"FUSSATOTI RITORNATE VIRTUALMENTE ALLE VOSTRE ORIGINI"

Così scrive Andrea Majorki

Today, took Elain Perry Rosa to visit Fossato Ionico, the very small town, in the very south of Italy, where her mother and all of her family lived. To get there, we drove up a wickeldly steep and  narrow, windingt road. Once there, word spread quickly and the locals came out greet Elaine, find out about her family and make connections. We Mimo, the town historian who has record  of her family and saw the church were her mother was baptized and grandparentsmarried. The biggest surprise was a blood relative, Maria - whose grandmother was sisters with Elaine’s grandmother. Barbara Perry Bontempo you were in our hearts.

Cosimo Martino, classe 1886, partì la prima volta per raggiungere l'America, imbarcato a Napoli sulla nave Cretic sbarco' al porto di New York il 9 giugno del 1905. Dopo qualche anno torno' a Fossato per sposare Rosa Albanese da cui nacque la primogenita Candelora nata nel 1910. Ritorno' una seconda volta in America imbarcato sulla nave Barlino il 3 maggio del 1911 lasciando in Italia la moglie e la figlia. Ritorno', combattè nell'esercito italiano nella grande guerra 1915/1918. Era nata la seconda figlia Maria nel 1911 e qualche anno dopo la terza figlia. Il 16 novembre 1921 raggiunse definitivamente gli Stati Uniti imbarcato sulla nave Taormina portando tutta la sua famiglia e si stabili' nella Contea di Rochester. In America nacquero altre due figlie, ma Cosimo non ebbe molta fortuna, mori' qualche anno dopo ancora giovane per un banale ascesso dentale, lasciando orfane le sue figlie e vedova sua moglie Rosa. Da quando ho potuto conoscere dai racconti tramandati oralmente per tanti anni a seguire si occupò un suo fratello che allevo' e crebbe le sue cinque nipoti in rispetto del fratello scomparso come fossero sue figlie. Vedere qui a Fossato il 20 marzo 2023 un gruppo di 9 persone che all'avventura sono tornati, pur non sapendo se ancora al paese esistessero loro parenti. La fortuna li ha accompagnati in questo loro viaggio, hanno conosciuto una lontana cugina nipote di Giuseppa Albanese sorella di Rosa Albanese. Episodi come questo ci fanno capire come, anche oltre un secolo, i discendenti dei nostri paesani hanno sete di conoscere le loro origini e incontrare parenti di cui, magari, non hanno mai sentito parlare! Onore al loro attaccamento alle radici!   Mimmo Pellicano'

Cosimo Martino, born in 1886, left for the first time to reach America, embarked in Naples on the ship Cretic, disembarked at the port of New York on June 9, 1905. After a few years he returned to Fossato to marry Rosa Albanese from whom the eldest daughter Candelora born in 1910. He returned a second time to America embarked on the ship Barlino on May 3, 1911, leaving his wife and daughter in Italy. Return ', he fought in the Italian army in the great war 1915/1918. The second daughter Maria was born in 1911 and a few years later the third daughter. On November 16, 1921 he definitively reached the United States embarked on the ship Taormina bringing his whole family and settled in Rochester County. Two other daughters were born in America, but Cosimo didn't have much luck, he died a few years later still young from a simple dental abscess, leaving his daughters orphaned and his wife Rosa a widow. Since I was able to know from the stories handed down orally for many years to follow, one of his brothers took care of him and raised his five nieces in respect of his deceased brother as if they were his daughters. To see here in Fossato on 20 March 2023 a group of 9 people who returned to the adventure, even though they didn't know if their relatives still existed in the village. Luck accompanied them on their journey, they met a distant cousin, niece of Giuseppa Albanese, sister of Rosa Albanese. Episodes like this make us understand how, even for over a century, the descendants of our villagers are thirsty to know their origins and meet relatives they may have never heard of! Honor their attachment to the roots! Mimmo Pellicano'

Elain Perry Rose