳💕🌲
Thanks, Marie! You’re reply to Jane up above ( that she’s Italian because it got under her skin) was quick as lightning. How do you do that??! 😂😄 Trying to remember if you and Jane ever got to your Nonno’s Palermo?! Someday, hoping to check out Montefusco, a little town in the province of Avellino, Campania where my Grandpa and his brother grew up. It must be so neat to be able to walk in the foot-steps of beloved relatives who grew up in other countries, or even far-away U.S. States! Hope to get to do some of that someday. guess that should go on the (long) ‘Bucket List!’ 😊
My ancestry is English, but the Romans were there for 300 years. Does that make me Italian?
Certainly. Besides…those Italian guys are pretty handsome brutes and maybe during that 300 years….. well, have a DNA test done.
I have ordered my DNA kit.
I was born in England and have traced my mother’s ancestry back for 200years. She is English all the way through that time, but I never knew my fathers parents.
Those Romans are “scallywags” we know that because of a certain three that we love. So maybe I could have Italian ancestry also. I hope so🙂
I have a mixture of ancestry: English and Dane for one quarter ; Italian for one quarter and Norwegian for one half. But my cultural core has been dictated by the music that I work on even from childhood. I spent many months in Italy and Germany and Vienna and that was a huge influence.
So great you had a chance to learn from some pretty amazing cultures. It shows in your brilliant reviews.
I’m half Italian, my grandparents were from Abruzzi. But I never met them, they died before I was born. However, I think I can claim Gianluca as a probable cousin right?
Of course. I’ll swear to it.
My maternal Nonno (Grandpa) was 100% Italian. In fact was from Palermo, Sicily. He would sometimes, when excited, utter an Italian phrase and forever retained the accent. He came to the U.S. and met my Scotch/Irish nonna here. Anyway, they had this long solid wood table in their dining room. Once a year Grandpa would make ravioli’s. He would roll out one huge layer of dough then roll it up on a fat stick-like thing. Then he would roll out a similar dough onto the table. He would fill this slab of dough with little mounds of a meat mixture. As children we were not allowed to know what was in that mixture. I was always suspect. When I was older I found out it was because he used some kind of animal internal organs in the recipe. Don’t know what organs….I did not investigate further…I ate too many and don’t need to know. So, he would then put the dough layer from the stick on the top. I watched in childhood fascination as he formed the dough around the little meat mounds! FINALLY, he would let me help! I was allowed to, very carefully, roll that red wavy ravioli cutter in a straight line up and down. The rest you can guess. They were cooked then covered with his sauce that had simmered all day. We ate like little Italian piglets! Gosh! I’m drooling!
One regret I will always have..I did not learn Italian from him. I never asked about his ancestry, family or background. I was an idiot child.
I think Marie, we all have regrets about things we should have asked about and didn’t. I have regrets about not learning more about my maternal grandmother’s family. She had several sisters and brothers and I don’t even know their names.
Marie, what sweet memories you have, I bet you can still remember the smell of fresh pasta that hung in the air.
You have described a typical scene of an Italian family that cooks in a traditional way before the holidays.
How many things I did not ask my parents and the only grandmother I had know, now I regret a lot of this, but when you are young, you do not think about the past, only the future.
Well, Penina and Daniela I am glad I wasn’t the only one. I guess it’s typical of a young person who thinks they already know it all when most of the answers had already been lived. If only we had asked….
My youngest daughter had her “Ancestry.com” done last month and it showed that she was mostly Easter European and a part English/Scotch (her dad).
I believe I am all Easter European and no matter how hard I tried to find Italy in that area i was so disappointed.But loved the music and stories about Italy from the time I was a young girl.
Marie, I love your memory!
I am Irish/German/English. Not a drop of Italian in me, but that does not change the fact that I am drawn to that amazing country by three talented young men who don’t know me from Adam, but have changed my life forever. I have found you don’t have to be Italian to LOVE Italians. 🙂 (Jane)
Oh, Jane…of course you have Italian in you. At some point it got right under your skin.
I waited today to comment because I wanted to read your comments first and also because ,,,,,,, in fact my memories are all Italian.
You are all so kind and so sensitive to your Italian memories that even if you do not have or do not have certain Italian ancestry even far away, you would have liked, with all your heart and I think it was so much fueled by three young boys who bring so well the Italianness in the world, which fascinated you.
I too, like Marie have a very Italian background… My father and his family were also born in Palermo and My mother and her family were born in Naples… My father and mother came to America when they were young… My father was old enough to have great memories of Sicily, my mother not so much…They met as young adultsin the USA …We lived in Little Italy in Brooklyn, I was raised with the Italian culture deeply rooted in my blood… My grandparent had a storefront where they sold eggs and chickens, and my father and his brother had small trucks and would deliver eggs and chickens to the neighborhood much like the milkman did back in the day… Behind the storefront was a huge back room where my grandmother would cook for the family and we would go there rather than their tiny apartment for Sunday dinners… My grandparents had nine children and that meant with marriage of their children and grandchildren we were many… My mother would help her cook and so would my aunts… So many different things to eat at Sunday dinner that you would think you were at an Italian buffet rather than a Sunday dinner… Those were my greatest memories as a small child.. Playing with my cousins at the back of the huge room and everyone sang Italian songs while my grandpa played the concertina, and my father the harmonica and my uncles the guitars… Oh those were the days… Thank you Marie for helping me bring back the greatest memories of my childhood…
Jeannette, what good memories you have.
You and Marie have in common a Sicilian descent near Palermo.
You must absolutely return to Sicily and meet your distant cousins, this time you must do it.
Jeannette, what great memories! I didnt realize you were soooo Italian.
Question…with winter now at full force, are you sorry you moved? Lol
Marie, your grandfather was Sicilian, Jeannette’s father was Sicilian, my husband is Sicilian.
We have a strong bond that unites us !!
Absolutely!
😘Marie, How nice of you to mention my comment in your post. What a surprise! I only discovered it today; I’m so sorry, Marie and I also regret that I didn’t have the opportunity to read on IVFC until today. I was writing this reply to you earlier today, ready to post it, but the page suddenly slid off-screen. When I figured out how to possibly get it back, it was too late to do so. Now, I am short on time and can’t quickly re-do what I wrote to you and to all the folks who commented on your post, so all i can quickly tell you now is that I think your idea to ask if anyone else has fond Italian memories to share was such a fun idea and I so enjoyed reading your memories and about your heritage and every response to your invitation. So interesting and fun! Thank you, Marie! (Hope you see this, which is on 5th day since you posted! My Italian “Nonno” still had his charming Italian accent, too, even when he was 102.😅 Penina and Daniela are so right about the fact that we probably all regret anything we forgot to ask our elders while we still had them here! 🌳💕🌲
I see it! Glad you did!
Thanks, Marie! You’re reply to Jane up above ( that she’s Italian because it got under her skin) was quick as lightning. How do you do that??! 😂😄 Trying to remember if you and Jane ever got to your Nonno’s Palermo?! Someday, hoping to check out Montefusco, a little town in the province of Avellino, Campania where my Grandpa and his brother grew up. It must be so neat to be able to walk in the foot-steps of beloved relatives who grew up in other countries, or even far-away U.S. States! Hope to get to do some of that someday. guess that should go on the (long) ‘Bucket List!’ 😊
Yes, we were actually in Palermo twice.
Laura, if you are at all able…do it!
marie & jane =2X to Palermo!!😍😻