"A family tree can wither if nobody tends its roots."

May3rd2020

Those Before Us

by  Phyllis Zeck

Elvira Ciolli u Teresina before 1939

Elvira Ciolli u Teresina before 1939

A few months ago I was contacted by Maria who had stumbled across this website. I’d like to share some of the email she wrote to me along with some photographs she sent. Maria’s parents are Inelde Vitale and Angelo Del Principe. Angelo emigrated in 1958 to Switzerland where Maria now lives. Inelde’s parents are Marietta Saltarelli & Bartolomeo Vitale (a tailor).  Maria’s great grandmother is Ester Ciolli. Ester and my great grandmother Elivra were sisters. 

I have never seen the photo above of my great grandmother Elvira. I don’t know the woman next to Elvira. Elvira wrote on the back of the photo “This is Teresina the mother of Lucia.” My grandfather Gilbert’s handwriting looks like his mother Elvira’s.

Maria Filomena was born in Pescasseroli in the 1950’s and lived in her grandfather Bartolomeo’s home until 1965. She has two brothers. Franco is a biologist and Claudio is a cook book author. The photo below is of Maria’s grandmother Filomena, Filomena’s sister Anna Maria, and their parents Nunzia and Gabriele Di Pirro. Filomena’s brother Cesidio Di Pirro emigrated to Buffalo, New York.

The following paragraphs are some memories that Maria shared with me in an email.

di pirro, pescasseroli

Filomena Di Pirro, sister Maria, mother Nunzia & father Gabriele.


My grandfather’s home is just opposite Salvatore’s B&B. this house used to belong to a single teacher, Miss Trella. both houses are located in the old part of pescasseroli near the church. you may find something in google view. grandfather’s house belonged to the ciolli’s and he bought the upper apartment. two rooms, screed, a vault with some chicken a goat and wood for heating, and a separate room in the stairwell. the lower apartment belonged to my grandmother’s brother, he was the father of esterina and salvatore’s grandfather. both families had at least seven children, but some of them died as a child. 

During the Second World War, German soldiers occupied this house, and when the Americans arrived, a bomb fell into a house 20m away. during this time they had little to eat and sometimes they had to ask the american garrisons for food.

del principe

Maria’s Grandparents Marietta Saltarelli  (Ester’s Daughter) & Bartolomeo Vitale

When I lived in this house, I was the only child and it was a beautiful time even though we had nothing, no running water, no bathroom, no heating. my matrasse was filled with corn leaves, which were changed every year. the drinking water was brought home in this typical “conca” of copper by the women on their head. the hot water came from a tank in the wood stove. the bread was kneaded kilos by my grandmother in the house and baked in the nearby bakery. everything was transported on a wide wooden board on the head. We also had none of the laundry,

robertocipollone.wordpress.com

Photo courtesy of Robert Cipollone

everything came in the washing pan with boiling water and was knocked and rinsed in the river. I had nailed shoes from our shoemaker, my mother and her sisters had only wooden treaders in summer and winter.

The room in the stairwell was inherited from an American woman, who then came to pescasseroli and was paid out by my grandfather. My mother does not know who she was. the room was later integrated into the upper apartment and now belongs to my cousin Paolo vitale.

Domenico Pandolfi abt 1915?These photos were also sent to me from Maria. The photo to the left is Domenico Pandolfi taken approx. 1915. If you recognize anyone in the 3 photos below, please email me so I can add their name to their photo. There is a sadness that accompanies an photo without a name. It’s so important to preserve and share these photos and stories.

I’m very grateful to Maria for sharing her memories and amazing photos. I have a clearer picture of what life was like in the 50’s and 60’s in Pescasseroli and it was not like the image that I had painted in my mind. 
 

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Apr17th2011

Lisa & Mark visit Pescasseroli, Italy

by  Phyllis Zeck

Last month Lisa & Mark visited Europe and one of their stops was Pescasseroli.  Lisa’s great grandparents were Pietro Del Principe and Elvira Ciolli.  Pietro and Elvira’s youngest son was Frank.  Frank’s son is Frank Jr. (Luke) and Lisa is Luke’s daughter. Whew, kind of confusing isn’t it?!  Lisa and Mark live in Arizona  and they have been looking forward to this trip to Europe since last fall.  Lisa’s email to me said “The trip was great, we had a blast.  Pescasseroli was one of the highlights of the trip.  The drive from Rome to Pescasseroli was very picturesque.  The town is quite a bit bigger than I thought it would be.”

Lisa and Mark stayed at Salvatore Toscano’s Bed and Breakfast – Via Della Piazza. Salvatore’s great, great grandmother Ester and my great grandmother Elvira were sisters.  They also met Salvatore’s mother, Ester Saltarelli.    Then they visited with Giovanni Del Principe.  I am very jealous!  They have graciously agreed to let me post some of their photos in my blog, thank you Lisa & Mark.

Pescasseroli is a town in the province of L’Aquila in southern Abruzzo.   A summer and winter resort, it is the headquarters of the Abruzzo National Park.   The monument below (I believe it is a WWII monument) was funded mostly by money sent from America. Click on any of the photos below to enlarge them, click on the back button to return to the blog.

Homes in Pescasseroli

Monument

 

 

 

 

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The Fontana di san Rocco

Piazza Sant’ Antonio

 

 

 

 

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Next are photos from our family church in Pescasseroli.  Chiesa Dei Ss. Apostoli Pietro E Paolo was founded in 1100.  Below is a link to a very interesting article about a Church in Buffalo, New York and a statue of the Madonna that was brought to Buffalo by Gaetano Del Principe.  I don’t believe I am directly related to this Gaetano Del Prinicipe, his family appears to have settled in New York in the early 1900’s.

“The statue of the Madonna is a copy of the one in Pescasseroli, Italy and was brought here from Italy by the efforts of Mr. Gaetano Del Principe. It was beautifully adorned with a hand embroidered white dress and blue mantle that was made by several members of the Society.” xx http://www.stlawrencebuffalo.org/devotion.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are photos of Salvatore taking Lisa and Mark to the Ciolli home, the arch leading to the home, and snapshots of the area around the home.  Although the home no longer is owned by Salvatore’s family, they still own the storage area below the home which is just inside the Arco Ciolli.

Ciolli Arch

Salvatore

Back of the Ciolli Home

Homes in the area

Salvatore’s storage area

Ciolli Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are photos of Salvatore Toscano’s Via Della Piazza Bed & Breakfast.  This is a link to his website http://www.viadellapiazza.it/

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Salvatore, Salvatore’s Mother, and Lisa

 

 

 

 

 

 

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While in Pescasseroli Lisa and Mark checked into “The Book” that was mentioned in my previous post (March 12, 2011).  The book appears to have been published by the community and it is about the people and landmarks in Pescasseroli.  Salvatore checked with his mother as to the name of the woman at the wake and she believes the woman is Filomena Ursitti (my great great grandmother).  The last photo is the remains of a castle which was destroyed by an earthquake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are photos of Chiesa Del Carmelo

 

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Jan22nd2011

Don Pietrantonio Amabile Ciolli

by  Phyllis Zeck

Arco (Arch) Ciolli

Joe Del Principe has been corresponding with Salvatore Toscano in Pescasseroli.  Salvatore is an Innkeeper who owns a Bed and Breakfast called Via Della Piazza.  Please visit Salvatore’s website at www.viadellapiazza.it

During their correspondence Joe and Salvatore discovered that they are relatives on the Ciolli side of the family!  Joe’s grandmother Elvira Ciolli Del Principe and Salvator’s great grandmother  Ester Ciolli Saltarelli were sisters.

Ester and her husband Francesco Saltarelli had 5 children: Carmela, Amelio, Maria, Paolo, and Angelo.  Paola immigrated to the US aboard the S.S. Duca Degli Abruzzo on April 1, 1920 and settled in Detroit Michigan.   Amelio immigrated in March of 1914 and lived in Chicago, Detroit, and Ann Arbor Michigan.  Ester died when her children were very young.  Salvatore’s grandfather Angelo Saltarelli was just 5.

Angelo Saltarelli married Ines Pistilli when he was 25.  He was a Shepherd like his father Francesco.  He would follow the livestock during the winter to Apulia and in the summer on the Pescasseroli mountains.

Winter in Pescasseroli

After he was married he and his father worked for the same employer building roads.  In 1937 he left for the then Italian colony in Africa – first Libya and then Somalia & Ethiopia to build roads.  In 1941 he was captured by the British army (even though he was not a soldier) and sent to a Raf camp in Uganda on Victoria Lake.  In 1945 he was taken to Glasgow Scotland and finally in 1948 he was set free and went back to Pescasseroli.  He did not see his family for about 11 years.

Angelo had 5 daughters, the eldest is Salvatore’s mother Ester who was born in 1931.  The other daughters were: Benedetta born in 1933,  Zelia born in 1935, Anna born in 1937, and Franca born in 1950.  Angelo had to wait 11 years to meet Anna.

Ester married Arnaldo Toscano and they had a son named Salvatore.

Click here to look back in time at our family tree.  You will see that another member of the Saltarelli family married a Del Principe back in 1789 when Mattia married Maria Scholastica Saltarelli.

The Ciolli home is behind the peach house

Salvatore told us that he recently spoke with a woman who is a direct descendent of the Ciolli family.  Her name is Ofelia Vitale and her grandfather was Florindo Ciolli, Ester & Elvira’s brother.  She lives in the house in the oldest part of Pescasseroli that was the dwelling of Elvira and her family.  A whole block seemed to belong to the Ciolli family.

Salvatore remembers some of the stories  that his grandfather Angelo, Elvira’s sister Gemma, and Ofelia have told him over the years.  Ofelia remembers that during the second world war the times were very hard.  American relatives helped the family in Italy by sending parcels to them.

This sign says “Salita (Uphill) Dott (Dr.) Ciolli”

Elvira’s father was Pietrantonio Amabile Ciolli.  He was the town’s Apothecary (pharmacist/chemist).  His wife Filomena Ursitti was a property owner.  Amabile and Filomena had about 17 children.  One of the children was a priest at Pescasseroli’s parish.

During one of her research project’s Kathy from GenTracer discovered that the 1854 marriage record shows the title “Don” before the name of my great great grandfather Pietrantonio Amabile Ciolli.  I asked Kathy about this and she said “Don is a title, as is Donna.  It is usually applied to landowners and is the top of the social strata in a town, topped only by a title (Baron, Duke, Prince, etc)”.  Also, the 1828 marriage records of Raffaele Ciolli states that Raffaele’s father Medici Carmine’s occupation is a doctor.   There is a sign hanging on a building leading to the Ciolli home that says “Dott (Dr.) Ciolli.  Does this sign refer to Dr. Medici Ciolli or to Pietrantonio Amabile Ciolli?

Salvatore told me that many people from Pescasseroli left for the United States the same time my great grandparents did.  A lot of the town folks abandoned the Catholic religion to follow a popular Protestant group in Southern Italy.   The town split in two and there were many arguments about important issues such as education.  The Bishop sent some missionaries to intervene and in the end they defeated the Protestants.  Most of the Protestant people left for America.  They may have gone of their own free will, or they may have been pressured to leave.  Salvatore relays this story from a very important Historian/Philosopher named Benedetto Croce born in Pescasseroli in 1867.

Thank you Joe for linking us to our new friend.  Thank you Salvatore for the wonderful photographs and all the information.  I hope to communicate with Salvatore again to learn more about the Ciolli side of the family.

 

 

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