There are a lot of Piraneos in Castrofilippo. The region of Agrigento has the most Piraneos. My family is from the region of Siracusa.
I did a search for Piraneo and came up with Josephine Piraneo, whose family is from Castrofilippo. She wrote me, and I wrote back. You might be related to her. Here is the information I sent her, which you will find very useful:
I wrote to the Comune di Sortino to get information about my ancestors. They actually sent me certified copies of birth certificates for my grandparents:
Carlo Piraneo - born January 24, 1895
Rosa Blancato - born September 7, 1903
When I was planning a trip there, which never materialized, someone I subsequently wrote to sent me a whole listing of descendents! So, I have the following additional information for you:
The parents of my grandfather were:
Sebastiano Piraneo - born April 30, 1868
Sebastiana Capello - born August 6, 1873
Their parents (my great-great grandparents) were:
Carlo Piraneo - born July 28, 1829
Sebastiana Iaia - born September 27, 1831
Their parents (my great-great-great grandparents) were:
Giusepppoe Iaia and Antonina Mineo (no birth dates given)
My grandmother's parents were:
Serafino Blancato - born October 11, 1852
Margherita Bucello - bron January 30, 1866
Their parents (my great-great grandparents) were:
Giovanni Capello - born August 26, 1873
Giuseppa Santo - (no birth date given)
I found the Comune for Castrofilippo--maybe you can write to them:
http://www.comuni-italiani.it/084/013/siti/index.html What I would do is start out in Italian (even broken Italian), and then write in English. Someone should write you back in English.
This other website lists a "Salvatore Piraneo" as the webmaster:
http://www.comune.castrofilippo.ag.it/ You can also check the "Pagine Bianchi" (White Pages) for any Piraneos in Castrofilippo. There are 65 households in the province of Agrigento:
http://www.paginebianche.it/pb/cerca?btt=1&cg=Piraneo&am... Let me know what else you find out!
Ciao,
Roseanne