Back to More Roots – Bocchigliero

We go down to the main house for breakfast. The room is all stonework and beautiful.

Sweet and Savory

We enjoy a nice spread that includes sweets, savory, and marinated and stuffed peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and artichokes. Cappuchino and juice go with it.
We finish breakfast, gather our stuff and get in our car. We are driving up to my grandfathers town today. It is a small town in the mountains west of here. When I googled it, there were 1500 residents and under things to do, anything that came up was in towns 30 to 50 miles away. We don’t know what to expect but the time has come to find out. From where we are in Rossano, google maps said it was about 30 miles but the drive time showed up as 1 hour and 30 minutes. It should be an interesting drive. Having a GPS should help us stay on track, even though its initial route shows different than two map programs I used on line. We start out driving along the coast and when the GPS says to turn right, I decide to ignore it and turn where google maps had said to. Eventually, the GPS corrects and now sees things my way. We turn off the coast road and turn inland. It is a fairly quiet rural road as we head toward the town of Colaveto. It is one of two towns on our journey, with the second one being my grandfathers town of Bocchigliero. We pass through Colaveto and then the road starts to climb and becomes narrower. We just chug along at the speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour ( 30 mph) which sometimes slows to 40 and 30 around the curves. It is really quite a nice scenic drive with the hills and mountains that surround us. We climb to a high point and then we start to descend.

There’s Bocchigliero

We see a town that sits on a high ridge across the mountains and I am guessing that it is Bocchigliero. It looks like the road will descend down into a valley and then back up the other side to the town. We pass a few crews of men cutting foliage and wood that has grown out over the road way. They seem to be burning most of the smaller branches and foliage. We also pass a spot where there are many cars parked along the road and it looks like people are out in the woods picking things. At one turn, there is a clue as to what is going on, as a man is selling large mushrooms from his car. It is mushroom hunting season.
We make it to the valley floor and start winding up the other side of the ridge. We pass a sign that says we are on the boundary of a national park. It is obviously not a destination like our parks, no crowds, no cars, no amenities, and no concession stands.
We finally reach the crest and the last turn where we see a sign marking the beginning of Bocchigliero, we have arrived.

We are Here

We take a few pictures at the sign and drive into the small town. In a short distance we reach a small square with a church in it and a few parking places. I pull into one and then try to figure out the restrictions, if any. The lines are white which means free parking and there are two spaces next to me. By the last space there is a sign with a big P in blue and it has 20 minuti on the bottom. There is a lady nearby talking to a man and I notice her jacket has traffic enforcement on it. I wait patiently as they talk and then say scusi, and ask in Italian if I can park there, is it free. She says yes and then I ask if it is limited to twenty minutes and she says yes again. I then proceed to tell her that my grandfather came to America from this town and I came to see it. She asks me his name so I tell her Sicilia. The man she is talking to asks what his first name is and I tell them Nicola. She then tells me to wait a minute and gets on her phone.

Mother Church

She gets off and is telling me that she is trying to call a Sicilia to see if they know of Nicola. She and the man do not speak English and my Italian is not good enough to hold a conversation. I tell her the best I can that my grandfather had a wife here and I think two kids when he went to America. The wife stayed here and then my grandfather apparently married my grandmother in America. Due Moglie is what I say, maybe two wives, and she laughs and says she understands. Not having luck with her phone search, they tell me to go to the municipal building and they may be able to help me find out more. It takes two or three tries for me to get what they are telling me and then she points the way to the municipale. Before we walk down there, I ask if I need to move the car and she tells me tutti giorni, I can leave it there all day, not a problem. I guess it is nice to make friends with the traffic officer and I thank her for her kindness.
We walk on down to where we think the municipal building is and walk inside. It is not clearly marked as such but looks like an official place. We walk inside and there is an office to one side and I try to ask if this is the municipal building. No English and they do not seem to understand my question. A couple of men walk in and they point to one and talk to him. It turns out he is the mayor and speaks a little English. I explain the parking lady sent us here to see if there was any info on my grandfather and he asks his name. When I tell him, he points to one of the other men and says he is Sicilia and introduces us. Then he says he needs to go to a meeting and heads upstairs. The man Domenic Sicilia does not speak English which I think is going to be the norm here. We try and communicate and he says his father had a brother named Nicola but that he went to San Francisco, not New York. Probably not a relative and then I think he tells us about his restaurant/hotel up the hill where we should eat or stay. At least that is what I get out of it. We thank him and tell him to have a nice day and head out the door.

Ancestors Married Here?

As we approach the square where we started, the parking lady is still near there and sees us. Then a car goes by her and she starts to wave it down and signals us to come there. She has found the Sicilia that she was calling and tells her in Italian our story. The lady in the car than parks and gets out and introduces herself. The parking lady goes back to work and the other lady now sits on a bench and tells us to have a seat. I wish my Italian was better as we try to communicate about possible relatives and family connection. After a half hour on the bench, she motions for us to follow her and takes us down a street in the old part of town. One house she shows us is where her grandfather used to live. Then she takes us to an small old church, San Leonardo, from the 17th century. She tells us this is where all the Sicilia’s would have been baptized and married. It is closed but she goes to a house nearby, rings the bell, talks to someone, who comes out and opens it up for us. It is a nice small church but intriguing to think there is a very good chance my relatives went here. After the church, she shows us a street where she says all the Sicilia’s lived as she points to about 75 % of the homes and says Sicilia, Sicilia, Sicilia. This leads me to say this is Sicilia Strada (Street) which makes her laugh.

Possible Cousins

We finish up our tour of the old part of town and then back in the square we say our goodbyes. I have her address so when I get home, I hope to look and see if she may be related, and even if not, with more information, she may be a resource to find out more about my family history or possible relatives still there.
Carol and I decide to take a ride up to a church on the upper edge of town and so we get back in our car and follow the road up. Then down a steep road to the Church of the Rock which sits above the town. The doors are closed but we get some great views of the town from this point. It has been a fun experience and I am glad that we came here. I have now visited the towns of my three Italian grandparents so that is cool. My other grandmother was born in the USA and it was her father who came here with his parents when he was 11. I am still finding out where they originated from and narrowing it down so maybe next trip I can complete the heritage tour.
We get back in the car, drive back through town, and follow the mountain road back to Rossano. We take a small detour to a nice beach I had read about just to see it and touch the Thyrrenian Sea here. The water feels warm but no one is swimming this late in their season. It looks a bit rocky and I don’t have my suit with us so forego on the swimming. I plan on using the pool at the BNB. We make a last stop in a store along the way as we want to just eat back in our BNB again. It has such nice surroundings and outdoor areas and this way, we won’t have to go back out again. We have enough leftover antipasto so we just pick up some pasta, a seafood medley for a sauce, and wine. Back at the room, we prepare the antipasto and head out to the pool area to enjoy it. Carol has no intention of swimming but I can’t resist testing the waters. It is a bit cool but still refreshing. When it is time for me to get out, we realize we forgot to bring a towel so Carol goes back to the room to get one.

Please Get Me a Towel

I stay in the cool water as time ticks away. It is really starting to feel cold and I am wondering how come this is taking Carol so long. I see her come around the bend with wine in her hand and no towel. This lets me know where I sit in her pecking order of things as she forgot to bring the towel back. She laughs and heads back to get it while I continue my journey towards hypothermia. She returns with a towel this time, and I retreat from the cold water to the warmth of a lounge chair. The dogs join Carol as she moves a chair closer to me. We sit as I dry off and then head back for a nice meal complete with salad. It has been a great day and tomorrow we will leave here for another driving adventure.
Expenses
Rental Car 90.3E
Dinner items and Wine from Supermarket 7.5E
Tenuta Ciminata Greco BNB 80E
Walked 2 Miles