Visiting the towns of your ancestors in Southern Italy

I can't speak to Italy, but I have visited the home places of my grandparents (and those of a friend's) in Ireland. It is very powerful to walk in the places that your people came from. You will not be disappointed. Find out as much as you can before you go, even if all you can find out is how and where to find out more. Get a car and stay nearby, eat in the village if there's a restaurant. Go the cemetery, find the birthplace. Take all the photos. If you can afford to hire a local guide, do it. If not, find a translation app that you can use to communicate with folks on the ground. Take Rick's advice and learn a few Italian phrases (maybe specific to your circumstances: "My family came from here," etc). Humans find a way to communicate with each other, regardless of language. Enjoy!

Muro Lucano and Bella are really close to each other, like 5 miles apart, you should rent a car and stay there, maybe in an agriturismo in the area. The roads in the area are really narrow (like one lane narrow but for two way traffic), but they paved and are practically deserted with zero traffic. It's a nice rural area.

There are many towns called San Giovanni in Italy, so you need to determine which one you are looking for.

We went to Cassino where my grandparents are from. We were unable to locate where they may have lived. We rented a car and spent a night in the area. We drove around and walked through cemeteries in the area looking for any ancestors. There wasn't anyone with there last name in the cemetery in Cassino. There was 1 person in a cemetery the next town over. We noticed that in each of the 3 cemeteries we walked through, one family name was very prominent. Of course there were other family names, but, in each of the cemeteries one family name was seen more so than others. My suggestion is to rent a car (small), research your family history and make a note of the last names of your ancestors. My grandparents came through England before coming to America. We found my great-grandfathers cemetery marker in England. As previously mentioned, some of the local roads can be narrow. Be careful and get the full CDW on whatever car that you rent. Good luck!

I visited the home village of my paternal great-great-great-grandfather in Ostbevern, Germany and had an incredible experience. In fact, the local historian and his wife spent a lot of time with me over 4 days, driving me around to see the site of the ancestry farm, and the baptismal font where he had been christened in the late 1700's. My maternal great-grandfather also came from Germany (Hanover area), but so far I have not found many records for him.

I was lucky in that Germany has really kept up with genealogical records, and you can find lots of baptismal, marriage and death records online in the church records. I also speak some German, which was helpful (especially since the local historian spoke no English). But it is a fascinating journey, in more ways than one, and I wish you luck with it.

There are many towns called San Giovanni in Italy, so you need to
determine which one you are looking for

Right, that one is a little vague and the only clue I have is that it is in Calabria. Don't know if that narrows it down enough to figure it out, though.

We visited the town in Sicily from which my father-in-law came. We had a local guide who had pre-arranged a visit with the city staff to get copies of family records. What I learned from that experience was that it's a pretty common thing for Americans to come looking for ancestors, such that it's not a big deal to the people living there now. The city staff were pretty busy doing their regular business and could only give us a certain amount of time, so I couldn't have just shown up expecting to be accommodated. If you just want to look around, I think church graveyards might be a place to look (church name from baptismal records). There weren't a lot of people on the street on a weekday morning. Yes, we found few people who spoke English, or wanted to interact, as they were all busy working or with their families. So that guide came in handy.

I brought back from there a bottle of the local wine and locally made olive oil, which made for great souvenirs to be shared with the rest of family when we got home.

We visited the town in Sicily from which my father-in-law came....What
I learned from that experience was that it's a pretty common thing for
Americans to come looking for ancestors, such that it's not a big deal
to the people living there now.

Yes, I can't help but think of that scene from White Lotus where they showed up and said, "We're your family from America!" and the lady yells, "Get out of my house, I don't who you are!"

Actually I already had an experience like that last time I was there. I hired a driver from Naples to Sorrento and he told me he was born and raised in Massa Lubrense (which is a small town.) I glanced at his name and it was EXACTLY the same name as my g-grandfather who was also born and raised there. When I mentioned this "coincidence" - and we were the same generation, so might be 2nd cousins - the guy just shrugged, totally uninterested. So I kind of took a cue when this guy blew me off and I don't really expect to pursue any meetings with possible distant cousins. (I still think he might have been related to me, though!)

Again, not Italy, but my husband and I visited the birthplaces of all his grandparents in Bellarus about 9 years ago. It was an extremely meaningful trip. Plus it was a big adventure trying to navigate around a country with few tourists and hotels. 3 off his 4 grandparents came from tiny villages. When we returned home, his 80 year old mother was profoundly touched that we made the trip and brought back pictures. All of the grandparents immigrated when they under the age of 20.

There are stories online about people visiting towns where their ancestors are from such as the ones at https://www.italymagazine.com/back-your-italian-roots And the more you can research (ancestry.com, etc) before your trip the better. It's possible you have relatives living there; if descended from siblings of your great-grandparents they'd be 3rd cousins.

As mentioned earlier you might want to consider hiring a guide for a half-day or day for the smaller cities. There are several advantages compared to just showing up and looking around. For one they know the area and speak Italian. If booked well in advance and if you explain you're visiting to see where your grandparents were from the guide may arrange to see some city or parish records about them, perhaps even the house(s) where they lived.

if descended from siblings of your great-grandparents they'd be 3rd
cousins.

I'm not sure, but I think it would be second cousins. If you share grandparents, you are first cousins, if you share great-grandparents you are second cousins, and so on. (I might be wrong, but I think that is how it works!)

Yes, I did check into one of those groups that does the genealogy tours and I'm still in touch with them, but the price is STEEP - like $1200 for a one day tour. Still thinking about it, but haven't committed to that yet.

Calabria has 4 or 5 towns called San Giovanni (maybe more). Two San Giovanni (only), then San Giovanni in Fiore, San Giovanni Gerace, Villa San Giovanni.

John (Giovanni) is a popular name for saints.

Yes, I can't help but think of that scene from White Lotus where they showed up and said, "We're your family from America!" and the lady yells, "Get out of my house, I don't who you are!"

Bwahahahahahaha! "I'll throw this artichoke at your head!"

(I'm of Sicilian heritage myself!)

My parents and I went to a tiny village in Sicily, with an address where Mom's Aunt (who she had never met) had once lived. We knocked on the door, no answer. A man across the street asked if he could help. I explained to him - in French (!) - that we were looking for my Mom's aunt. He happened to know her and knew where she lived. He offered to drive up to her house so that we could follow.

When we got there, he explained who we were, etc. Skip ahead through a made-for-Hallmark scene and we checked out of our hotel, at Mom's Aunt's insistence, and stayed with her for the length of our visit. She took us around to meet all of Mom's cousins, who she also had never met.

Fast forward more than 2 decades (and several years of Italian classes) and my Sicilian second cousins and I have become very close. We all met up in Istanbul in August for one of their daughter's weddings.

Having a close, living relative was key. But it can happen. And you never know when the nice man across the street might be able to help.

@ CWsocial

What an awesome story!! Thank you for sharing that!

StellaB, I’ve been a lurker but read your post and it moved me to comment. My Italian family also came from Calabria. I grew up in the classic big (actually huge) Italian-American family and now that I’m part of the ‘older generation’ in the family, I wish I had asked a lot more questions about my roots when I was younger. I’ve been actively researching my family tree (I have used Family search a lot because it’s free) for about 2 years, then ended up hiring a researcher on the ground in Italy when I hit a roadblock with my Calabrian side of the family. I was both impressed and incredibly moved when I received her research. Also, studying Italian for the last couple of years has helped with reading the Italian archives online. Of note, some of the church records and civil records actually listed a street name and house number, so finding those records can sometimes help identify where your ancestors were born or lived if you desire to get that much detail. There is so much genealogy information on the internet, it is really wonderful. I’m visiting my roots this year too, and really looking forward to the trip. Enjoy your trip, and definitely go equipped with a translator app on your phone!