Hi, Greg! Glad to hear that you visited Roseto Valfortore, even if for just a short period of time. I visited for only a few hours in 1985, and I hope to visit again someday, with more time to spare. Thanks for sharing your story.

I do agree with what you state: "If you plan to visit Roseto Valfortore, do your homework. It will make the trip much more worthwhile."

Many Italian Americans know very little about Italy or their roots. This board is a wonderful place to learn, but it's also important to do your own research.

In an article entitled "The New Italian Immigrants", which appears in the Summer 2005 issue of Ambassador magazine, published by NIAF (National Italian American Foundation), Italian-born professionals who move to this country have nothing in common with us Italian Americans. The article relates an Italian woman's experience with Italian Americans: "They would state that their grandparents came from this or that small town in Italy, and they would call themselves Italian. But they could not speak [Italian] and have never been to [Italy]."

The article continues: "The new Italian immigrant is sometimes frustrated by and disconnected from the Italian American community. Many Italian Americans have only heard about an Italy that no longer exists from older immigrant relatives. Today's Italian immigrant cannot relate to the stories of Italian America, traditions that older immigrants have maintained (which often no longer exist in Italy), nor can he or she understand the dialect they speak, which is usually a strange mix of numerous southern Italian dialiects and English."

Fortunately for us, according to the article, even though there is "tension" among them and the Italian-American community, there is also respect and a desire to share their culture: "The new immigrants are trying to educate the older immigrants and their children about modern Italy." There is an organization called the Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance (ILICA), which promotes the Italian language, thereby creating a "real link to understanding the culture" and suggesting that "the next step would be going to Italy and surrounding yourself with Italins in everday life."

Auguri!