52 Ancestors Week 6: Maps

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The Week 6 theme is "Maps." They say X marks the spot. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that maps are great resources for our research! Think about a time when a map helped you discover an ancestor. Another way you could approach the theme is think about an ancestor would could have really used a map. Feel free to be creative!

This week's blog will be brought to you by Google Earth.

    When I was a kid, I would draw maps when I was really bored. I would take a pad of paper with me and draw while my parents bowled on Monday nights. I would even draw maps in my notebook in school! Why I didn't become a cartographer, I'll never know. I just liked drawing maps of everything from real world locations like the United States to locations that would go on to feature heavily in my webcomic. Maybe I just really liked to draw? That's probably it because I also drew superheroes and other characters to go with my maps.

San Pietro a Maida as see from low Earth orbit.

    Fast forward years later and I still find myself using maps. Instead of drawing, I have easily applied maps to genealogy. With maps, you can find where your ancestors lived and compare the area with how it might have looked when say your great-grandfather was playing stickball with his pal Charlie on Bartlett street in Haverhill in the 1920s. Note: That never happened. This was just an example. Maps are great on the local level. However, I've gone one step beyond. I've taken a trip to Italy and I never even had to leave my house thanks to Google Earth.

    I'll never forget the first time I used Google Earth to go to my grandfather Marco's birth place of San Pietro a Maida. I was curious to see how it looked because up until that point my great-aunt told me stories of where they lived in the town and who lived near them. In fact, she asked me to find out who was living in the Tedescos' house these days. I would love to find out. However, I'd need the exact address. Time will tell because I really want to see where the Ferraiolo, Coppola, Tedesco and Gullo families all lived!

   One of the cool features Google Earth has is the ability to go to street level when you're tired of looking at our planet from hundreds of feet above the ground. I've never actually seen the trucks that accomplish the Herculean task of documenting every street on Earth. Kudos to whoever drives them! You do good work.

    With that said, I have done the Google Street view of San Pietro and honestly it is very pretty. Imagine how it would look in person! When you go into town, you see olive trees for miles and miles. In the distance, there are small rolling hills along the countryside. This sign welcomes you as you approach. Translated it reads:

"Welcome to San Pietro a Maida. City of Olive Oil."

    The town of San Pietro a Maida is known for its olive oil. Makes sense given the number of olive trees in the area! Let's see what else we can find!

         As I "walked" toward San Pietro, I began to notice a few things. While nothing beats actually being there in person, I got a sense of this was home. This was where a quarter of my family tree was born after all.  The place just seems to be inviting and I hope one day I get to see it in person. It would be so amazing! Despite not being there, I did imagine the sounds as I walked along the road. I imagined birds singing in the distance and I could hear the leaves rustling in the breeze as I walked right into town.

I would spend so much time here.

    Of course as a genealogist your first stop in town would be to go directly to the commune office. I would visit family first to be honest. That is more important and those documents aren't going anywhere any time soon. While I've never gone in there, I do have to thank everyone who worked in the office for all of their hard work over the past few years. Whenever I e-mail the commune office with a question, they would respond promptly. I haven't had issues with them and of course I am so very grateful! Graziemille! I hope to continue working well with them in the future!

    If I ever do go to San Pietro, you can bet  that I would first visit my family there and probably go to the office the next day while everyone worked. Yeah.. I don't want to be the guy who goes to Italy just to research. I've got famiglia there, man! Maybe they'd have a homecooked meal waiting for me? If they did and you went to the commune office FIRST.....then dude you'd better have some explaining to do. Not just to your host but to potentially your entire family in San Pietro. It just wouldn't be a good look if you did research first.

Papa Gino's? Sorry. No Papa Gino's here.

        After checking out the commune office, I wanted to see what sort of restaurants were around town and I came across "Girasole". From what the reviews say, the food there is pretty good. If I ever go there, I'll definitely check the place out. Or I can ask my family the food really is as good as they say!

    There seems to be a lot of other ristorantes in town. A Pallaria cousin recently told me about a bar owned by someone with my last name "Ferraiolo". I tried to find the place. I'm sure it's very nice and I wonder if the owner is related to me. Odds are pretty good that Leonardo Ferraiolo is connected in some way! 

Update: I have been informed that Girasole closed about two years ago. That’s the trouble with Google Earth. It gives you a snapshot of what life was like and updates every once in a while. However, there are still some good places to eat around town! 

       

That's a money shot.

     Calabria is known for its warm summers and you might be wondering where do residents of San Pietro a Maida go when they need to cool off. The Calabrian sun can be pretty unforgiving, I've been told and so they likely go to various nearby beaches like this one located several kilometers just outside the city limits. It's actually near the neighboring town of Curinga. On that beach you get to look out toward the Mediterranean. I wish Google Earth allowed me to get closer because I definitely would want to see more of the beach! That water looks so inviting! I would totally go for a swim! 

    

      

    This is just a preview of what San Pietro a Maida has to offer and I really, really would want to go there. Walking around on Google Earth is nice and all, but, like I said before being there in person is something entirely different and I hope to experience it some day. My genealogist cousin Mary Tedesco put it best in her blog. "A visit to your ancestral town in Italy will change your life. Nowhere else will you feel a more familiar sense of deep connection than at the epicenter of your Italian roots—your ancestral town."

    I have no doubt in my mind that the statement is true. I definitely got that sense of home when I was walking around town while sitting at my desk. It was almost as if I've been there before. I know it's impossible. But, it just FEELS like I've been there. I get that feeling as I walk around town. If you have recent immigrant roots like we do, you should definitely go to the place where your ancestors were born. It will change your life for the better and  better connect you with those who have gone before you. Current safety guidelines apply, of course. But, if you can't go there's always Google Earth and while it's not the same as being there in person, it gives you a window of what life was like for our ancestors from the comfort of your own home.

I hope we get another map related prompt  like this for 52Ancestors. I'd love to take everyone on a tour of Gesualdo, next. Some people I know want to see that castle. I'm not going to name names....

See ya next time!

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.