An ancestral trip is an emotional and visionary must for anyone who wants to experience and come to an understanding of why a family member immigrated. One will be able to walk in his/her very steps so many years later. This is exactly what we did to locate the home where my husband’s grandfather was born in a small commune of Italy named Noepoli. It is located in the southern part of the country in the region of Basilicata in the province of Potenza. It is an ancient Lucanian village in the heart of Italy’s largest national Park named Pollino. Noepoli is perched on a mountaintop with breathtaking views in all directions. It is a bit isolated, even by today’s standards, which makes it easy to envision its perfect location for a monastery centuries ago. Today’s population is 878. One can quickly come to understand that beauty alone does not put food on the table, so like thousands of other Italians in the early 1900’s and before, Agostino Alesandro Vincenzo Berardi sailed to America in order to escape poverty and seek new opportunities and employment.

Follow these steps to make a similar journey a reality for you and your family.

1. Identify the village/city where your ancestor was born.

• The easiest way to do this is to contact other relatives where this info may have been handed down.

• Check Ancestry.com

• Examine family bibles and legal papers

• Check old letters for postmarks and clues

• Use Facebook to identify any relatives who may still be in Italy or others who may have knowledge of your family history.

• Use other social media or the web to aid in your investigation

2. Plan Your Dates

• What time of year are you available allowing for sufficient time to explore not just the home village, but other sights in the area?

• Determine if weather plays a role, remembering it is often hot and crowded during the summer months and it does snow in the winter.

• Check out flights and/or ship destinations to determine when and where you may find the most economical travel.

3. Plan Your Itinerary

• Buy a map of Italy. Locate your arrival city, which is often Rome. Locate the home village. Determine what other villages you may want to explore.

• Don’t crisscross, but plan geographically to make the most use of your time and resources.

4. Reserve hotels in advance

• Investigate using your hotel memberships, Kayak.com, Bookings.com, Hotels.com, Tripadvisor.com, etc.

5. Arrange local transportation

• Remember that many villages are not easily accessible by public transportation.

• Check out car services from the largest town near your destination.

• The rail network in Italy is extensive, comfortable and affordable. Check many articles on the web to determine if a rail pass or individual ticket is the way to go. There are many user-friendly sites to book your tickets in advance including trainline.com and italiarail.com. In general, tickets purchased in advance are cheaper.

• There are a number of economical airlines that serve Italy and its 120 airports which should be considered if you are traveling from one end of Italy to the other.

6. Install Google translate or similar on your computer and phone.

• English is more often spoken in the large cities, but definitely not in small towns.

7. Reach out to the home village town clerk.

• Let her know why you would like an appointment so she can save time for you.

• Often this is difficult information to find on line, so be prepared to be in the town early in the day so you can find your way.

• Be mindful they may close for lunch.

• The clerk will be your best friend and is the key to your puzzle!

8. Purchase a SIM card for your phone for the amount of time you will be in Italy.

• These can be purchased at the airport, train stations and tabaccheri’as in Italy and provide more economical service than US carriers.

• Check coverage maps to ensure you’ll have signal where you will need it.

• Check out Toomanyadapters.com

9. Check schedules for events at any of your destinations that may interest you

• Sightseeing tours, plays, operas, sport events, festival days, national holidays, holy days, etc.

• Explore to see if purchasing tickets in advance is necessary so you are not disappointed.

10. Hint – have a gift made in the US to give to any relative you may meet to help immortalize the event (pin, photo frame, ornament, family recipe)

Our October, 2019 itinerary included Rome, Naples, Amalfi coast, Potenza, Noepoli, Morano Calabro, Cassano Ionio, Matera, Alberobello, Bari, Lecci and Nettuno

Highly recommended car services where drivers became part of the family:

Giovanni Maurano Cell 39 331 3446517 specializing in Naples and Amalfi coast

Antonio Carella Autoservizi N.C.C. Cell: 329 1595789 carella@nccbasilicata.it specializing in Basilicata