Villavallelonga, my great grandfather's village

Here's a successful accomplishment story in relation to a prior post.

In January of 1990, I went on a college sponsored trip to Italy & Greece. On one of my free days in Rome, I got up really early... hopped a train for a couple hours into the mountains and then an hour bus. The destination was a quiet village called Villavallelonga. This is the village my great grandfather, Giovanno Bianchi, came from in the latter half of the 1800s.

With only the name of a relative (Romualdo Bianchi, I think) and the kindness of a man who saw this obvious tourist get off the bus, I actually met relatives too. And with the help of a Canadian woman who's husband was studying the village, I learned a bit about the history.

It was an overwhelming experience that took a great deal of pride in my Italian heritage and courage to take off into the Italian mountains. This is something nobody else in my family did, not even my grandfather. So, it is definitely a successful accomplishment for me.