Capo D'Orlando Photo Essay (Summer 2025 - Spring 2026)

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Letters From Alcamo: An Impellizzeri Story

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  This post is a little window into the lives of the family of Giovanni Impellizzeri and Maria Antonina Trovato of Alcamo, Sicily, Italy. Giovanni is John's 2nd cousin, 3 x removed (there are also more distant cousin relationships, but this is the most direct). Pictured in the photo are Giovanni and Maria Antonina, center, surrounded by their 8 children: back - Mariano, Antonino, Giacomo; center - Sebastiana, Giovanni, Maria Antonina, Liboria; front - Andrea, Vittina, Rosalia. I discovered Giovanni and his descendants through researching the Alcamo Impellizzeri line and via DNA testing. Giovanni's granddaughters, Marie Impellizzeri and Mary Ann Impellizzeri are DNA matches with John, his 4th cousins, 1 x removed. I also came to know Mary Ann's daughters Kelly and Wendy, who are John's 5th cousins. We have developed friendships over the years as we shared information, chatted, and researched together. We also collectively made the effort to meet in person, and those were...
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Chasing Ciacchellas: Line Expansion Ciacchella + Carrabino

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  Detroit Ciacchella cousins and their partners (John's generation), late 1980s. In November 2024, I published a blog with my most up-to-date findings on John's paternal family tree, where my goal (not reached) was to identify all of John's 5th great-grandparents. Since that time, I gained access to a set of Augusta church records* that has helped me expand the tree a little further back. This blog covers my findings for the Ciacchella and Carrabino lines.  *Unfortunately, the rules of access do not allow me to share images of the records. However, I'll be providing all of the relevant data. When I was able to obtain a record outside of this access (e.g. another researcher gave one to me from their own research, then I will share the image). The people who control the records in Augusta are not very willing to allow access, nor have they been digitally preserved. I don't know why. The records are very old and should be preserved for future generations. Giuseppe Cia...
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Staycation May 2026: Friends Visit Sicily

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