<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>marriage – ORIGINS ITALY</title> <atom:link href="http://www.originsitaly.com/category/marriage/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>http://www.originsitaly.com</link> <description>Italian Genealogy & Family History Research Services</description> <lastBuildDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2016 14:40:36 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.29</generator> <item> <title>Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 3</title> <link>http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-3/</link> <comments>http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-3/#respond</comments> <pubDate>Tue, 10 Dec 2013 15:16:39 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[admin]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Adventures]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Calabria]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Family]]></category> <category><![CDATA[family history]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grandmother]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Grandparents]]></category> <category><![CDATA[immigrants]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian Dual Citizenship]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian family history]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian Genealogy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian-American]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[love]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marriage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Massachusetts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Noni]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nonni]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Pellegrini]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Piombino]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Roma]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rome]]></category> <category><![CDATA[San Pietro a Maida]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stenech]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tedesco]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Trentino]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tuscany]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wedding]]></category> <category><![CDATA[WWII]]></category> <category><![CDATA[immigration]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian genealogy]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.originsitaly.com/?p=422</guid> <description><![CDATA[(Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 1”) (Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 2”) Italian family history research is about remembering and researching the stories of generations who came before us. It has been honor to tell you my grandmother Noni’s story over the past several weeks. This is story of my Italian family. Noni has influenced me in many ways, especially in my desire to pursue Italian genealogy as a profession. I am...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>(<a href="http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-1/" target="_blank">Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 1”</a>)<br /> (<a href="http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-2/" target="_blank">Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 2”</a>)</p> <p>Italian family history research is about remembering and researching the stories of generations who came before us. It has been honor to tell you my grandmother Noni’s story over the past several weeks. This is story of my Italian family. Noni has influenced me in many ways, especially in my desire to pursue Italian genealogy as a profession. I am motivated by the desire to continue to fill in the details of the lives of the ancestors Noni talks about. It is a sincere pleasure to do the same for my clients, and I treat their families with the respect and care that I do my own.</p> <p>1945 in Italy was an eventful year for my grandparents, Loredana Stenech, “Noni” and Edward Tedesco, “Grampy.” World War II ended, they met, fell in love, and were married, all within a matter of a few months in the summer and fall of 1945. Their marriage meant that Noni would leave her life in Rome behind as well as her parents, grandparents, and other relatives. It was a bittersweet time, but Noni was young, in love, and ready for an adventure.</p> <p>In early 1946, Grampy returned to America with other United States Army solders, temporarily leaving his new bride, Noni, back in Rome. Upon Grampy’s arrival at the family home in Woburn, Massachusetts, my great grandmother, “Nana” and Great-Aunt Caterina, “Aunt Kay,” began unpacking his suitcase. They found a framed photo of beautiful woman and immediately asked him, “Who is this? An Italian movie star?” Grinning broadly, he revealed, “That’s my wife, I’m married!”</p> <p>“Sposatu? É fázu!” – “Married? That can’t be true!” Grampy recalls they animatedly exclaimed in Calabrese dialect. But it was true. Nana and Aunt Kay began crying out of both joy and surprise. After the shock wore off they explained that while Grampy was away they had arranged for him to date (with the intention of marrying) another girl who had also immigrated from <a href="http://www.originsitaly.com/home-away-from-rome-san-pietro-a-maida/" target="_blank">San Pietro a Maida, Italy</a>. It was not meant to be. Noni was his bride.</p> <p>In April 1946, Noni would set foot on American soil for the first time in New York City. Her only previous impressions of America had been from classic American films staring Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn. Noni vividly recalls gazing upon the Statue of Liberty for the first time as the boat entered New York harbor. Grampy was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his new bride on dock at the Port of New York.</p> <p>Noni’s first meal in New York City was a steak dinner. “The steak was enormous. What was I going to do with all that food?” She recalled years later. The newlyweds stayed in New York for a few nights before heading to Woburn, Massachusetts where they would begin their new life together.</p> <p>The view from the train on the way from New York City to Woburn did not exactly look like the “America” Noni had seen in the Clark Gable films. It was eye-opening. After a long journey, Noni and Grampy arrived at the Tedesco family home on Main Street in Woburn, Massachusetts. The house was painted brown, had a sloping shingled roof and a small backyard. The bottom floor was my great-grandfather’s barbershop and the front window was aptly labeled “Joe Tedesco, Barber.” It was a modest and loving home and was comprised of three bedrooms, a small living room, a kitchen and one bathroom. There were a total of 9 family members (including Noni and Grampy) living in that small home in 1946.</p> <p>Immediately, there were communication issues in the household. Noni could not understand a word her in-laws were saying in the early 1900’s era Calabrese dialect they spoke. Living in Rome, Noni had no previous exposure to dialects from southern Italy. Calabrese was incomprehensible to her. Grampy served as a translator for his new wife until she slowly began to understand Calabrese. Noni recalls an early argument with her in-laws regarding who was actually speaking “real” Italian. Each party insisted they were speaking Italian, although the Tedesco’s knew they were actually speaking Calabrese dialect!</p> <p>The transition to American life was extremely difficult for Noni. During the first year she cried every night and longed to go back to Italy. In early 1947, the birth of her first child, my Aunt Linda, would cement Noni’s connection to America forever. Still convinced she had made a mistake in immigrating to the USA, she retuned to Italy for a visit in 1948. She found that everything had changed with regard her previous life. Her dearest friends had gotten married; and a few of them had immigrated to other parts of the USA or Argentina. Her Aunt Amilda Pellegrini from Piombino, Tuscany married a Sicilian-American after WWII and moved to Queens, New York. Her former world in Italy had changed. She realized she could not go back. Noni then returned to America with a renewed commitment to her husband Grampy and her growing family. She never looked back again.</p> <p>Noni and Grampy would go on to have 8 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood. Noni became a United States Citizen 6 months after my father’s birth, thus giving my family and me the opportunity to become Italian Dual Citizens. (Thanks Noni!). Grampy utilized the G.I. Bill to attend college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Boston College and went on to continue his studies for several years at Harvard University. Grampy started his own business in 1954, becoming the second generation of Tedesco entrepreneurs in the United States. That would make me a very proud second generation Italian-American and a fourth generation entrepreneur.</p> <p>Noni and Grampy raised a beautiful family of 7 children and 7 grandchildren. They live very happily to this day in Gloucester, Massachusetts. I am so thankful for them and their influence on me. There is absolutely no way, I would be an Italian genealogist without them!</p> <p>-Mary M. Tedesco, ORIGINS ITALY.</p> <p>This blog post is dedicated in loving memory of my beautiful Aunt Mary Tedesco Stiglich who lost her battle with cancer in 2005. Long before I began doing Italian genealogy, she was the keeper of the family stories. I miss you Aunt Mimi!</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-3/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 2</title> <link>http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-2/</link> <comments>http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-2/#respond</comments> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Nov 2013 18:23:20 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[admin]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[family history]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grandmother]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Grandparents]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian Genealogy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marriage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Noni]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nonni]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Nonno]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Pellegrini]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Piombino]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Roma]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rome]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rosini]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stenech]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stories]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wedding]]></category> <category><![CDATA[immigrants]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Italian-American]]></category> <category><![CDATA[love]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.originsitaly.com/?p=388</guid> <description><![CDATA[(Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 1”) Sometimes one’s family history comes into unexpected convergence with world shaping events. My grandmother Loredana Tedesco (nee’ Stenech) was a young girl living in Rome when World War II broke out. She remained in the city throughout the war. It was a difficult period for the Italian people and for my grandmother. Many lives were lost. Families were disrupted and destroyed. Prior to Rome being declared an “Open City,” buildings...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>(<a href="http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-1/">Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 1”</a>)</p> <p>Sometimes one’s family history comes into unexpected convergence with world shaping events. My grandmother Loredana Tedesco (nee’ Stenech) was a young girl living in Rome when World War II broke out. She remained in the city throughout the war. It was a difficult period for the Italian people and for my grandmother. Many lives were lost. Families were disrupted and destroyed. Prior to Rome being declared an “Open City,” buildings were bombed, including my Noni’s house. Although wartime Rome was a dangerous, traumatic place to spend her teenage years, Noni survived, she grew, and she never forgot. But it was the end of the war that brought the most significant change in her life.</p> <p>Noni remembers the Americans marching into Rome. “The war was finally over when the Americans arrived,” she recalled. She didn’t know it then, but the arrival of United States Troops in Rome would change the course of her life and our family history forever.</p> <p>Marching with the 5<sup>th</sup> Division of the United States Army in the summer of 1944 was a young Italian-American Army Private and Translator named Edward Tedesco. (<a href="http://www.originsitaly.com/home-away-from-rome-san-pietro-a-maida/">Read more about Edward here.</a>) Edward, known to me as “Grampy,” immigrated to the United States with his parents and sister from San Pietro a Maida, Calabria, Italy as a young boy. He returned to Italy under the flag of his new country. He was a handsome self-educated artist who no doubt was anxious to get back to his home in Massachusetts. But fate had brought him to that storied city of Rome for a different purpose.</p> <p>My grandparents do not recall the exact date they met in 1945, but from the moment they saw each other, their lives were never the same. Noni and Grampy both remember this moment: Noni and her friend were walking along the Tiber River in Rome’s Prati section when they spotted 2 American soldiers. One of the soldiers was Grampy. He approached Noni and said something to her in Italian. Exactly what he said has long been forgotten. But he made a big impression. Grampy is quite the charmer!</p> <p>It was love at first sight for Grampy. But Noni needed a little time to process her emotions. She returned home after that fateful meeting and reluctantly told her mother that she had met a dashing young American solder. My Tuscan born great-grandmother, Tecla Pellegrini, was less than thrilled (“outraged” is a better word) that this upstart soldier was from rural Calabria, was the grandson of a farmer and was an “ignorant AMERICAN” to boot. The relationship meant trouble as far as she was concerned. She knew that if Noni and Grampy fell in love and were married, he would whisk her only daughter away forever to America.</p> <p>In spite of all forebodings, the courtship continued. Whenever my grandfather was off duty, he and Noni spent time together, getting to know each other. They poked around the city like tourists, with Grampy pointing out and sometimes sketching significant works of art and architecture that he had read about or studied. Often Noni was the focal point of his sketches. But so as not to be perceived the impoverished artist, Grampy would splurge on his beloved. He recalls one time saving his up his Army wages for a month so he could take Noni to a fancy restaurant. He knew from the beginning that Noni was the only girl for him.</p> <p>Noni’s mother Tecla could see things were getting serious between the two lovebirds. She therefore insisted on taking her lovelorn daughter on a little trip to clear her head. The two departed for Piombino on the Tuscan coast where great-grandmother Tecla’s parents Rosa Rosini and Angelo Pellegrini lived. They assumed Grampy would never find Noni in Piombino. (Boy, were they were wrong!) Later that day, Grampy stopped by Noni’s house in Rome only to find her gone. He describes ringing all the doorbells in the building to ask the neighbors where she was. Nobody knew. Finally, he was able to persuade the <i>portiera</i>, a petite older lady who minded the door, to tell him where Noni and her mother had gone. “<i>Piombino. Loro si sono andate a Piombino</i>.” They went to Piombino.</p> <p>At the time, Grampy recalls having no idea where Piombino was. Equipped with a map, a few days leave, and a United States Army Jeep, Grampy set out to find Piombino and the love of his life. It would take nearly a day of driving on damaged post WWII roads to arrive in Piombino. He found out from a café owner where the Pellegrini family lived and knocked on the intimidating door. My great-great grandmother, Rosa Rosini answered the door and told him “<i>Loredana non e’ qui!</i>” Not home? Ridiculous! My great-great grandfather Angelo Pellegrini would soon emerge from another room. “<i>Come no? Lei e’ qui.</i>” Of course, Noni was there.</p> <p>After this drama, there wasn’t much my great-grandmother Tecla could do to prevent the two from marrying. Noni was in love with Grampy, and he was hopelessly smitten with her. The next day, the three of them headed back to Rome in the Army Jeep.</p> <p>Noni and Grampy were married about a month later a few steps from Noni’s home at the Church of the Sacro Cuore del Suffraggio — <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Church of the Sacred Heart of Suffering in Purgatory.</span> “Yeah, it was appropriate that we were married there,” Noni often dryly comments. 68 wonderful years have passed since their marriage in 1945. To this day they are inseparable and still very much in love.</p> <p>(<a href="http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-3/">Click here to read “Retracing Noni’s Footsteps – Part 3”</a>)</p> <p>-Mary M. Tedesco, ORIGINS ITALY.</p> <p>PS: Noni’s story continues with her immigration to the United States and the start of her new life with Grampy. Check back soon!</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.originsitaly.com/retracing-nonis-footsteps-part-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>