Castelbottaccio and the drive to Sorrento

We finally got on the road to Castelbottaccio yesterday morning. Getting there was pretty simple, but the roads were a bit windy and twisty. No one there knew we were coming. We got into town around 10:00 AM or so, and drove into the town square. I got out of the car and told some guys sitting around the main piazza that we were a group of 11 looking for the Listorti family.

Then I looked at the church in the piazza and saw all the Listortis listed as citizens of the town who died in WWI and WWII. It was pretty moving.

Dad managed to find someone who was able to direct us to the town city hall. We walked there and I explained that we wanted to get copies of birth certificates for Giuseppi Listorti and Angelina Iannidinardo. Dad actusally had both of their passports they used when they came to the USA.

The lady at the city hall said it would be no problem, and that she would have the copies ready within a half hour. Then she called her son, Carmine, who is the town's only fluent English speaker to give us a tour.

We also ended up with another tour guide, a guy by the name of Antonio, who knew where the Iannidinardos lived, and wanted us to meet someone who would be dad's grandmother's niece.

Prior to touring around though we went into the home of one of Dad's distant cousins. Her grandfather and Dad's grandfather were brothers, so that means that her dad and Dad's dad would've been first cousins. Or something like that.

We had a great tour around town, and met lots of folks who knew the Listorti family and Iannidinardo families very well. Quite a few of them left for the US in the late 18th and early 19th century, but a lot of them remained behind. And Antonio took us to the house of the old lady who is Dad's grandmother's niece. She was very nice, and didn't want us to leave.

Dad also got copies of his grandparents' birth certificates. He's planning to claim his own Italian citizenship, and he needs those certificates for that purpose.

We drove out of Castelbottaccio for the long trip to Sorrento. That part of Italy doesn't have too many highways (autostrada) so getting to Sorrento took some time. We took the lead in the "normal" car with the Ducato following.

When we got to the town of Piano di Sorrento, my computer with Map Point led us down a street too narrow for the Ducato to fit, but we made it through. The Ducato went another way, and we all met up at the B&B. Luigi, the B&B's owner, recommended a nice place for dinner, and we all went there and had a very nice meal that evening.