A Rebel from Polizzi

   Sicily was under the control of Spain for over 400 years.  When the distinctly Sicilian line of rulers collapsed in 1409 the island came under the rule of the house of Aragon, and when Aragon and Castile merged in 1479, Sicily became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose capital was Naples. In Naples in 1647, a fisherman named Tommaso Aniello, but usually called Masaniello, led a brief revolt against the excesses of the Spanish rule.   This inspired Giuseppe D'Alessi (sometimes spelled Alesi), to leave his hometown of Polizzi Generosa and travel to Palermo to protest the same injustices. There, on a trumped up charge of conspiring to give Palermo to France, he was beheaded in 1647. (Eerily, Masaniello, was also beheaded in the same year in Naples.)
   There is a Via D'Alessi located in the northern part of Polizzi today, but I have been unable to determine if it was named in his honor. The name D'Alessi or Alesi is rarely found in the vital records of Polizzi today, although it is found among the middle class in the censuses of the the 1600s. There is, however, a relatively large number of individuals with the surname Russo Alesi in Polizzi who can be found as early as the mid-1700s.  But it is not possible to say if there is any connection between the two surnames.

Masaniello

More Tidbits of History

    Like the rest of Sicily, Polizzi Generosa was freed from over 200 years of Saracen rule in the mid 1000s.  Roger the Norman, who rescued Sicily from the rule of the Moslems,  counted the village as a stronghold and built up its fortress.  In 1234, the Emperor Frederick II bestowed the title Generosa upon the town, and it has always kept this addition to its name.
      For a very remote and small town, the city has some unexpected developments.  For example, in 1428 the first public school was opened in Polizzi and in 1572 the Jesuits opened a first an elementary school  and later, a secondary school that taught grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and mathematics.

P.S. on vacation next week.

Some Early History

     The exact origins of Polizzi Generosa are still uncertain.  But from the archaeological excavations that have been undertaken, it is certain that in ancient times the town had been under the control of the Greeks and the Carthaginians.  The earliest remains found in Polizzi and the surrounding area date from the third and fourth centuries B.C. In general, the Greeks were dominant in the eastern half of Sicily, while the Carthaginians ruled in the west.  (Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, was the commander at what is now Erice in the far west of the island and the consequences of a major defeat of the Punic navy off the coast, turned him into a fanatical opponent of Rome. This hatred he passed down to his more famous son.) Of course, later Polizzi was part of the Roman Empire.  Sicily was one of two granaries for Rome, and suffered under many unscrupulous governors. At one time a statue of Isis was uncovered in Polizzi and from this evidence many people believe that the name means "city of Isis."
     The present-day town dates back to Hellenistic times when it was known as Basileopolis, meaning the city of the king.

Marriage Documents, Part 2

    When looking for marriage documents, the actual marriage registration called the "Atto di Martimonio," may not contain nearly as much information as the "Atto di Solenne Promesso" or the Solemn Promise to Marry, which is the first document to be filed when a wedding was planned.  (Note: Although the Solemn Promise is not actual documentation that the marriage did, in fact, take place, there were very few exceptions to the normal process.)  The amount of genealogical information to be found in this document is rather astounding when compared to the practices in other countries or at other times.  Here's what can almost always be found.

• The names, ages, place of birth, and occupations of the intended bride and groom
• The names, occupations, and town of residence of the parents of the groom
• The same information for the parents of the bride
• A dead parent will be indicated by the word "fu" before the name.  This roughly translates as "the late."

   This is the first of two brief postings on the subject of wedding documents.  Marriages in Polizzi Generosa, indeed in all of Italy, were and are accompanied by all sorts of documents:  Not only marriage registrations, but also solemn promises of marriages, and marriage banns, not to mention many additional documents that often had to be filed. Here are just a few of the terms you will find in these documents, or in other documents referring to married people:

• Marito = husband
• Moglie = wife
• sposo/a = spouse
• Celibe = never married male
• Nubile = never married female
• Vedovo/vedova = widower/widow

Interior of Chiesa di Sant'Orsola (the Church of Saint Ursula) in Polizzi Generosa.

What did they do for a living?

    When you start digging into the records of Polizzi Generosa, you will notice the many different occupations in this small town.  Being relatively remote in Sicily, Polizzi had to have its own artisans and craftsmen, as well as agricultural workers.   Here are just a few of the terms you will encounter:

• Calzolaio = shoemaker
• Contadino = peasant
• Villano = peasant
• Casalinga = housewife
• Filatrice = Spinner
• Levatrice = midwife
• Parroco = parish priest
• Sindaco = mayor

Although this particular filatrice worked in Calabria, the scene would have been pretty much the same in Polizzi Generosa.

Surnames from plants and animals

     Another rich source of surnames is the plant and animal life of the Sicilian countryside.  Here are a few examples:

• Palmieri = Palm grower
• Noce = walnut grower
• Amendola = almond grower
• Cipolla = onion grower

and my personal favorite  

• Capone = castrated rooster (Don't tell Scarface!)

 

Captioned: Children buying prickly pears

(Although this old photo is from Polizzi, prickly pears are still eaten in Sicily.)

Foundlings

    Although I hope to write more on this topic later, the family researcher should know that in Polizzi Generosa and throughout Sicily and Italy, foundlings, that is abandoned babies, were more common than one would imagine.  These children were taken to a designated place, often a "wheel" in the wall of a convent or other institution and anonymously abandoned. On the birth registrations of these children the parents were listed as "genitori d'ignoti", parents unknown. These babies were given their surnames by the foundling institution.  Some examples are:

• Trovato = foundling
• Esposito =  exposed, or from this place
• Proietti = cast out
• D'Angelis =  from the angels

One of my great great grandfathers was a foundling and was given the surname Gianfisco, meaning "God's beloved treasure."

                                                   Street scene from Polizzi, date unknown.

Toponyms

 Messina, Sicily

     Why put a photo of Messina in a blog about Polizzi Generosa?  To illustrate an important caution about tracing surnames in Italy.  A surname that is also the name of a specific place in Sicily does not indicate where that name originated. For example, say you have an ancestor whose name was Mike Messina, one thing you can almost always be sure of is that his ancestral records will not be found in  Messina.  These surnames were almost always taken well after the date a family left the city or town, and before surnames became well settled things in Sicily.  I belong to an Italian American club where I live.  One of the member's surname is Polizzi.  Guess where his ancestors were not from?  

The Sicilian language and surnames

Italian is a language descended from the everyday Latin of the late Roman Empire.  Not so with Sicilian.  Because of its unique history, the language of the island is still Romance based, but contains many borrowings fro Greek, Arabic, Norman-French, Castilian, and even some German.  So, for example, the Italian word for priest is "sacerdote," while in Sicilian the word derives from the Greek and is "presti."

Likewise, spia is the word for spia in Italian, but in Sicilian it is sciortino (which can also mean guard) coming from the Arabic. But, be careful, this does not mean that Sicilians with "presto" as part of their surnames all hail from Greece, or that the Sciortinos who live down the street are of Arabic origin.  Only the name, not the family, has that derivation.

Sicilian Surnames

    Unlike many parts of Europe where almost all surnames come from either the occupation of the person or the place where he or she lived, in Sicily surnames may come from the personal traits or nicknames of people.  Here are just a few examples:

• Bevilacqua = water drinker
• Mangiapane = bread eater
• Bianco = grey-haired
• Bellomo = handsome man
• Rizzo = curly-haired

I'll be exploring this topic for a few days because I find that most people are interested in the origin of their names, and because Sicily is unique in some of its naming customs and traditions.  Much of the information I will be sharing comes from an article by Luigi Mendola that appeared in the Best of Sicily magazine.  This is a great source for learning more about the customs and history of the island.

    I'm away from my work right now, staying with friends in hot, muggy, uncomfortable -er - sunny Florida. I've got another week to go before I can get back to work.  On the surface, the work doesn't appear to be exciting: staring at microfilm slowly cranked by for hours at a time, poring over indexes to spot relevant records, trying to solve apparent contradictions in the data, and cursing oneself for omissions in recording data. So, why do I miss it? 

     Because I'm painting pictures in my head. Imagining the joy of each of the many births in these large families, crying with them at the tragic deaths of infants and children, sensing the celebration of the marriages, and sweating with the day in and day out struggle for existence of the contadinos and contadinas who labored at Polizzi Generosa. Day by day I'm building a panorama of life, dramatic and tedious, that becomes as real as my own existence. 

     I miss it. 

Vacation

I'll be on a short trip for a while. Be back to blogging by mid March.

Prominent People from Polizzi Generosa

Ever heard of the designers Dolce and Gabbano?  Pictured above is Domenico Dolce who was born in Polizzi Generosa in 1958.  Dolce (usually translated as sweet in Italian) is a very common name in the town and goes back at least into the 1700s.  If your ancestors spent generations in Polizzi, you are certainly going to find at least one who was joined in marriage to a member of this large clan.  In future posts you will about the man who was almost pope, an actor, a film director, and others who can trace their roots to Polizzi.  Remember, though, that genealogy is not about finding your relationships with the famous or almost famous, but to understand more about the lives, the suffering, and the triumphs of those who came before.  We all have much to be proud of, whether our forebears were princes or peasants.

Immigration

After the unification of Italy, which began with Garibaldi's invasion of Sicily in 1860, the sharp division between the industrial North and the poorer and agricultural South continued unabated.  As a result, millions of Italians from the "mezzogiorno" sunk into even more desperate poverty.  It is estimated that Sicily alone lost over two million souls from the 1880s to the 1920s.  Over 100,000 Sicilians came to the United States alone between 1880 and 1906.  This illustration here, entitled "On the Threshold" gives some idea of the destitution of the people.

When looking for immigration records, it is important to remember two things.  First, Not all Italians came through Ellis Island, which was only open from 1892 to 1926. Many came through New Orleans, Philadelphia, Boston and other ports. Second, Sicilian women immigrated under what we would call their maiden names.  To be sure that you have found the correct female ancestor, look for the children she traveled with, if any, and the town she was coming from, if available on the record.

Given Names of Polizzi Generosa

   When one begins to research the families of Polizzi Generosa, one finds the usual Italian names.  Boys are called Giovanni, Giuseppe, Michele, Calogero, Antonio (and Antonino), Domenico, etc.  The girls names are just as common: Giovanna, Giuseppa, Maria, Rosaria (and Rosalia), Antonina,Concetta, etc.  Also, the usual naming patterns are almost always observed:

• the oldest boy is named after his father's father
• the next oldest after his mother's father
• the oldest girl is named after her father's mother
• the next oldest after her mother's mother

After that the parents have much greater latitude.
    But there is one set of names that is not only extremely common, but almost always identifies the person as hailing from Polizzi Generosa:  Gandolfo and Gandolfa.  (The respective nicknames are Muffo and Muffa.) These men and women are named after the patron saint of Polizzi, Saint Gandolfo of Binasco.  In 1216 Gandolfo heard St. Francis of Assisi preach in his hometown and felt called to join him.  Gandolfo was called to be a priest and studied under St. Anthony of Padua. In 1240 he was sent to Sicily, where he preached in many towns and cities.  Becoming exhausted, he retreated to a rural area where he was credited with a miraculous healing.  As he was now besieged with the pleas of the sick, he ascended the mountain to Polizzi Generosa, where he was warmly received in about 1260.  It was there that shortly after giving a sermon in which he miraculously quieted a flock of swallows by calling upon the name of the Lord, he passed away.  His feast day in Sicily is September 17, and Polizzi Generosa holds a huge festival.

Many Beautiful Things

This volume  is a model of truth in advertising: it contains exactly what is described on the cover - stories and recipes from Polizzi Generosa.  The village is very fortunate to have had such an eloquent and talented grandson as Vincent Schiavelli.  He did much to put this  town back on the map.  Relaxing with this book is a delightful way to introduce oneself to Polizzi and its food. And in Polizzi, just as throughout all of Sicily, food occupies a very special place in the lives of the people.  Although the book is long out of print, it is available through on-line book sellers such as AbeBooks or Alibris.

The birth record of my grandfather

This is a scan of my grandfather's birth record.  You will notice the clarity of the handwriting and the easy-to-scan column on the left.  These features are not always found in these records.  His name is given in what we would call directory style.  When translated this document reads :

In the year 1877, on the 18th of February at eleven in the morning at the town hall came before me, Salvatore Siguarino, Mayor, an official of the state in the town of Polizzi Generosa, Giacomo Russo Alesi, age 32, a peasant living in Calirri who has declared to me that at the hour of four in the morning on the 16th of the current month, Santa Gianfisco, his wife with whom he is living gave birth to a baby boy, who was presented to me and was named Calogero.

Sicilian Civil Records

As in most of the rest of Italy, births, marriages, and deaths were recorded in Sicily by the civil authorities beginning in 1820. These records are called Napoleonic records because they begin at the close of the Napoleonic era. The birth records are exceptionally complete; they contain not only the name of the child, the date of birth, and the parents, but also the maiden name of the mother ( and sometimes the mother's father name), and the day and hour of the birth. In Polizzi Generosa these records have been microfilmed by the LDS for the years 1820 through 1910, and are available for rental through local Family History Centers.
Church records began in Sicily, as in most of Catholic Europe, begin around 1590. In Polizzi Generosa they have been very difficult to access.

Left at the wheel

In the 1800s every town of any size had at least one foundling hospital. This was a place usually connected to a church or convent that took in babies whose parents were unable to raise them. Often the child was born out of wedlock, but sometimes there were other reasons. At these institutions there was often an opening in the wall with a wheel with a vertical divider. Someone would place the  baby on the wheel, rotate the wheel, and ring a bell.  Someone on the inside would take the baby from the wheel and begin taking care of him or her. This was called "putting the baby on the wheel." The nuns or a priest would name the baby and take custody. Unfortunately, the majority of these children died very young. My great-great-great grandfather was a foundling who lived a long life and founded a large family. He also left me with what genealogists call a "brick wall." My hope of finding earlier ancestors in his line is virtually non-existent.

Somethings that you find when doing genealogical research you wish you hadn't.  On Tuesday I found that two brothers, Gandolfo (aged 7) and Francesco Paolo (age 5), the sons of Mariano Russo Alesi and Rosaria Verri, both died on 1 May 1870. Today I began doing research on the births of 1870.  I soon learned that Rosaria gave birth to a boy named Gandolfo on that same day.  If one read this in a novel, one would scoff at the ridiculous coincidence.  But knowing that this tragedy befell a real couple, one can only grieve and wonder how Rosaria and Mariano got up the courage to go on.  Of the seven children they had between 1855 and 1870, four had died as children.  And don't believe that stuff about how losing a child was easier for parents of earlier ages because it happened much more frequently.  Parents who have not hearts of stone grieve for a lost child.

Polizzi Generosa

To learn all you can about your family you need to learn what you can about the place where they have lived for centuries.  This small town sits high on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. No one knows exactly how old it is or what the name means.  Most people. however, believe its originally arouse doing the Greek occupation of the island, and that its name means "the city of Isis."  The Emperor Frederick II gave it the descriptive tag Generosa for the warm welcome the people gave him.

Here's a link for those who want to learn more about the town.
The history of Polizzi Generosa

Benvenuto!

Discovering more about my Sicilian ancestry has become a passion with me over the past decade.  That's my great grandfather, Giacomo Russo Alesi,  in the middle of this photo with his four sons.  My grandfather, Calogero, is on the extreme right. They all came from the small town of Polizzi Generosa in the central western part of Sicily, about 45 miles from Palermo. It's a beautiful part of the island and an intriguing town.  In this blog, I'll recount my research and travels and, I hope, provide some help to others whose ancestors hail from the same place.

Here's a good place to start looking for ancestors.
Indices to the Civil Records of Polizzi Generosa, 1820-1910