Thank you for enduring this really look trip "report" or stream of consciousness!

RubyTwins, what a wonderful report! You are such a good writer and I was there with you. I'm glad you were welcomed by your family and got to put pieces and faces together. Do you think you will go back?

Oh dear, now I need to add Reggio Calabria to my ever lengthening travel wish list. :) I enjoyed your last installment. What an experience!

Your report has given much enjoyment.

Thank you! I do think I will go back and combine it with a trip to Sicily. I just need to get faster at comprehending Italian and if I stay with the Uncle's family, they are more likely not to always speak in dialect.

Thank you. the landscape was really beautiful. What I saw of Reggio Calabria (and it wasn't much); seemed very interesting and my cousin's apartment was grogeous.

Thank you and sorry it was sooooo long! :)

Please don’t apologise. Loved it!

This reminded me of "Who Do You Think You Are?" with RubyTwins in the place of Lisa Kudrow. I think it could be made into a short doc about family secrets and discoveries, early 20th C. immigration/emigration, Italian culture then/now, etc. Paging film students!

HA! I will have to see that

I enjoyed every sentence in your report! It was interesting to hear about all of your family connections and stories. Now I have to visit Reggio Calabria too!

I just found this, RubyTwins and I'm so glad I did. Reading it in one sitting was very much like reading a very well written novella with so much personal detail and humour thrown in. As an habituée of italian language schools I was drawn in by your opening posts about the school, [what a good idea to do a course before going to meet your family] and stayed to find out about your adventures in Calabria with your "new" family. Thank you so much for sharing so much of your family story with us.

PS: I too was puzzled by the lack of wine but then I wondered if they thought that being an American you would prefer Coca-cola, which was probably far more expensive than the local vino.

Thank you so much. I wish I could say the course helped... It did propel my Italian language forward but they all spoke Calabrese and even Google Translate was not understanding it!

<<Thank you so much. I wish I could say the course helped... It did propel my Italian language forward but they all spoke Calabrese and even Google Translate was not understanding it!>>

But I'm sure that it helped them to understand you, which was half the battle. And reading your TR, you clearly did understand quite a lot, if imperfectly. I have visited my german pen friend and her husband many times and though I now speak pretty good german I still struggle to understand the dialect they use within the family. I can get some of it, especially when I know what the topic is, but by no means all. So you really shouldn't beat yourself up that you didn't understand it all - I'm very impressed that you picked up as much as you did. I know how exhausting it is to be in a "full immersion" environment and yours was in Calabrian too!

What a TR. There's a best seller in here somewhere. Thank you for writing. I think it took a lot of courage to place yourself in the hands of people you've never met and commit yourself to spending a chunk of your time with them. It sounds like you had an amazing time... such a fascinating and heartbreaking account of your grandmother and grandfather... I'm so glad to have found this and again, thank you for sharing your story.

Have just started reading - I'm still in Siena with you in the rain - love the way you write. I'm quite envious, of the trip, and your entertaining way with words!

What a wonderful, interesting and fun trip report, RubyTwins! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it - although I confess to having done so quickly but will definitely go back and reread it again.

We have some things in common. I too have Italian roots - Puglia and Sicily - and about 12 years ago I discovered family in Toritto, my mother's home town near Bari, and had a wonderful visit. Mine was unplanned and quite serendipitous and occurred at the end of my trip so I had only two days with them but it was unforgettable. I wrote a TR on it. I am still in touch with two of my cousins. Was this your first trip to Italy? I do hope you go back again and again as I'm sure you already know how wonderful it is and I think you will find that you learned more Italian than you realize.

Like annhig, I also have taken a number of Italian classes in Italy and find it to be a wonderful and enriching activity to incorporate into one's travels. I am returning to Sicily in May and this time have booked a week-long cooking class near Modica. I was also planning on taking another Italian class in another Sicilian town or city and then exploring Calabria, where I have not yet been, and a return to the Amalfi coast. Your report inspired me to check out Italian courses in Calabria - yes, I know yours was in Siena! - and there are several that look very promising so I think that's a plan and will be a new experience. So thanks for the idea! :-)

(I also grew up in Brooklyn, which I suspect you did as well, or live there now?)

<<Like annhig, I also have taken a number of Italian classes in Italy and find it to be a wonderful and enriching activity to incorporate into one's travels. I am returning to Sicily in May and this time have booked a week-long cooking class near Modica. I was also planning on taking another Italian class in another Sicilian town or city and then exploring Calabria, where I have not yet been, and a return to the Amalfi coast. Your report inspired me to check out Italian courses in Calabria - yes, I know yours was in Siena! - and there are several that look very promising so I think that's a plan and will be a new experience. So thanks for the idea! https://www.fodors.com/community/ima...ted/smiley.gif>>

Panecott - that sounds like a great plan. Should you come across a language school you really rate can you let me/us know? I particularly enjoy combining learning italian with staying in a new area as schools usually organise tours and local activities that help you to get to know the area as well as improve your italian.

Hi annhig,
Yes, of course, I'd be happy to let you know how the school works out. I noticed several in Tropea, which I think will be a good base in Calabria. I need to do some more research before deciding as I just took a cursory glance after reading RubyTwins' report. I had been thinking of Trapani at first b/c I haven't spent much time there but I like the idea of Tropea and am excited to look into it.

I am also excited about the cooking course b/c, in addition to 5 classes a day, it also includes visits to many places in Sicily where I have not yet been: Scicli, Marzamemi, Noto, Ragusa, and, of course, Modica, so it should be wonderful. I think the company is actually based in London so you can contact them directly if that interests you at all. It's WhereinSicily.com.

Are you planning on another language course this year?

<<I am also excited about the cooking course b/c, in addition to 5 classes a day, it also includes visits to many places in Sicily where I have not yet been: Scicli, Marzamemi, Noto, Ragusa, and, of course, Modica, so it should be wonderful. I think the company is actually based in London so you can contact them directly if that interests you at all. It's WhereinSicily.com.

Are you planning on another language course this year?>>

Thanks, Panacott - I shall look forward to reading about where you decide on with interest. ditto about the cooking course in Sicily - I've been to most of those places but just as a tourist - no cooking! As for whether I might get away on a course this year I think that with my mum as she is it's unlikely - I can manage a few days but she would find it difficult to cope if I was away for longer than that I think. But I will be saving up all your ideas I'm sure.