Teora

Observations:

It sure feels good to connect with family, especially long-lost relatives, who warmly open up their home and make you feel completely welcome.

Chris’ Italian grandparents were born in a town called Teora, located about 1 ½ hours east of Naples.  Chris’ cousin Rosanne got Chris in touch with a second cousin of his (who he’s never met), Fred Pollock, who lives in Bloomfield, NJ.  Fred is Chris’ second cousin on his grandmother’s side.  Fred has visited Teora many times, and had become friends with the ex-mayor there.  Fred arranged via email for Chris and I to meet with Peppino (the ex-mayor) on July 6.  How nice was that!

As we left Amalfi and the coast, and headed inland toward Teora, we began to realize that Teora is out in the country.  Out in beautiful country.

A shot of what we were seeing as we got close to Teora

We arrived in Teora and, sure enough, it’s a sleepy little country town.  Very quaint and pretty.  Chris called Peppino and Peppino asked us to meet him at the fountain in about half an hour.  We had already found the fountain (it was easy) so we decided to walk around a little.

The fountain

Everyone knows everyone else, and we did not go unnoticed.  We were met with looks and double takes.  This is not a tourist town, so two strangers walking around with a camera and taking photos kind of stands out.  To sum it up (and our relatives will appreciate this exchange), we walked past two men standing together and we said, “Buon Giorno,” as is the custom in Italy.  “Buon Giorno” they replied.  Then one turned to the other and said (I’m going to spell this phonetically) “Guess ou chez?”  If you aren’t Italian, you won’t get that, but I know the rest of you will.  Ha ha.  It’s like saying “What’s this?”

We met Peppino at the fountain and attempted to have some conversation.  That’s challenging since he doesn’t speak English and we don’t speak Italian!  But by catching a few words back and forth, we managed.  Peppino took us into the municipal building where he knows everyone.  Another observation:  When you want to look up information on your family’s background, it is very helpful to have an ex-mayor by your side!

An incredibly nice man in the records office, with a great sense of humor and an ability to speak a little English, took about 2 ½ to 3 hours out of his work day to help Peppino and Chris look through old – and I mean old – books of births, baptisms, and marriages.  They opened books, they talked, they gestured, they seemed to even argue (but that’s the Italian way), and Peppino took notes.  Can you imagine this happening in the US? 

 I wish we knew the name of the municipal guy.  He's on the left, Peppino on the right

 Check out this records book

 Is that not amazing???

 Look at Peppino's hands.  A typical Italian gesture.  Chris and I had no idea what they were "arguing" about.  But it went on and on.  It was funny.

 Marriage records book

 The municipal guy took this picture of himself.  He was great!  He asked us if we knew who sang the song "If I Had a Hammer" because it's his favorite song.  Chris looked up the artist on his phone and told him the name.  He excitedly said, "Thatsa it!  Hesa communist!"  Hilarious.

(By the way, no separation of church and state in Italy. There were religious pictures on the walls in this office.)

We left there with a fairly detailed listing tracing back eight generations of the Caprio side of Chris’ family dating back to approximately 1780!  We saw the marriage certificate of his grandparents, learned of all his grandfather’s brothers and sisters and their birthdates, and the names of his great and great great, etc. grandparents.  (Those records even listed an individual’s occupation!)  Without the help of Rosanne, Fred, Peppino and the wonderful man in the records office, we would never have been able to accomplish so much.  We so appreciate all that everyone did to enable us to gather this priceless information.

Chris’ grandmother’s maiden name was Del Buono.  Chris and his cousin Fred have been communicating via email a bit while we’ve been here in Italy.  Chris wrote to Fred describing what happened next:

 “Afterwards, we followed Peppino home and then he got in our car and he directed us to the Del Buono farm. That was another amazing experience. After getting acquainted we sat down at the table and began talking (as best we could in our limited Italian) and then they started bringing pictures out which we all spent time viewing. I was able to have my daughter email me the wedding picture from my grandmother and grandfather and everyone checked that out also. Of course Angelo's wife brought out espresso and cookies! What visit to an Italian home would be complete without that kind of hospitality. We sat with the entire family for a while and talked about different people and also the Del Buono's in Newark. Just an incredible time. After we took some photos with the family we headed back to the center of town where we sat with Peppino and another local who happened to join us while we stopped for gelato.”

 The Del Buono Farm - Isn't that a beautiful setting?!

Angelo Del Buono is Chris’ grandmother’s brother's son.  So Angelo and Chris’ father would be first cousins.  How cool is this to be able to meet him?!  We figured that he likely never met Chris’ grandmother because by the time Angelo was born, she was already in America.

 Angelo on the left, then (from left to right) Guglielmo (Angelo's son) and his wife, Rosa DiLisi with their son Angelo, Peppino and Chris

 Note the cookies and espresso on the table. Angelo's wife, Teresa, made sure of that right away!

 Looking at the picture on Chris' phone of Chris' grandparents' wedding picture

 To the right of Angelo, Guglielmo and Rosa's daughter, Lina

Angelo and Lina

 Teresa and Angelo

 Guglielmo, Lina, Rosa and Angelo (Angelo had scrapes on his face from falling recently)

 Everybody

 The Del Buono family

 Lina, Teresa, and Guglielmo

 Chris and Peppino

 Teresa, Angelo, and Guglielmo

Angelo Del Buono

 This was such a meaningful day for us.  Thank you to everyone who participated in making it so!