June 17, 2014

Day 4: Gerfalco, Italy

Gerfalco, Italy. Population 60. In the middle of nowhere and absolutely breathtaking. 
We finally met Morena, Nick's dad's cousin/Nick's Grandma's niece. Nick's grandma, Rina, grew up in Gerfalco. She married a Japanese-American soldier and came to the United States when she was in her 20s during the war. She lost contact with her family members in Italy in the 1960s, and Morena had been trying to contact Rina since the 1990s. After Nick and I were married, we felt prompted to do family history and try to make contact with Nick's Italian family. We found an old postcard at Nick's dad's house and decided to write a letter to the Italian address we found on it, not knowing if it was family or if the individual that sent the postcard still lived at the address. Morena answered and it was an answered prayer! We have been in contact with her ever since 2010. After discovering that there was still family in Gerfalco, Nick and I began hoping, dreaming, and planning a trip there. I feel incredibly blessed that we were able to make this trip happen and that we were able to meet Morena in person. She picked us up from the train station and it was nothing but big smiles and hugs the whole day. 
On the way to Gerfalco, we stopped in Massa Marittima for some breakfast and to see this beautiful church.
The town of Gerfalco is very small. We took a walk around the entire town, which took all of 15 minutes and we got an up close and personal tour of all three of the town's churches.
We were in love with the green shutters.
We visited the cemetery where Morena's parents are buried.
I wouldn't mind living here one bit.
The front door to Morena's home, and the home where Nick's grandma grew up.
This is a picture of Rina, Nick's grandma. I think he inherited her mouth and head shape.
Talking about family history in Morena's home.
The churches there have very old records written down in books in the back room. We were trying to find baptism records of Rina, but were not able to.
While we were walking around town we ran into these lovely ladies that remembered Rina when she was little. They were a hoot. They told us a story about Rina throwing chestnuts at a boy that would not leave her alone because he thought that she was the most beautiful girl. 
We were fed goooood, authentic, Italian food the entire day, so we were not even the slightest hungry come dinner time. But we went to this amazing pizza place that had been built within what was once Montieri's castle wall. It was full of loud, happy Italians and it was a dream to get to experience the true Italian way of eating pizza and be surrounded by good friends. (If you'll notice ^ everyone has their own huge pizza. Even though they insisted on us getting our own, I was still recovering from our lunch and made Nick split one with me. Those Italians sure know how to eat!)
But then they laughed at me for eating my fair share of dessert. Chestnut cookies and cheesecake! There's always room for dessert.

It was a magical day, to say the least. We connected with long-lost family and gained a lifetime friendship with the wonderful people of Gerfalco. Though I never got the chance to meet Rina, I felt close to her while walking the streets of her birthplace. I felt like she was smiling in heaven and so proud of her grandson, Nick, for making the effort to reconnect with his Italian relatives. After our day in Gerfalco, we started hoping, dreaming, and planning for another trip with our kids to show them the beautiful town where their ancestors lived. 

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