Are you looking for an Italian surname? Do you need more information about your family heritage?
This is the right place to start your genealogy search.
My family were stonecutters. In particular, marble. That was their trade in Italy, Roccapiemonte area. Was there that type of mining in Tunisia? If so how would I find more information about this? Correct me if I am incorrect as to the area they worked in while in Italy.
Well, this is not on point, but my GGF was a mason and worked on a church in Turkey at the turn of the 20th century. I have hypothesized that it is St. Anthony in Istanbul, which is built in an Italian style and run by Italian priests. Perhaps your relatives did similar work on an Italian style church or building in N. Africa.
Thank you for your information. Several of my grandfather's friends moved there with him, one was also a stonecutter and the other a barber. I am sure he anticipated business as well as the stonecutters.
The Italians have historically had an association with North Africa. Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt and Ethiopia had an Italian presence in the 19th century. In the 20th century, both the Italian Kingdom and Mussolini had some control in North Africa. I don't know when your family migrated, but there were many Italians living and working in North Africa, and there still are today.
My family were there about 1868 until the children migrated to the US starting in 1892 through 1902. The father visited the US in 1910. I show no record that he stayed.
The name Italia, probably a Graecized form of Italic Vitelia (='calf land'), was originally restricted to the southern half of the 'toe' but was gradually extended. By 450 B.C. It meant the region subsequently inhabited by the Bruttii; by 400 it embraced Lucania as well. Campania was included after ...