While I’m working on my affidavit, I have also written to the Comune Di San Fili, a small town in Calabria to ask for their help in acquiring the documents I need for my great grandparents. I put together the request with a whole bunch of supporting documents and sent it off about two weeks ago. I literally kissed the envelope before dropping it in the post office mail slot; the first step on its long journey to Italy. I have read that this can take some time and not to expect a quick response, so the rest is a waiting game.
The one thing I really love is seeing the images from what I imagine to be huge, heavy and dusty books with yellowed pages representing days gone by. These books have been digitized by the Italian government and are available for anyone to search. The portal is called Antenati. I’ve linked here some of the beautiful pages that record the beginnings of my Italian heritage — > Angela’s birth record, Guiseppe’s birth record, and their 1900 marriage certificate. These are the three documents I must have to present my case to the Consulate.
I know these documents are the beginning of my story but these books represent so many stories… births, weddings, deaths are just one moment in the generations of people, roaming this planet, living their lives, being good, being bad, happy lives, sad lives — just writing their own stories.
This is what I find so fascinating.