Visit to Italy

Hello,
I have my tickets and will be visiting Italy in October with some friends, we are looking for a rental, 3 or 4 bedrooms and at least two bathrooms in the south of Italy we plan on staying for a month.  No matter where we stay I will visit Sellia and walk the streets were my grandparents grew up and I want to visit the church where they were married.  My grandparent were married on 31 August 1907.  My grandfather was Guiseppe Pietro Loschiavo the son of Georgio Loschiavo and Guiseppa Carrozza and my grandmother was Carmela Pullano the daughter of Gaetano Pullano and Teresa Fittante.  I look forward to visiting.

Alberto Antonio Loschiavo, Jr.

Hi Al, welcome back; I will translate your lines, just in case someone is interested.
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Salve,

Ad ottobre verro' in Italia con alcuni amici; sto cercando nel sud Italia un posto per la mia permanenza; 3 o 4 stanze da letto ed almeno 2 bagni. A prescindere da dove staro', conto di visitare Sellia, il paese dei miei nonni e vorro' almeno visitare la chiesa dove si sposarono, nel lontano 31 agosto 1907.  Il nome di mio nonno era Giuseppe Pietro LoSchiavo ed era figlio di Giorgio LoSchiavo e Giuseppa Carrozza, mia nonna si chiamava Carmela Pullano ed era figlia di Gaetano Pullano e Teresa Fittante.
Non vedo l'ora di fare questo viaggio.
Alberto Antonio Loschiavo, Jr.

Ciao,
Grazie mille.
Al

Alberto Loschiavo a Sellia....l'emozione e' stata.....molta....

Albert si disseta ....

Grazie, 007
 

Prego, e' stato un piacere!!!!

E' stata una bellissima mattinata a Sellia in compagnia di Albert e Nicola suo cugino, e' stato emozionante per Albert visitare il nostro borgo, il culmine e' stato in chiesa, li l'emozione e' salita molto, ho apprezzato molto questo suo sentimento, non ha dimenticato le sue origini , ha vissuto tre ore intensamente, respirando anche l'aria fresca di Sellia, con molta intensita' , un grande , mi complimento con lui per la sua bonta' e semplicita'.
Un ringraziamento va anche alla persona che ci ha dato la possibilita' di entrare in chiesa, era chiusa e sarebbe stato un peccato se Alberto non l'avesse potuta vedere...

E ' stato come tornare a casa!

   Sellia ha apprezzato il tuo ritorno!!!!

Bravo Albert e bravo l'agente segreto che in questa occasione ha indossato i panni del cicerone. Sono contento di questo viaggio alla scoperta delle radici di Albert, spero sia rimasto soddisfatto del borgo natio dei suoi avi.    

007 sei grande,dovrebbero assumerti come promoter. ma Alberto é nato a Sellia o solo i nonni lo erano?

Morgana , sapevo del suo arrivo e del desiderio di visitare il borgo che ha dato i natali ai suoi nonni , per me e' stato doveroso e mi sono messo a disposizione con molto piacere ed entusiasmo, e' stata una bella mattinata insieme a una persona che ha voluto conoscere le propie "radici" , ti posso garantire che l'emozione c'e' stata e non poca.....Albert oggi e' a Catanzaro ospite di suo cugino Nicola, domani andra' via.....

Anche Albert ha acquistato il dizionarietto del dialetto selliese.......

To Al Loschiavo,what a great story ,be able to walk the footsteps of your ancestors ;i'm sure the emotions run high.


To 007 ,what can we say '' HUMBLE'' Sellia need people like Him  [good luck].

007, se permetti...Logico che Al l'ha comprato il dizionario...Lui tiene i Z-ollari americani! Come puoi paragonarli con i 12 EURO!!!  

Mi ha detto: 12 euro ? cosi pochi.......    

Non ti ha detto che poteva comprarsi 5 hamburgers e patatini frijuti?

ne ha ordinati altri 100......   

100???  Non ci posso credere... 

ha capito che il libro vale molto.....   

Anyway...All kidding aside; I want to say thank you to Al for visiting Sellia and congratulate him on his will to wanting to retrace his roots back to Sellia. If he needs any help on translating some words, I'll be glad to be of help.  

Molte persone che sono nati e che vivono nei paesi dove i loro antenati emigrarono un secolo fa sentono il bisogno di conoscere la terra dei loro avi e scoprire le loro radici; magari anche far conoscenza coi loro parenti, scoprire nei loro lineamenti le somiglianze.  Credo che questa voglia di scoprire da dove si viene la si potrebbe paragonare al richiamo del sangue di coloro che essendo stati adottati da piccoli, da adulti vanno in cerca delle madri naturali.

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Many people born and living in the countries where their ancestors emigrated a century ago feel the need to know the land of their forefathers and to discover their roots; in doing so they get acquainted with close and distant relatives, they realize how similar they look.  I feel that this need to find out where they come from could be compared to the calling of the blood felt by adopted people, when they become adults they go look for their natural mothers.
This may not be the case for our friend Albert, nonetheless we are proud and happy to call him a "paesano selliese".

Il nostro forum e' un luogo di ritrovo virtuale , di molti selliesi che vivono sparsi nel mondo e che mai hanno dimenticato le propie radici , vi voglio raccontare questo fatto recente di un iscritto al forum , di chiare origini selliesi che  e' riuscito a coronare il suo ....sogno.....

For our friend Albert:

It is with great pleasure that I translate the writings of my friend Franco. I tried to keep the translation as literal and as genuinely close to the original Italian.


Our forum is a virtual meeting place of the many selliesi scattered around the world, people that have never forgotten their roots.  I want to tell you what happened recently to one of them, he is a descendant of Sellia that has succeded in fulfilling his dream.

Albert LoSchiavo, born on 9/29/1941 in Ambridge, now residing in Gainesville, Florida - USA.
His grandparents were of calabrian origin, ever since his childhood he has always talked to them about their native town: Sellia.
Albert thought of visiting the town about 25 years ago, when two of his cousins took the trip and told him about their experience.  He had virtually visited the town on GoogleMap, admiring the quaint little houses and the winding roads on top of that hill, dreaming about walking the same grounds as his grandparents had done so many years before, and also longing to pray in the same church they were baptized in.
Having been a member of the forum Sellia- Un posto nel cuore helped him to make some virtual friends like myself and gave him the opportunity to make the acquaintance of some relatives, like his cousin Nicola, together we tried to help him make his dream come true.
Albert met Nicola on the evening of 10/25/13, we set a time frame and went to his hotel, he was waiting for us in the hall, it wasn't hard to spot him as he's a tall and built fellow, I spotted him and said to Nicola: "there he is, he must be Albert".  We entered, he looked at us and recognized me from the internet photos.
"Ciao Albert...Ciao Franco", we greeted each other like old friends and introduced him to his cousin Nicola; they hugged with an intense feeling, looking at each other as if trying to discern a resemblance with their grandparents.  Strong feelings and emotions could not be expressed fully due to the language barriers we all had, nonetheless we were succesful in setting up the visit to Sellia for the following day.
The morning of Oct 26 we stopped by the hotel and drove toward the ancient town; as we approached the excitement grew stronger; there it was the welcome to Sellia road sign, we stopped and took some pictures by the sign with some of the town's houses in the background, Albert had a big smile painted on his face, he was really happy, looking everywhere: the houses, the medieval bridge at the town's north entrance, the ancient castle's ruins and the big church nearby.
We didn't stop and drove straight to Nicola's home, we climbed the steep steps of the old home, we stopped at the entrance looking south admiring the beautiful scenery, the vast horizon expanding till the Ionian Sea.  Al was taking everything in with every breath  saying: "Bella Sellia...Bella Sellia", three more steps and we were inside the house, where Nicola with pride and emotion showed him the family pictures, while sipping on a cool glass of almond milk.  Soon after a local and gracious young woman who spoke English joined us and finally we could understand each other much better.  We started to walk the steep alley toward the church, Al was not used to the steepness, his feet had endured many battles on the football fields and now his legs were showing the signs.  We got to the Piazza and stood at the feet of the steps leading to the church entrance, the excitement was mounting, we realized the door was locked but we had to get inside, we sent someone to get the keys; in the meantime Al was looking everywhere, every corner was observed, there it was, the Sant'Angelo section, the castle's old walls.  Once we had the key, we opened the little right side entrance door, Al went in first, we could tell the impact was very heartfelt, his eyes were everywhere; on the left of the main entrance there was the marble statue of the Pietá, then the Crucifix, then the statue of Saint Nicholas, his emotions were running deep and tears filled his eyes, we remained in a respectful silence, taking part with his emotions, he kneeled on a pew and prayed, he had fulfilled his dream; he was inside the Church of the Immaculate Conception and of Sellia's patron saint: San Nicola, the sacred place where many years before his grandparents were baptized.  In silence we approached the altar, standing below the feet of Saint Nicholas, the same statue he had seen the pictures of on the Sellia forum, now he was right on the spot touching with his own fingers, he turned around looking at the empty pews and I think of not mistaking if I say that in that particular moment he must have seen his own grandparents seated there in prayer, surrounded by other town's folks, the perfume of holyness was filling the air: "Bella Sellia...Bella Sellia", these words echoed inside us for the entire time.
We came out of the church and stood a little on the Piazza, he said: " thank you for this marvelous day, for these emotions I had dreamed about and that today I have lived and will never forget; yes Sellia is truly a Place in my Heart."
We walked toward the car in silence thinking to myself: "It is us that should thank you, your love for Sellia has been a further incentive to love our own roots..."
The sincere tears of your eyes have been for us true emotions.  Thank you Albert.

Franco Foglia
Sellia, November 11th, 2013