Finding our roots and exploring the city
Our first full day in Italy was spent in Mendicino learning about our family history and visiting the historic, centuries-old part of Cosenza.
This is a corrected and edited version of this day’s blog.
After breakfast in the hotel restaurant and with our body clocks set on Italian time, Marie and I headed out with our interpreter Tony Mauro to Mendicino, the birthplace of our grandparents on our fathers’ side.
We met up with Franco Muoio whose grandmother on his father side was Giuseppina Nudi was our grandfather Luigi Nudi’s baby sister. What a thrill it was to meet a blood relative who could tell us about life in this small mountain town outside Cosenza.
Franco, who was born in 1950, remembers when Luigi Nudi’s wife, and our grandmother, Clementina Greco Nudi came to visit Mendicino a few times in 1950s. Grandma would send packages to Italy of all kinds of things from the United States that were not available in post-war Italy.
“That was the first time I had chewing gum,” Franco remembered. “And she would send chocolate.”
An interesting part of the trip was when Franco closed his coffee shop and took us to the cemetery to see the graves of third and fourth generation family.
Our grandfather’s sister, Maria Nudo, was buried with many of our relatives in the local cemetery.
After our morning of family genealogy lessons, we headed back to the hotel to rest. Then it was off to a tour the historic center of Cosenza, which is centuries old and has an important position in the development of the Italic people.
Archangela Latari Balast, a cousin from Pennsylvania, told Marie to try her favorite restaurant in the old part of Cosenza, Gran Caffe Renzelli. So we did.
After trekking up a steep narrow street, we reached the restaurant after a stop at the historic cathedral.
We found this small caffe to be worth the tiring trek up a steep cobble stone street. We had an assortment of bread treats with sauce and meat stuffings. We had wonderful service from two young people, Alesandra and Alex, who both spoke very good English.
Before having lunch, we stopped at the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta., which dates back to the eleventh century. The baroque side chapel was lit up and was very ornate.
When leaving, a woman in the church nave asked Marie if she wanted to go to confession. Marie kindly declined, as she just went at her own church before leaving for Italy. The woman didn’t even bother to ask if I needed confession, as she probably could see my soul couldn’t be saved.
Getting to the historic center and back home on the bus was also an adventure. We met some really nice people who helped us navigate the crazy bus schedule and bus stop locations. We eventually had to stop four groups of young people for directions to the bus stops. They were all very delightful and helpful, although they all spoke at once which made it confusing.
When we got home I quickly fell asleep for a couple of hours as it was a long and tiring day.
We had a late dinner in the hotel restaurant where the food was excellent and the service was the best.
What a great start to your Italy tour. Patty is enjoying this trip as much as you and Marie. Thank you for thinking of her. Don't turn down any opportunity for confession, it is always a good time to do so. Remember the parable of the prodigal son returning home to his Father! It was met with a huge celebration, brother.