Family Village - Part 2

Continued from the 1/12/19 Post

Six months prior to our trip to Italy, I initiated a conversation with a resident of Gesso who I found via Facebook, using Google Translate. Antonio is a plasterer by profession, but better known in the wider area for his traditional Sicilian horse carts that he restores and drives in processions, parades, and weddings (Photo from the Internet).

Fresh off the bus in Gesso, and after showing Antonio's address at the Post Office, Caterina (photo below) volunteered to walk us to Antonio’s home. As we walked other residents called out to her from doorways and patios apparently asking who we were and where we were going. Her nephew, who spoke some English, and a friend of his joined the procession. Along the way, they pointed out the Giuseppe Garibaldi house and a nearby house once owned by a Rubba family. Also nearby, Sue found a house with a nameplate matching the last name of a neighbor and schoolmate of mine (see the yellow house in my 1/12/19 blog).

When we arrived at Antonio’s house, he was grooming his horse. He invited us inside where his mother served espresso and pastries. This was followed by a tour of the house, the basement of which was a workshop, and a storage area and small museum about his carts. Next, we were off for a tour of Gesso in Antonio’s car. Our conversations with Antonio, as with Caterina earlier, were supplemented with a great deal of animation, more than Italians typically use, give they did not speak English and we did not speak Italian. Yet, everyone seemed to understand. It actually was great fun.

The one stop we requested was the cemetery. The director was not there, so we could not get into the records to find particular Rubba graves from a list I brought. Nonetheless, we were about to walk around. The surnames read like the phone book in Hammonton. We found a few Rubba graves and found out from a couple of men who appeared to hang-out there (through our very limited communication process) that the last Rubba male in Gesso passed in the 1970s and his remaining daughter moved to northern Italy in the 1980s. The Rubba family line has ended in Gesso. Still, it was great to get to see the Rubba family's village of origin.