Family History
My dad and my aunt have always been very interested in family history. They've put an incredible amount of work and time into research. It's pretty neat stuff and I felt obliged while in Italy to do a little homework myself. And it sure paid off.
We went to a small town just outside Venice, called Paese. We know my grandfather was born there and have records of it. So I attempt to goto the church and ask to look for more records because we didn't have birth or death dates for my Great-Great-Grandfather and his wife.
We get to the church around 1pm yesterday, of course right when all of Italy is taking an afternoon break. So, we wait outside the church and wander the streets waiting for anything to open. Eventually we goto the Cemetary where we find a few grave sites for Berti, but they are all very recent. A fellow in the Cemetary tells us that the cemetary moved here 90 years ago, and that's why it's all very knew. The old one was by the church, but I'm not quite sure what happened to it.
There was also a funeral yesterday, so not wanting to bother people, we stayed away from the church then, and came back after. But there was still no one there until about 6:30 at night when they were setting up for an evening service. I tell this fellow I'm searching for records, and he immediatly takes me out of the church to the building next door.
Which was open all day...
So a man answers and takes me right in (I think I caught it just as it was closing). He asks what I'm looking for, and I explain it. I pull out a very basic camily tree I'd scribbled on paper and he starts looking at it. I couldn't completely understand him, but he starts rambling about some Berti who went to Canada that he knows, and maybe hes a long lost cousin.
The next part is the most amazing because he pulls a busines card out of his pocket with a few friends phone numbers scribbled on it, and at the top is Mariano Berti. At this point I'm getting excited because he keeps talking about some book with history and how he's got a copy at home. Next I heard the fastest most intense Italian of my life as this guy chatted on the phone with Mariano reading off names and dates. Sure enough, it's the right family.
He then talks about the book at home and calling his wife and then just leaves the room and comes back with a copy. And inside this book, it goes back 7 generations from me and has the complete story of the Berti Family. Turns out the writer of this book is Mariano Berti, and he researches family history around Paese. He would be the same generation as my dad, only connected because their Great-Great-Grandfathers are brothers.
Theres about 12 pages in this book that describe the family history and some records go as far back as the 1600's with annecdotal evidence of the 1500's. Absolutly amazing. I've taken a photo of the tree and put it here. Some of it's blurry, but my grandfather is Riccardo, born 1906, son of Luigi, son of Antonio. So that's where I fit in.
I mention to this guy that we know not much about the Berti side (Grandfather) but we know a whole bunch about the Calzavera side (Grandmother). He asks where we've researched and apeared upset when I mentioed the internet and he was telling me to goto Saint Elena where the family is from. He calmed down after finding out some other family had been to the church there.
And to top it all off, his Grandmothers name is Calzavera as well...
We went to a small town just outside Venice, called Paese. We know my grandfather was born there and have records of it. So I attempt to goto the church and ask to look for more records because we didn't have birth or death dates for my Great-Great-Grandfather and his wife.
We get to the church around 1pm yesterday, of course right when all of Italy is taking an afternoon break. So, we wait outside the church and wander the streets waiting for anything to open. Eventually we goto the Cemetary where we find a few grave sites for Berti, but they are all very recent. A fellow in the Cemetary tells us that the cemetary moved here 90 years ago, and that's why it's all very knew. The old one was by the church, but I'm not quite sure what happened to it.
There was also a funeral yesterday, so not wanting to bother people, we stayed away from the church then, and came back after. But there was still no one there until about 6:30 at night when they were setting up for an evening service. I tell this fellow I'm searching for records, and he immediatly takes me out of the church to the building next door.
Which was open all day...
So a man answers and takes me right in (I think I caught it just as it was closing). He asks what I'm looking for, and I explain it. I pull out a very basic camily tree I'd scribbled on paper and he starts looking at it. I couldn't completely understand him, but he starts rambling about some Berti who went to Canada that he knows, and maybe hes a long lost cousin.
The next part is the most amazing because he pulls a busines card out of his pocket with a few friends phone numbers scribbled on it, and at the top is Mariano Berti. At this point I'm getting excited because he keeps talking about some book with history and how he's got a copy at home. Next I heard the fastest most intense Italian of my life as this guy chatted on the phone with Mariano reading off names and dates. Sure enough, it's the right family.
He then talks about the book at home and calling his wife and then just leaves the room and comes back with a copy. And inside this book, it goes back 7 generations from me and has the complete story of the Berti Family. Turns out the writer of this book is Mariano Berti, and he researches family history around Paese. He would be the same generation as my dad, only connected because their Great-Great-Grandfathers are brothers.
Theres about 12 pages in this book that describe the family history and some records go as far back as the 1600's with annecdotal evidence of the 1500's. Absolutly amazing. I've taken a photo of the tree and put it here. Some of it's blurry, but my grandfather is Riccardo, born 1906, son of Luigi, son of Antonio. So that's where I fit in.
I mention to this guy that we know not much about the Berti side (Grandfather) but we know a whole bunch about the Calzavera side (Grandmother). He asks where we've researched and apeared upset when I mentioed the internet and he was telling me to goto Saint Elena where the family is from. He calmed down after finding out some other family had been to the church there.
And to top it all off, his Grandmothers name is Calzavera as well...
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