Three months ago, I wrote about "my visit to Montefalcione", where my great grandfather was born. After writing that post, four people with ties to Montefalcione left comments on my blog. I have also noticed quite a few hits on my Irish, Scottish, English side of the family post and hope one day to find a connection there.
So, today, I decided to write about the town of Lapio where my great-grandmother, Giovanna Romano, was born, with the hope that this post may help me to find connections to Lapio and possible relatives from there. I have not yet visited Lapio but hope to go there someday.
Here is one of the few photos I have found of Lapio:
Like Montefalcione, Lapio is also located in the Campania region of Italy. It is
22 kilometers from from Avellino and is very close to Montefalcione. I can't believe I was so close to Lapio but did not visit!
(I can't seem to find the source of this map anymore.)
According to this Lapio website, there were 1,750 inhabitants living in Lapio during the 2001 national census. The inhabitants were distributed in 590 families with an average of 2.97 people per family.
I found this interesting bit of information on the ten most common surnames in town of Lapio.
Key to the chart: The left hand column displays the estimated number of individuals with the given surname displayed in the right hand column. For example, 106.10 estimates there are at least 106 people in the town with that name.
My great-grandmother, Giovanna Romano, was born in Lapio on November 20th, 1878. Her parents' names were Gennaro Romano and MariaTeresa Zarella. Besides Romano and Zarella, direct descendant family names further back include Carbone and more Romano names on the Zarella side. Hey, maybe Ray Romano and I are related somehow :)
Here again are my great-grandfather, Angelo Raffaele Catalano and my great-grandmother, Giovanna Romano on their wedding day. They were married at Sacred Heart Church, in Boston's North End, on April 6, 1902.
Comments (9)
Cool!
I recently heard a bit of family history I never knew. Mom was over for dinner on Sunday and Paul was talking about our trip. It turns out that her great grandmother was from Lombardy. So I'm 1/16th Italian. How have I never known that?
Posted by Jerry | April 22, 2008 12:59 AM
Posted on April 22, 2008 00:59
Great post! What an interesting story. I hope you get in touch with some of your Lapio relatives.
Posted by Chiocciola | April 22, 2008 3:21 AM
Posted on April 22, 2008 03:21
This is really interesting -- and what a great photo, your great- grandmother looks so young. (And a tiny bit like Ray Romano, maybe you ARE related!)
Wouldn't it be great if this post did help you reconnect with some long-lost relatives!
Posted by sandrac | April 22, 2008 7:25 AM
Posted on April 22, 2008 07:25
What a fabulous wedding photo. I love your family ancestry - it's so diverse. My family all comes from the UK and Ireland...at least my girls have some Norse blood in them from their father's side!
One of these days, I will figure out how on earth you link photos to their websites...I seem to recall seeing instructions somewhere, but at the time I couldn't get it to work. Maybe I'll give it another try now that things have calmed down in my life a bit (not to jinx myself or anything...)
Posted by Anne | April 22, 2008 3:31 PM
Posted on April 22, 2008 15:31
I love your family posts! Although I think I have a better chance of being related to Anne...I'm all northern European, too.
That picture is great. They're practically smiling...you don't see much of that in old photos.
Posted by Jill | April 22, 2008 4:35 PM
Posted on April 22, 2008 16:35
Jerry, that is cool. No info as far as where in Lombardy? Maybe you can find out and visit or perhaps you already have? My father would have never even known that he was part English and Scottish if I didn't start researching our family history. I guess no one cared or talked about ancestry long ago.
Chiocciola and Sandra, thanks. I am crossing my fingers. Because of the common family name, I probably have much more of a chance finding relatives in Lapio than in Montefalcione. Sandra, that is so funny that you see the tiny Ray Romano resemblance in my great-grandmother's face. As I said, you never know :-)
Anne, ah, but to find out where in the UK and Ireland is the fun part. Linking is pretty simple but it did start out complicated. You basically upload the photo and then highlight it and clink on the url link and insert the url there.
Jill, you never know. My dad's side is Irish, Scottish, English. Got any of that blood in you? I had to look at the photo again after your comment. I love how you noticed the "practically smiling" expression in the photo. It is one of my very favorite photos.
Posted by girasoli | April 22, 2008 6:25 PM
Posted on April 22, 2008 18:25
How wonderful that you have your grandparents wedding picture. She does have a slight resemblance to Ray Romano. With only 77 people with the Romano surname you are bound to find a relative in Lapio. I hope this post brings you a connection to someone in Lapio.
Posted by María I. | April 22, 2008 6:49 PM
Posted on April 22, 2008 18:49
Maria, thanks! If Ray Romano's family has roots in Lapio, I probably would be somehow related, otherwise it would be a long shot, although if there is a resemblance???
Posted by girasoli | April 22, 2008 9:50 PM
Posted on April 22, 2008 21:50
... or maybe you're related to a wine producing family in Lapio: the wine at the Clelia Romano estate in Lapio -
www dot skurnikwines dot com - type Clelia Romano in search box.
(*EDITED: I have been trying not to post comments with links to cut down on the spam... hope it was ok to edit the link).
Posted by María I. | April 23, 2008 8:49 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 08:49