52 days. One Italian adventure.: D'Alessandro Family Visit

I haven't posted in forever, so I am going to write about my last week in sections. This is part 4/4 and definitely the best post of them all :)

My grandmother, Julie Bamford, is someone who has traveled all over the world. I have always admired that about her. She is also Italian, her father was born in Italy and moved to America and raised his family in Philadelphia. Throughout my life, Mimi (what I call my grandmother) has instilled a great pride for her Italian roots in me and her 5 other grandchildren. Mimi has been a travel agent for many years and helped others discover a passion for travel. Based on all of this, Mimi is probably the main reason that I wanted to travel the world and specifically, experience Italian culture. I emailed her at the beginning of May and asked her advice on day trips to make from Rome. She responded and said that her father's hometown was not far from the city and easily accessible by public transport. Mimi said she went to her father's birthplace, Ortona, and stayed with her cousin's daughter, Rose, a few years ago. Mimi traveled the world with my beloved grandfather, Poppy, and this is one of the last trips they went on together before he died last year. She mentioned that I could maybe see Rose and her family and meet extended family. I didn't think much of it at first, but then we started talking seriously about me making a visit and Mimi put me in contact with Rose. Rose and I emailed back and forth a bit and earlier this week we finally ironed out the details and I was officially going to see my great grandfather's birthplace and stay with my 3rd cousins!

This is what I understand of my family tree on my grandmother's side.. Mimi's father (my great grandfather) was one of 4 children. Mimi's cousin, Giovanni, is the son of one of these children, which makes Mimi and Giovanni cousins. Giovanni is married and his daughter's name is Rose. Rose is married and has two daughters around my age. Rose's family and her parents all live together in Ortona, where my great grandfather was born. Giovanni moved his family to the United States around 1960 and they lived in New York until 1993 when he and his wife retired and the family moved back to Italy.

Mimi spoke so kindly of her cousin's family, so I was very excited to meet them. Through emails I could tell Rose would be welcoming and that I would have a wonderful time. However, my expectations were far exceeded. I simply had the best time with my extended family. It was hard to say goodbye yesterday afternoon.

I arrived (Saturday the 10) around lunchtime on a bus from Rome. Rose and her daughter, Kathryn, met me at the bus station in a town called Lanciano. Rose speaks English fluently which made everything easy because my Italian is embarrassingly terrible (that's what I get for having all of my classes here in English and Penn State professors). We drove to their house and I was welcomed by Rose's parents and her husband. Honestly, I was really nervous to meet everyone. I wanted to make a good impression on behalf of my family! But I was also so excited and they were too. Their house is beautiful and surrounded by the most amazing gardens. It was picturesque Italian countryside. Rose told me that the D'Alessandro family (Mimi's maiden name) used to own large vineyards in the nearby area.

Rose's mother and Rose made a spectacular lunch on Saturday afternoon. It was the first time on my entire trip that I ate a multi course Italian meal. I never order more than one course when out to dinner because it is too expensive. We had fettuccine with porcini mushrooms to start and it was heavenly. I love mushrooms and these were the best of the best. Then, we had veal, salad, and bread. All delicious. They grow almost all of the fruits and vegetables that they eat and everything tasted so fresh and clean! I also had some of their homemade red wine which was just as fantastic as the rest of the meal. We had fruit and pizzelles for dessert and I had my first cup (of many) espresso which was probably the best thing ever and I just died a little bit from happiness at having homemade coffee for the first time. It was still very Italian because it was espresso, but sitting around a table and sipping coffee reminded me of home and made everything feel lovely. Rose left for a haircut and I chatted with her mom for a few hours. Her mother's English wasn't as fluent but we still had a wonderful time getting to know each other and I especially loved hearing about her different recipes. I was appreciative that she was willing to spend time with me and make me feel comfortable. I felt at home almost immediately and that was something very special.

Rose took me around the area on a bit of a tour. Right around the corner from Rose's house is the house my great grandfather was born in. It was so special to see his birthplace. I was very close with my great grandmother on my Mom's side (her mother's mother) until she passed away when I was 13. I was incredibly lucky to have a bond with her and standing in front of the house made me feel like I better understand where I come from. Actually, the whole weekend instilled that feeling, but this moment was when I felt the strongest connection to my ancestry. Then, I saw Crecchio which is a small town with a beautiful castle. There was a children's festival going on and Rose explained that Crecchio is usually very quiet so she was surprised to see so many people out and around town. Afterwards, Rose picked up a pizza for her daughter Kathryn who is a vegetarian, and we took her to the beach in Ortona. It was Kathryn's last day of school on Saturday (school on Saturday! What!) and she was celebrating by the beach with her friends. Rose and I walked down a long path leading out into the Adriatic Sea that was bordered by big rocks and at the end of the path there was a lighthouse. It was beautiful to see the sunset over Ortona and take pictures of the sea and the town. Rose and I drove back to her house and ate a light dinner of fruit from their garden. Fruit for dinner? Check. My favorite thing ever. Fruit from a garden outside? Even better. I ate lots of loquats which I've never seen in America but were tasty! Also, I had apricots, cherries, and watermelon. I was exhausted from traveling all morning and not getting much sleep the night before, so I was in bed pretty early on Saturday.

On Sunday I woke up and had the best espresso drink with warm milk and a touch of sugar. Rose made it for me and I'm telling you I might even give up lattes if I could drink that every day. For breakfast, I had Rose's mother's homemade sweet bread (with anise..YUM) and homemade cherry marmalade with toast. I was so spoiled by their incredibly delicious homemade food all weekend that I am already wishing I could go back and eat with them instead of food from the grocery store! I relaxed all morning and showed Rose and her family many pictures of my family. We shared many stories about relatives and had a wonderful time getting to know more about each other. There was just something indescribable about being able to tell them everything about my family and in turn learn as much about them as possible. We genuinely wanted to get to know each other. Rose's mom spent much of the morning preparing lunch in the downstairs kitchen and I was excited because she was making meatballs that she told me all about the day before. They were probably the best meatballs ever. For lunch, we had those meatballs, pasta with homemade tomato sauce, salad, green beans, bread, wine, fruit, and pizzelles. Just as delicious as lunch the day before! After lunch I reluctantly packed my bags to get ready to leave. I took pictures with Rose and her family and their house so that I can remember everything from my trip there. It was hard to say goodbye to her parents because they were so welcoming, warm, genuine, kind, and made me feel like family (even though I am, I just can't think of a better expression). Rose's mom said she loved me and that is something I will cherish forever because she is such a special person. As Rose, Kathryn, and I pulled out of the driveway Rose said that her father gets very emotional about these things and I understood how he could be so emotional. It was the most incredible experience and I wish I could have spent so much more time there.

Rose drove us to the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, which is near Ortona. Many thousands of soldiers were killed in the area during an important point of World War II. Germans occupied Ortona and nearby areas and destroyed many buildings. Rose said there is an American cemetery further away to honor Americans killed there. I enjoyed seeing the cemetery and reading a little about the history. The cemetery is kept up perfectly and a beautiful tribute to the many who sacrificed their lives for their country. Then, Rose drove to Lanciano which is a nearby town with the bus station. People of the town were celebrating their soccer team's victory by driving around honking and waving flags. It's always nice when sporting events make communities proud. We stopped at a cafe and I had a cold coffee drink which I enjoyed. Getting on the bus was a bit of a hassle because lots of people were trying to get back to Roma. I luckily snatched a seat on the bus and said goodbye to Rose and Kathryn. I was sad to have to say goodbye so soon. I wish that I didn't have class every day or that I could miss it because I would have loved spending more time there.

I'm sure you can already tell how important and special this trip was for me. As I grow up, I realized more every day how crucial family is for one's happiness and overall well-being. I am truly blessed for my Mom, Dad, Tim, and Katie in my immediate family. But I am also incredibly fortunate for my extended family on both sides, my appreciation for which grew immeasurably this weekend. I now understand that it's not how closely related you are to someone, but what effort you make to relate to them. Family is family, no matter if you're brothers, cousins, third cousins, or family by marriage. Most importantly, I now better know the value of understanding your ancestry. By knowing your family's history, you are able to move forward with a greater sense of identity, knowing your roots and the people who worked so hard in the past to bring you to where you are today. I learned immense amount about my great grandfather on my Mimi's side and this information, along with the memories I made with Rose's family throughout the weekend, is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. I was grateful for their hospitality and willingness to make me feel loved and at home. It was the best two days of my study abroad experience and I can't wait to go home and share everything with Mimi.

Here are my favorite pictures from this weekend (I posted many more on Facebook which you should check out there!)