It was the first time members of the American side of the family walked the village’s stone paths.
In 1984, Harry and Theresa “Terry” (Magelli) Swanson planned a south -to -north trip to experience parts of Italy and Germany. A side trip to Grandpa Magelli’s birthplace, the tiny village of Castel di Casio, was a top priority.
It was the first time a member of the American side of the family walked the village’s stone paths.
Uncle Harry takes it from here:
“We purchased airline tickets from Colossus travel on a charter flight with Air National Airlines departing Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on June 20 to Rome.
“The plan was to go north from Rome by train stopping in Bologna and meeting Dr. Roberto Monti from the Sundstrand gear pump factory in Bologna, find this place called Castel di Casio and then go on north to find Kathy, our daughter who’d been studying in Austria.
“Terry and I met at Howard Johnson’s motel in Elk Grove Village on June 19 (she flew in from Des Moines and I came in from a meeting in Minneapolis).
“We took the 6:40am motel shuttle for a 7:40 am airline check in for a 9am departure. Things started to drag out and at 12:15 Air National cancelled the flight!
“Wow, all the Greeks on the flight went wild and wanted to kill somebody. Soon the Chicago cops showed up and Colossus Travel said the FAA and US Government were investigating the Air National bankruptcy claim. But said we shouldn’t worry, our ticket money would be refunded and we should make alternate travel plans.
“(Took nine months to get our money from Colossus, so I often wondered what role Colossus had in the whole fiasco at O’Hare).
“Theresa was crying. But I pulled out my trusty AMEX card and booked Icelandic Airlines to Reykjavík and Luxembourg. “I don’t know how those Greeks finally got to Athens, but it was our first trip to Europe so I said, ‘What the Hell, we’ll just flip our itinerary and go north to south.’
“Oh yes. Then we were in Icelandic’s hands and left 3 hours late. We got to Luxembourg around noon on June 21 and took our first Eurail leg to Koblenz arriving around 2:45 pm.
“The tourist office across from the Hauptbahnhopf booked us into a room at Hotel Kornpforte for 70DM.
A” room on the fourth floor with a toilet down the hall and a shower on another floor, breakfast included.
“So we were in Europe and began an adlibbed itinerary southward through Germany.
“We connected with Kathy in Graz on June 30 and left for Bologna on Sunday , July 1, where we met Alberto Libratti from our Bologna gear pump factory.
“He took us by car traveling through Marzabotta and Porreta to Castel di Casio.
“ It was a sleepy Sunday and Alberto greeted a few old guys on a bench “Mi Scuisi, do you know any Magellis? He says, “You want Magellis? I can show you Magellis up these stairs.”
“Turns out it was Marcella Magelli who had been born in Mark, Illinois. And shortly later Silvana Venturi and Cesarina Stefanelli showed up and took us to Silvana Venturi’s house.
“There was a lot of arm waving and hugging that I initially doubted. But then they brought out their Uncle Biagio’s family picture from 1926 that included Grandma, Angel, Rose, Steve, Jen, Anne, and Joe.
“So I started waving my arms too and the rest all started crying. Turns out they all lived in Bologna and were only in Castel for the Catholic Feast of Saints Peter and Paul feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29 (a national Italian holiday) to honor the late GianPietro, Cesarina’s brother and father to Silvia and Andrea.
“ Side note: ‘If we had started our trip south to north in Rome on June 21 we would not have been in Castel on July 1 to make the family connection.’
“We met the family again at Trattoria Sterlino in Bologna on July 2
“And we promised to come back again , which we did in 1987 with Paul who was in Rome in 1987. Theresa also got the family tree in 1987 from Gianluca Boldri.
“We did other side trips by train to Venice and Florence on July 3-4 leaving for Milan on July 4.
“Kathy accompanied us to Torino where we rented a Panda (or Fiat) and drove up to Corio searching for Audos.
“We found a bridge from Bene to Corio that has a plaque for the architect Michael Angelo Audus (all in Latin).
“But that’s an Audo story.”