La Familia

We spent our final evening in Italy with some of Tony's family.  This was the one time we really wished we knew better Italian for all of the stories and history we could have learned.  They were all so wonderful and welcoming.  

Tony's grandfather, Vincenzo or Vincent, was the oldest boy of ten kids (we'll have to put together the family tree when we get home).  He immigrated to Pittsburgh before WWII, and after the war helped two of his three brothers and their sons come over while the six sisters stayed behind.  When we went to Italy twenty years ago we visited with one of his sisters, Adelina, who was the only one still living in Ateleta.  She has since passed but we met her daughter, Piña.  We also met two of his youngest sisters this trip, Maria and Katerina, along with some of their children.  And our hostess Lilianna who is Miguela's daughter (he was killed in a mine fire shortly after coming to America).  Her brother is also Tony LeDonne who lives in Pittsburgh and helped arrange the visit.  Thank goodness for her 18 year old grandson, Lorenzo, for he was our translator and spoke English very well.

It would seem Tony's grandfather was quite the character.  When he would come to visit he had a saying about his wine (glass), "you don't want to see it empty and I don't want to see it full".  They talked about how he would make the best sausage and play the accordion.  Tony told them he now has his sausage maker and the family recipe.

They talked about the hard times during the war, when food was rationed, and sometimes they would only have a piece of bread that day.  They had to move south to Puglia for nine months because the town was being occupied.  In the early sixties, those remaining in Ateleta moved away to this small town about 45 minutes outside of Rome where they all live less than a mile from each other.

This is Maria (86) and Severino (95) married 66 years.  He is still extremely active and showed us his accordion and workout equipment!  He also told us about being stationed in Greece during the war and going twenty days without food.  He built their lovely home there, where is daughter, Yolanda, has one of the four apartments.

This is Katerina (97), Liliana and Katerina's son, Octavio.  The LeDonne genes are very good!  She was of very good mind and told us if we could speak Italian she would tell us so many stories.

Of course they shared their homemade liquors and gave us some to bring home.

After much food (cherries from the garden and homemade desserts) we had dinner with Lilianna, her daughter, Nadia, husband Giovanni and their sons.

Lorenzo our wonderful translator!