South Hills mother, son, travel to Italy in the name of genealogy

Carol Lynn Vicini placed her hand on her grandfather’s tombstone, said his name and then cried.

Atop a mountain at Trefiumi Cemetery near the village of Trefiumi, Italy, Vicini had reached the burial place of the grandfather she never knew, Albino Vicini.

“This visit was very emotional as it was very important to meet grandfather at his resting place and pay respects,” said Vicini, 73, who made the trip with her son, Michael Palmer, 53. “We touched his family headstone and felt his love. We believe he knew we were there, and (that’s) why we made this journey high in the beautiful mountains.”

Mother and son chronicled their more than 4,000-mile trip from Pittsburgh to Milan and eventually to Trefiumi. Vicini, who placed a Blessed Mother figurine with flowers by her grandfather’s grave, put her thoughts in writing about the two-week excursion from Aug. 9-21, 2023.

Meeting relatives for the first time was an extremely moving experience, she said. Vicini’s and Palmer’s experience is one many people are seeking out as they research their genealogy.

It’s a hobby that’s gained popularity with easier access to information through the internet and companies that provide history and details about the past.

Palmer said he had seen the handwritten Vicini family tree and searched maps of Italy, but nothing compares to being there, meeting his relatives and seeing the gravesites, he said.

Yes, gravesites.

They intended to visit one and discovered many deceased Vicini relatives’ tombstones. Vicini walked to each grave on Aug. 12, 2023, and said their name. She sat in a folding chair in the cemetery — her son carried the chair all that way from Pittsburgh.

The two made the same trip her late father William Albino Vicini had made in 1976. He had often urged his daughter and grandson to do the same. They stayed in the town of Corniglio, about a 45-minute drive to the cemetery.

While in Italy, they visited the Vicini family home in Trefiumi where her grandfather lived and had an Italian Sunday dinner with cousins. In one of the cousins’ homes, Sergio Vicini, 94, told Carol Vicini that her dad was “a good man.” It was the same house where her grandfather had passed away in 1926.

“That brought chills through my body,” said Carol Vicini, a Vandergrift native. “He knew my dad and he had tears in his eyes when he said that. I felt my dad’s presence.”

So did Palmer.

”My grandfather said it over and over and over,” Palmer said. “It was so important to him that we make this trip. When I was younger I didn’t think much about doing it. But now, I totally understand why he said to do it.”

It’s an opportunity to connect with family and to learn about your roots, Palmer said, especially Albino Vicini’s story.

Like many Italian immigrants, Albino Vicini traveled to the U.S. through Ellis Island in New York.

Carol Vicini wrote about that voyage.

Here is an excerpt:

Grandfather left Italy and came into Ellis Island and made his way to Ramsey, Pennsylvania, (Clearfield County) 1917. He met and married my grandmother Ida Rose Castagnari when he was 25 years old. Together, they would have three children. Helen Vicini, William Albino Vicini and Arthur Vicini. Grandmother would later, after grandfather’s passing, remarry and have another son, George Francheski.

While in the United States, grandfather became ill and felt it was in his best interest to return to his village of Trefiumi to seek medical treatment. He left Italy when he was 21, lived in the United States for 9 years. Returned to Italy, 1926.”

He died that year.

Her grandfather had written letters to her grandmother and their children during his medical treatments. Vicini’s late uncle Arthur Vicini had those letters translated into English. The correspondence tells of Albino Vicini’s love for his wife and children and his passion to return to them.

He had so much hope that he would be cured of his illness and return to the states, Carol Vicini said.

He never did.

So when cousin Alessio Vicini said he would drive Carol Vicini and Palmer to the cemetery, they appreciated this act of kindness, they said. As they navigated the uneven terrain up the mountain to their relatives’ final resting place, they both said they thought of the words of Vicini’s father urging them to make the trip. She and her son created a video component on YouTube called “Miss Carol Visits” of that car ride and their time in the cemetery.

View it here.

In the video of those moments, you can hear the emotion in both of their voices.

“We made it,” Vicini said. “We made our journey Mike. We made it across the world. Oh my, this is emotional. Oh my word. This is so beautiful to see this.”

They stayed at the cemetery for a while, taking it all in.

Vicini said she thinks it is so important for young people to get as much information as they can while their parents and grandparents are still alive. Her son agreed.

“It was so worth doing,” Palmer said. “It was so interesting when we got there. So many graves with the Vicini name. We went there to visit one grave and it didn’t occur to me that more than half of them there were relatives. It was a life-altering experience.”

Palmer said it is cool to see your roots, where you came from. He planned the trip as a gift to his mother.

“I had seen my relatives’ names on a paper family tree, but when you see that you want to learn more about them, because they are part of your story,” Palmer said. “There is nothing like physically being there. You can’t duplicate that on a computer.”

Vicini echoed that sentiment. She said she is so blessed to have made a trip of that magnitude.

“I was packed with emotion that day,” said Vicini, a Kiski Area High School graduate. “I sat there and just took it all in. My main goal was to see my grandfather. I had never met my grandfather. I have not been the same woman since I returned.”