First Day in Orsara

Sunday August 1, 2010

Being in Italy, just the two of us, was a bonding experience.  Very few people living in the hill towns speak English and everyone in town knows who those few are.  We arrived in the native town of the Cericola family, parked the car, and walked into history.  As we walked into town, all eyes were on us.  People from Orsara spotted us right away.  No words were spoken except Buon Giorno (Good Day or Hello).  We walked slowly to absorb everything.  It was Sunday.  Men were everywhere sitting in small groups, talking and laughing.  One woman talked to a friend from her balcony using both hands.  Another woman stopped as we admired her granddaughter - so proud. The streets smelled of tomato sauce, onions, peppers and basil.  This is Orsara.

We walked down the main street in town and saw the tattered awning of the Cericola Florist ahead of us.  A family member?  We entered the shop and tried to communicate with the lady inside.  She spoke no English and we spoke very little Italian – practically none.  She stepped into the street trying to find someone who spoke English.  Finally, Michael, a young man from New York, came to our rescue.  He was visiting some relatives here for a month.  He helped interpret but found that there are many Cericola families and it would be hard to tell if she was a relative.  We smiled, thanked her and moved on.  Michael told us about many sites to visit in town.  Next we followed the black pitted volcanic stones in the street down to an old church.  We entered the church in the middle of mass, stood in the back and were awed by the beautiful singing in Italian.  The photo at the top of this blog is that church. 

We ended our first visit here with a trip to the old cemetery just outside of town.  It was not well kept behind the big iron gates.  Inside we found many Cericola, DAntonio, Rocco and one Romano grave.  These graves were all older and had a photo of the person on the headstone.  I took many, many photos, hoping later that some of the headstones will belong to an ancestor. 

Tomorrow we return in search of family records at the Commune Office in Orsara.  We need to find the birth records of Antonio Cericola and Anna Marie DeSantis.