Last Day in Sassano

Last Chance to Dance with Don Otello Russo

This is a continuing saga of our research trip to Southern Italy in search of ancestral data.  This post covers our final full day in the small village of Sassano, south of Salerno.

This morning we woke up early and excited.  We made an appointment, last night, to meet with the local priest and view old records from his parish archives.  This had the potential to be a very fruitful day.

Anna in the Mother Church of Sassano

We had our hotel provided breakfast and then drove, one more time, to the base of the town to begin our climb, on foot, to the upper church.  Huffing and puffing, we rounded the last of the labyrinthine streets and found, to our delight, that this time, the church door was open.  (They say the third time is the charm, no?)  What a relief.  Our friend Anna was there and we entered the church together.  

Gay's new Sassani friends

There were a number of people already there and they were curious about the two "Americani".  We engaged them in polite conversation.  They recognized many of the family female names and seemed pleased that we were interested in their town.

Can you see me drooling at the sight of 
those registers up on the bookshelves?

After the mass, we met with Don Otello, and he took us to his office in the back of the church.  His office was a small room with a desk and a floor to ceiling bookshelf.  The bookshelf was full of church registers.  Most of these books appeared to be very old and very unused.

I was excited and I was hoping that Don Otello would simply leave me there with the books, but that was not to be.  One of my goals was to catalog exactly what records he has, but that was not to be.  I was not going to get too close to that bookshelf this day.  Don Otello simply asked me what I would like him to search for.

Although I was steel reeling with the disappointment that I was not going to get my hands on those books, I was ready for the question.  I had an old death record alluding to the birth of Michele Barbella, in the early 1700s.  I suggested that perhaps we might find Michele's birth record.

After some time, the Don found the correct books

Don Otello got up on a stool and rummaged through the books.  Finally he came down with a birth index.  He flipped through the pages looking for a "Barbella".  He did not find one.  I could tell he was not surprised.  Don Otello was just a little skeptical because around the early 1900s, the last Barbella had left Sassano.  Today, there is not a single Barbella in town.  Don Otello, knowing that, was not expecting to find the name, Barbella, in his registers.

I was disappointed, but I switched gears.  I asked Don Otello if he could look through the marriage records around 1730.  He got back on his stool and rummaged about the books.  Finally he came down with another index, and after some time, sure enough, he found the marriage I was looking for.  This register recorded the name of the father and mother of the bride which put me back another generation in my research.  Eureka!  We broke the 17th century barrier.

All of this took some time and I could tell that the Don had other duties to perform, so I took ample photos of the record, thanked him profusely (and monetarily) and we left the church, elated.  We had new friends, a new awe for the church of my ancestors, a wonderful record (in Latin, no less) and, by this time, we were achieving a certain level of "fame" in this small village.

A wet and slippery descent

We inched our way down the slippery cobblestones in a steady rain.  Back at the hotel we regrouped and dried out.  By now, it was near noon so we went to our favorite lunch spot for some lasagna.

Another new friend

After lunch we explored the town and came upon the "Town Hall".  It was May 1st, Italian Labor Day, so I was pretty sure that the offices would be closed, but, just to see, I decided to go in and see if there was someone at the Ufficio di Anagrafe.  There was not.  However I ran into a friendly poliziato and we had a nice conversation.  He made sure I went away with some Sassano literature.  When I insisted we take a picture together, he first ran back into the station to get his hat.


Later that day, we made contact with one of my facebook friends, Oreste Barbella, from the neighboring town of Montesano.  We found a coffee shop (bar in Italy) between the two towns and we arranged to meet there.  We had a good time.
 

Oreste Barbella and (most of) his family

This was our last full day in Sassano, and it was a fruitful one.  Tomorrow we will drive across the country to Bari on the Adriatic Sea, but not before we clean up a few Sassano details.

Next post

The Ufficio di Anagrafe in Sassano and 

a long ride to Palo del Colle

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Padula, The Museum of Surnames, and another visit to San Giovanni Evangelista

#ItalianGenealogy

  I continue my quest to discover the "ancestors" of 27 Cottage Place.  game plan for our second day was to visit genealogist Michele Cartusciello in Padula, and return to Sassano for the 5:00 PM mass to meet Don Otello Russo and ask him if we could look at his archive of old records.

The Road to the Museo Del Cognome

After breakfast, we got into our Fiat and started the short trip to Padula.  Our GPS led us down a very narrow country road which was bad enough, but then it told us to go up the street you see in the illustration.  We did not like the looks of this narrow thoroughfare, so we drove a little further on the main road.  Before long, we came to a breathtaking overlook.  We still had about half the mountain to get to the town, but we stopped here to take a look around.  We could see for miles.  On the left of this picture you can see the Monastery of Saint Lorenzo.  Padula is behind us, but in the distance you can see one of the many hill towns that dot this area.

Looking down the mountain from Padula

We got back into the Fiat and found our way to a piazza in Padula where parking was available.  We stopped to ask some locals if they knew where the Museum was, and we found out it was within walking distance.  We were about to undertake the hike when we were approached by a gentleman who was a friend of Michele and he offered to drive us there.   So, we got in his car and away we went, 

Hard to believe, but it's not the three musketeers

When we arrived, he introduced us to Michele and we exchanged some pleasantries.  Then we got down to the business of genealogy.  Michele proved himself to be a competent genealogist and he displayed much of the work he had done.  His walls are covered with interesting pictures and documents.  He also runs a school for youngsters to teach them genealogy; what a unique calling.  He had some interesting data on Frank Sinatra, Sylvester Stallone and many othere celebrities.  We discussed our own search at some length and Michele seemed to believe that we could find genealogical gold in available Notary Records and Catasti (a sort of Italian Census).  When we finished, Michele drove us back to the piazza.  We wanted to be sure to return to Sassano for that 5:00 pm mass.  

Cimetero di Sassano

On the way back, we stumbled upon the Sassano cemetery; what an incredible feeling.  You have to understand that, for years now, we have been privately indexing the births and deaths in Sassano.  Now, suddenly, in front of us, were all the names that we have been indexing, written in marble.  This left us with a feeling of "oneness" that we cannot describe.  We spent some time walking through the crypts, but then it was time to return to the mother church. 

We drove to our favorite open space at the bottom of the town, and once again began the trek up the mountain to the church.  We had plenty of time, so we took in some of the sights and met some more people on the way.  

Anna and her father

When we reached the top of the mountain, the church was still closed.  We were almost forty minutes early.   It was raining, and our new friend Anna was there.  She invited us to come to her home just a few blocks down.  We accepted.  She wanted us to get out of the rain and meet her father who was able to speak a little English.  We had a nice visit and Anna served some homemade cake.  The cake was good, but the companionship was better.

We made our way back up the mountain near 5:00 pm and to our dismay, DISASTER, the church was still locked.  Oh no!  How are we going to see the old records if the church is locked up?  Anna made a quick call and found out that the mass this day was in the morning.  No mass tonight.  Now what?

The local gelateria

Dejected, we slowly crept down the wet cobblestones of  the mountain village, meeting more people on the way.  Eventually we made our way back to the hotel and dined on some left over pizza and a bottle of wine.  We desparately needed to pick up our sagging spirits so we went out for a little gelato.  At the gelateria illustrated, we found a chocolate flavor that tasted like cold creamy fudge.

Driving back, we stopped by the rectory once again.  I walked towards the door.  I could see the local youth playing soccer and I could also see that the priest's garage was empty, but then, a stroke of luck.  Don Otello Russo drove into the driveway and I finally got to talk with him.  I had already talked with Don Otello on the phone a few weeks ago, so he knew who I was and what I wanted to do.  We made a date to meet after the 8:30 AM mass at the church.  I ran back to the car, excited, and we slept well that night. 

Next

The most important find of the trip