Lallone and Morra Families - Monteleone di Puglia

[clallone]

Looking for some advice as to my next steps to find any information about my family. Ancestry has been no help. I know they lived in Monteleone. My grandfather is Pasquale Lallone born 1932, his parents Michele Lallone b. 1909 and Lucia LaManna b. 1910. My grandmother is Incoranata Morra b. 1928, her father Rocco Morra b.1896. My grandfather passed when I was young and my grandmother refused to tell us about life in Italy as she was growing up. I believe there was a rebellion there when she was young and she has bad memories so they stories were never told. I'd love to find out what I can. Thanks for any advice.

[lcmor]

Lallone as a name doesn't seem to exist anymore here in Italy, but Lallo is a name found here. Here in Italy when you stick '-one' (pronounced own-ey) on the end of the word it means big. For example gatto is cat, but gattone is big cat. Maybe this was a nickname that stuck. Maybe they were considered tall within their community, for example, so people called them Lallone. Lallo as a name is found throughout Italy, but slightly more in Puglia in the province of Foggia where Monteleone is located. I think you may perhaps need to look for the surname Lallo instead.

There are a few documents here, but not many: http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.i ... di+Foggia/

Monteleone became part of the province of Foggia only in 1929, so you may have to find out what province it was a part of before that to search for more records. The online documents only go up to 1903ish normally, so you will probably have to contact the comune direct to get copies of birth certificates after that time.

Good luck with your search!

[clallone]

Thank you for the reply. If it was a nickname, it definitely stuck! I visited Monteleone in 2010 and have pictures of my great grandfathers gravesite which lists his name as Lallone. Along with a church bearing our last name and a street that we took photos of. I'll see what else I can find out about our last name evolving through time. I appreciate your help!

[lcmor]

How fabulous! Your family were obviously an important family in this community, which may be why they had a nickname...to distinguish them from other Lallo. These are called 'soprannomi' and here in Abruzzo at least they are used more often than the real surnames. I have a very good friend here whose surname is Sacripante, but if they are being described to another member of the community they will be referred to as the Gattoni (Big cats). This is because centuries ago they had a relative who was the caretaker of a church, but also a drunk. He loved to go up to the bell tower and hide with his alcohol. One day he got so drunk he passed out inside the bell tower, but at some point something startled him and he fell from the top of the bell tower to the ground below and survived... with only a few scratches!! From that moment on the entire family became the Gattoni. I'm British, and my surname is Morris, but our family now have the soprannome 'Inglesini', the little English ones. And that is how we are known.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the photos. Best of luck with your search!!

[lcmor]

BTW I believe the suffix '-one' can also mean important.

[mmogno]

Monteleone became part of the province of Foggia only in 1929, so you may have to find out what province it was a part of before that to search for more records.

Avellino

@lcmor
http://www.elesh.it/storiacomuni/storia ... tat=071032

Lallone as a name doesn't seem to exist anymore here in Italy

http://www.paginebianche.it/contacognome?qs=lallone

https://s7.postimg.org/5oqgmdd0b/Cattura_lcmor.png

http://italia.indettaglio.it/ita/cognom ... uglia.html

[lcmor]

Oh I stand corrected!! Rare, but there! Thank you @mmogno

[Tmorro]

Hi. I think we are related! According to ancestry.com my family is also from Monteleone di Puglia, Foggia Italy. Way back in the history a grandfather was Matteo Morra (b.1799) and he was married to Catarina Lallone (b.1800). A couple generations later, my great, great grandfather, Giuseppe Morra emigrated to New York in 1897, where he changed his last name to Morro.. Not sure if this was done on purpose or typo on the immigration papers. Anyhow, it is a small world.

[mjclayton1]

Hi-

I just stumbled across a Lallone record here (Francescantonio born 1 Feb 1852, son of Valentino Lallone, age 23, himself son of Giovanni Lallone):

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 75/wl7oggM

These records are found in the Avellino State archives...

Mark

[mjclayton1]

And Nicolina Lallone...

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 75/wXJMP7v

Parents are Francesco Lallone (of deceased Matteo) and Maddaleena Volpe (of Paolo)...