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And so began the search for Gab's other ancestral home, of her mother in the Abruzzi mountains. First to her original village (paeso), Lettopalenato and then to Chieti where Gab's mother, her mother and siblings spent the second world war without the father who had died in Abyssinia (look it up) thanks to Mussolini.
Because of the way this blog works, the Chieti photos are first. Chieti and Rome were both safe cities during the second world war and so were not bombed. Chieti retains its medieval heritage as wel as links to its Roman past. A beautiful place.
this was the view from our 3 star hotel room's balcony. Amazing.
this is Paul in the room (and Gab)
more view from balcony. Isn't it amazing?
A picture of the old Lettopalena before being bombed by the allies. It looks very different now.
Some of the preserved old ruins including the church.
and graves. We could not believe how many names were familiar from Hamilton and school as many/most Lettopalenase left the village after the war and settled in Hamilton. And had delicatessans, and milk bars and pizza restaurants.
the villa where everyone walks.
And so began the search for Gab's other ancestral home, of her mother in the Abruzzi mountains. First to her original village (paeso), Lettopalenato and then to Chieti where Gab's mother, her mother and siblings spent the second world war without the father who had died in Abyssinia (look it up) thanks to Mussolini.
Because of the way this blog works, the Chieti photos are first. Chieti and Rome were both safe cities during the second world war and so were not bombed. Chieti retains its medieval heritage as wel as links to its Roman past. A beautiful place.
this was the view from our 3 star hotel room's balcony. Amazing.this is Paul in the room (and Gab)more view from balcony. Isn't it amazing?
We could not believe that the drive to Lettopalena would be worse than the drive to Sefro, but it was. Higher mountains, curvier roads set on steeper rises and many kilometres from civilisation. But very beautiful.
A picture of the old Lettopalena before being bombed by the allies. It looks very different now.Some of the preserved old ruins including the church.and graves. We could not believe how many names were familiar from Hamilton and school as many/most Lettopalenase left the village after the war and settled in Hamilton. And had delicatessans, and milk bars and pizza restaurants.
in the background are snow capped mountains. Amazing as they are at the end of spring about to go into summer here.
Some more pictures of Chieti, where we stayed in the alto part, old city at the top of the hill. We watched a political rally for the upcoming election for European Parliament.
the villa where everyone walks.
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ReplyDeleteI was so thrilled to stumble upon someone who has returned to Lettopalena and written about it! I write a blog about Hamilton http://hiddenhamilton.blogspot.com.au and of course, the multicultural heritage has been a large part of this. This week I plan to post a story about Pina Deli - five of its 8 sets of owners over the past 54 years have been from Lettopalena. See also http://www.facebook.com/hiddenhamilton. Gabby if you are still in Newcastle I would love to meet you and explore whether I could do a story for my blog, more about your personal responses to returning? My email is hiddenhamilton@gmail.com. Ruth Cotton.
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