Hi folks, I’m glad to see that there are so many Svalinas all around the world. Dear American cousins, I hope that you know now that you are originally from Croatia or Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Till the end of the world war one Croatia and Bosnia were part of Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
I was very surprised with that information about our origin from Italy because my family legend tells that our ancestors came from the border of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia. In that time it was the part of Turkish Empire and it was the strong pressure to people to accept Islamic religion. So, three of the Svalina brothers run away. One of them came to Dalmatia (today in Croatia, my ancestor), the second one went to Bosnia and the third one went to ‘the foreign country’. I don’t know which country. Could it be Italy?
However, descendants of Pete and Anthony, I strongly believe that they were brothers of my grandfather. Are you interested for more information?
Best regards! Suzana Svalina, Split, Croatia