Casa Emigranti Italiani

" To Remember and Understand"

Cirinna' , Concettina ( Cugno)

This story is a little different: Concettina is 81 and is my first cousin as my father and her mother were brother and sister! But I have always called her Zia, aunt, given she is 20 years older than I am and that is what I called her as a child.

Concettina has a tremendous memory and can recall facts from way back: has always had a sense of history and I am sure if she had been born in another era she would have been a professor!

What I about to recount is a summary of my conversation with her about my father's side of the family.

I never met my paternal grandparents: My grandmother died in 1936 at age 60 and my grandfather died in 1952 when I was 2! Paolo and Pina , their names, had 5 children: Nana ( Sebastiana) was born in 1895; Peppe in 1910; Turi in 1913, Nano in 1916 ( my father) and Nino in 1919! All since have passed away!

Zia Nana was the glue of the family, a tough cookie ( in the mid 1930's she underwent a mastectomy and survived it!!) not even 5 ft tall who stepped up to the plate when her mother died and helped raise her brothers! She had two children of her own, Michele born in 1923 and Concettina. She also took care of her father until his death!

My grandparents at one point had owned land and decided to acquire some more. Unfortunately they borrowed money from an individual who ended up evicting them from the land and force them to declare bankruptcy!

Peppe was the first to disappear, literally! Apparently he suffered from some type of mental illness or disability and so the parents, as was common back then, would "assign" him to a farmer who would feed him in return for labor!

He was always troubled and was known to run away from home. He was arrested once for lack of an identity card, was released and disappeared for good shortly thereafter when he was around 30 years old. Concettina recalls receiving a postcard from Civitavecchia, near Rome, from Peppe shortly after the war ended and no other contact !

Turi contracted meningitis as a child and so he was also in no shape to take care of himself! Zia Nana would wash his clothes, send money, cook for him on his infrequent stops in Canicattini and when he died Zia Nana and her two surviving brothers took care of the funeral arrangements.

Nino and Nano had a " normal" life. Nino lived in Canicattini all his life, happy to work the land and had two boys( Pippo and Paolo) while my father came to the States in 1969 and died here in 1990. Zia Nana died in 1982.

Concettina recalls these times as both very challenging and very happy, with great family unity! They never went hungry as they always relied on self production but also they were also there to help one another as needed. My father and his brothers looked at Zia Nana as their mother!

Concettina herself has had an interesting life. Married at age 13, mother at 15, eventually would have 5 boys born between 1947 and 1970! She spent several years in Switzerland trying to make a living until coming to the States in 1966 and making a successful living for herself and all of her children!

She was able to immigrate to the States as a result of her father's becoming a U.S. Citizen!

Born in 1884 he came to the states for the first time in 1898! He would make several trips back and forth until he married Zia Nana in 1922. He would stay a while in Canicattini, Michele was born in 1923, and would return to the USA to work. He would come back in 1930, Concettina was born in 1931, he returned to the USA in 1932 and came back for good in 1952! Zia Nana never came to America, she was home raising her own children, her grandchildren and her brothers!

Concettina and her husband Santo have 5 boys , 11 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren!