Friday, September 27, 2019

Walking in the Footsteps of Italian Ancestors: Return to Potenza

Perhaps you noticed that I was offline for about a month. It was for good reason. I was on vacation! 

Unfortunately, Family Sleuther was on hiatus during this time. 

Although I wasn't blogging family history, I was certainly living it.

In 2015, I traveled for the first time to Potenza, Italy - the ancestral home town of my second great-grandparents Giuseppe and Maria (La Rocca) Ruoti and generations before them. Unfortunately, during that trip, I only had a few quick hours to visit due to tight train schedules. I vowed that I would return and spend the night to get a better sense for the town.

Potenza street scene. Photo by author.

I took a train south from Rome to Salerno, and then a bus through hills that grew to mountains before arriving in Potenza. The old town is perched atop a large hill and is surrounded by beautiful valleys and hills (so reminiscent of Colorado, where the Ruotis settled after they immigrated to the United States).

To help document the visit, I made a short film. Roll the footage!

4 comments:

  1. It must have been such a lovely trip. The video is wonderful. Did they know each other from Potenza or did they meet in Denver?

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    1. I don't know if they did know each other or not. Maria immigrated later than Giuseppe. Perhaps their families knew each other?

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  2. Great video! Terrific way to document both your trip and your ancestors. Why did they leave that beautiful town for America?

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    1. It's my understanding that many Italian emigrants left because of economic hardship. The government under-funded/ under-invested in the south and so many folks ended up seeking new opportunities overseas.

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