April 30 to May 9, 2023.
After arriving in Rome we traveled by train to Napoli, just in time for all the celebrations! Naples had finally, after 30 years, won "Lo Scudetto" - the Italian soccer championship. The streets and people were festooned with streamers and banners, there were concerts, singing and dancing in the streets, parades (with lots of noise makers), and fireworks - right outside our hotel! And it went on for the entire three days and is probably still going on to some extent. Viva Napoli!!
Our next stop was San Chirico Raparo (key'-ree-ko) in the province of Potenza, region of Basilicata (see map at the end). It is a charming small town and the ancestral home of Harvey's great-grandparents Rafaele di Serio and Sinfarosa Berardone, who came to America in 1887 and 1890 respectively. The town priest was kind enough to open the archives and allow us to see and photograph their baptismal registries. It's pretty cool to see the original documents that were written in 1863 and 1876! (images 100 & 101).
Our last stop was Cautano, the ancestral home of the Rillo, Vetrone, and Possemato families. It is a place with people who are always in my heart. We stayed with my cousin Anna and enjoyed spending time with her, her sisters, their children, and granddaughters (and husbands, of course!). There, too, the priest was kind enough to allow us to see the baptism and marriage records as far back as 1825 and pretty much solve a family tree mystery. No matter how many days we spend in Cautano it's never enough. I guess we'll just have to return!
