ITALIAN HISTORY: Pete Palumbo of Bradford is a former chemistry and physics teacher in the Otto-Eldred schools. 

In his retirement, he’s turned more to history, specifically the history of his family and others of Italian descent whose ancestors emigrated to this area in the early part of the 20th Century.

“There aren’t too many of the first-generation children of Italian immigrants left in the area anymore,” Pete said in an email that described a trip he took to Italy and detailed some of the family connections between our area and the Italian region of Calabria.

“After years of planning, in the spring of 2012 my wife and I took a trip to Italy. We spent a week in the usual tourist areas like Rome, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. But my main interest was to explore the village of Sant’ Agata d’Esaro, Province of Cosenza and the city of Delianuova, Province of Reggio Calabria,” Pete’s email said.

“My maternal grandparents, Pietro Palumbo and Francesca Costanzo, immigrated to Kane from Sant’ Agata. My paternal grandparents, Francesco (Frank) Bonfilio and Mariantonia Zimmaro immigrated to Kane from Delianuova.” Pete wrote.

“I never met my paternal grandparents from Delianuova, as they passed away before I was born. I investigated every link to our family history. My cousin, Mary Rose Scutella, had some helpful information, and by using the Ellis Island website I was able to establish a number of links to present-day Delianuova. The City of Delianuova is about the size of Kane …  

“In Delianuova, we visited Tony Scutella, whose family owns a well-known pasticceria or pastry shop in the town. Tony lived for a while in Canada and made trips to Kane to visit his Scutella relatives. He went back to Delianuova to run the family business. We also met some distant cousins who own a shoe store.

“Finding a connection to Sant’ Agata d’Esaro was a bit more conventional. We found many letters and pictures that my grandfather, Frank, and my aunt Mary Bonfilio had saved over the years. Along with the help of Irma Lombardi of Bradford, together we were able to translate enough of the information to piece together a link to my relatives in Sant’ Agata. 

“Our preparation paid off with a wonderful visit to the beautiful village of Sant’ Agata d’ Esaro, where we met many relatives. We were amazed that these relatives knew more about us than we knew about them. My grandfather Frank kept them well-informed.

COMING FRIDAY: Other family connections.