Cordenons, Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
When I enter the birth place for most of my Italian relatives, I enter the above location. In 1871 when Italy was united into one country, the population was about 4700. Today there are just about 17,000 residents. All-time high. Here is a map of Italy with the Province of Pordenone highlighted.
And here is a map of Cordenons:
Cordenons is about 60 miles (90 km) northwest of Trieste, a town you may have heard of. Or not. Nearly my entire Italian family comes from one of these local towns. Both of my mothers sisters were born in Cordenons.
The area was settled in 1000 B.C. by the Veneti from what is now the Czech Republic. Then the Celts came and the intermingling started the present community. Then after several invasions, a Roman Province, Hungarian invasion leading to rule by Bavaria and eventually the Habsburgs. In 1500 it was part of the Republic of Venice (which is why the Italians now living in this area belong to the Venetian Club). After Napoleon it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and remained that way until being annexed by the Kingdom of Italy in 1855. These folks speak a very distinct dialect of Italian with a strong guttural accent.
The current mayor is Mario Ongaro and could well be a relative; my fourth and fifth great-grandfathers are Ongaro. If you are a hockey fan, specifically the Detroit Red Wings, you may remember Nelson de Benedet from the 1970's, another Cordenons transplant to Detroit. I have identified 37 de Benedet cousins and keep in contact with one in Fort Frances, Ontario and another in Connecticut. Nelson lives in a nearby community and is my age but I have not reached out to see if he knows other members of my family (I am not into hockey).
Unfortunately, though I have been in Italy twice, I never visited this area. My cousin said she went and saw the house where our family lived - I looked at it in Google maps - and visited the church. While there are still cousins there, she was not aware of them at the time and never looked for them. Maybe someday I'll visit.
Your cousin saw the house in Italy where your family lived - isn’t that marvelous?
ReplyDeleteYes it is considering how old it is. In my neck of the woods they tear stuff down after 50 years.
DeleteIt certainly has a chequered history! I hope you get to visit one day.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'd settle for visiting my neighbor. Though, since we've had our vaccines, I guess it is now possible.
DeleteVery interesting and love reading the history.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool. Maybe one day you'll be able to go back and this time, visit where it all started for your family.
ReplyDelete