This is Fulvio’s story…
After a few false starts and lost mail, Joe learned real story of how the letter arrived in his family’s hand. Joe had been close in knowing the village’s name — he thought Agordo, but it was Agordino. Very close, but not exact. Agordo is actually a bit bigger than Agordino. A woman named Marina had received the letter and, while not related, knew the family in Agordino. She raced over and burst in the door, exclaiming, “You have family in America!”
Fulvio, his wife Luisella and Fulvio’s mother, Maria live in the house that Maria’s grandfather had built well over 100 years ago. They were sure they had met all the family, though there were not many, that existed. They insisted that Marina was mistaken — maybe even a bit crazy!
Maria was in the garden with her granddaughter, Barbara and heard the commotion. Marina showed the letter to Maria and Barbara and to everyone’s surprise, Maria said “That is my father!”, pointing to Joe’s great-uncle in the picture. Everyone rushed inside and compared the picture to one of her father on the wall and the connection was made! The dates Joe included in the letter matched up, and an email was sent! An historic day for both families!
Joe was able to visit his cousin, Fulvio for a short time in 2007. Joe had made another trip to Italy with friends and they only had a few hours for a short, flurried visit. Nobody but Barbara spoke English and Joe spoke only a very little amount of Italian. Fulvio did pronounce, “Joe! You are my second cousin!” – everyone was amazed since nobody had ever heard Fulvio speak a word of English.
Parting was difficult, but everyone promised to write. Letters came slowly, since neither Fulvio nor Joe spoke the others’ language. Joe studied Italian and wrote his letters with great care, to make sure Fulvio could understand them. Apparently, Fulvio did the same. His letters were perfect and spoke of the great love he had for his cousin. Joe would tear up when he talked about Fulvio and he made plans to go to Italy and spend more time with this family. The trip was scheduled … August, 2009.
Leave a comment