Italy Revisited 2024: Nerito here we come! Part 1

A little background on our trip to Nerito. Nerito is a little village in the Abruzzo region of Italy and very close to the Great Sasso mountains. It is my father‘s birthplace, where he was baptized and played as a child before he immigrated to Ellis Island at the age of 10 with his mother and younger brother. On my first trip to Italy I visited there. Now that my sister, my son Nick, my cousin Alexis and her daughter Kylie are along they will have the joy of also visiting!

My cousin Alfredo that lives in Rome, also has a home in Nerito and I also have some other older relatives that live there.

We arranged to travel by car with Maura and Alfredo. A few days before our trip another cousin from Rome was going to go to Nerito so it was decided that Maura and Alfredo would take a car and Mimmo (our cousin) would take his car. They were to pick us up at 8:45. Well, at 8 o’clock Maura texted me and said Mimmo could not get his car started and they would be a little late. They were going to take both of their cars, but they had to pick up Mimmo first. None of us had ever met Mimmo before so we didn’t know what to expect.

OK, so they all arrived at around 9:10. There is hardly any parking where our apartment is so they just stop in the middle of the street get out of the cars greet us, of course with the Italian kisses and introduce us all while the other cars are honking their horns. As my mother would say, “ oh, dio” ( oh God) ! We pile into the 2 cars, you know the size of the cars here right? Yup, small! Off we go on our two and a half hour ride to Nerito. Maura, Mimmo, Alexis and myself in one car and Alfredo, Kylie, Janet and Lial in the other car.

Kylie has said that Mimmo reminds her of one of the super Mario brothers. He never stops talking and always broken English.

On the way there and on the way back, talk , talk, talk. He’s so fun to be around!

Uncle Gino, Alexis, Jean, Alfredo, Kylie, Janet, Nick, Lucia, and Mimmo

Lial and Kylie

We finally arrived in Nerito. Very small village with small cobblestone paved streets. A lot of their homes have been affected by the earthquakes. Uncle Gino had to move in with his sister, Lucia because his home is under repair.

Walking along you will also see some beautiful well kept places with many flowers, bushes and fruit trees. It’s so quiet and peaceful.

When we first arrived, we were met by sweet Uncle Gino, who had a huge smile on his face and of course we were greeted with the Italian kisses. We then walked over to Alfredo‘s home and we were met by his sister Dalia, small petite woman and introduced to her 3 small grandchildren.

Very homey, with a small kitchen, but many rooms throughout.

Our next stop was Lucia’s home. There we were greeted by a very petite woman who speaks no English whatsoever, but seems to understand everything. Introducing the family to her it seemed she didn’t want to let you go. Alexis said Lucia had a vice grip on her while hugging. While there with Lucia’s son David and his dog Yuri stopped in to say hello.

Uncle Gino with Janet and myself

Family looking at photos and family tree

Lucia (uncle Gino’s sister ) and where they both live

Kylie and Alexis in front of Alfredo’s home

Inside of church

Outside of the church my father was born

The church is St. Peter and St. Paul

We continued to walk around town and our first stop was the church my father was baptized in. Of course my sister and I had to have our photo taken there. Moving in we stopped at the original Mazzetta home, no one is living there right now ( we were wondering if we could).

As we were walking up the next path we ran into Gemma Richotti. She is the sister of aunt Adele , whom we were with the day before. We promised her we would see her sister and she was expecting us. What a delight she was and again so happy to see us and very welcoming! Ok the next part you are not going to believe.

She took us into the Richotti house where my dad and his brother lived until they immigrated. This is the home they stayed in after their father immigrated to the United States. There was an original table in the little, bitty kitchen where my father, as a boy, sat and ate at with his brother. In the picture I’m sitting at his place and my sister is sitting at my dads brothers place. There also is a chest in there where my grandmother made bread and pasta including my favorite gnocchi! Uncle Gino said he had restored the table some time ago.

We also saw the yard where he played with his cousins.