Town Names

[wisemonkey]

As a child my grandparents referred to people by the town they came from rather than their last name. For instance, "the Cicalese" or "Cukalese".
Another phrase I remember is "Fugiton."
Residents of Scala Coeli were called "Scalesi"

I am unable to locate any places by the name of Cica or Fugiton. Perhaps they were words that I misunderstood as a child.

Can anyone help me solve my mystery?

[johnnyonthespot]

The residents of Cicala (Comune di Cicala, Provincia di Catanzaro, Regione di Calabria, Southern Italy) are known as Cicalesi (pronounced Chee-ca-LAY-zee).

Not sure about Fugiton...

[Tessa78]

Here is a link to the frazioni listed alphabetically... (specifically the f's)
Maybe something will look or sound familiar...

http://www.italyworldclub.com/8000_ital ... _fo-fu.htm

T.

[wisemonkey]

Many thanks! I completely get the Cicala reference but now am really stumped.
My childs ear heard that the Indendis came from Fugiton(?) but am unable to locate any Indendis, Indendios or any derivatives of the name in Calabria Yet I grew up with some Indendis in Livingston, Montana who came from Italy.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the last name?

[johnnyonthespot]

Indendi must have been a very rare surname in Italy; it does not appear at all in the modern Italian telephone directory (of course, this directory only covers landlines, not cellular service).

Nevertheless, the name did exist, as records can be found on ancestry . com and familysearch.org. At ancestry, there are several census records for Indendi's living in California and Montana who list Italy as their place of birth. Also, at leat one birth record for Ida Indendi from the Como region.

In short, I think the name Indendi may be correct, but very rare.

As to Fugiton, it might help if you could spell it phonetically so we can get a sense of what you actually heard. For example, was it "ton" like 2000 lbs, or "tone" like a musical note? Was the "g" as in Go or Get, or more like George or Gyp?

[Tessa78]

Found this frazione (village) in Calabria which sounds like it might be your "Fugiton"...
It's pronounce (foo chi da)

The village of Fucida' belongs to the municipality of Montebello Ionico, in the province of Reggio Calabria, region Calabria.

http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/calabr ... ucida.html

T.

[wisemonkey]

It was pronounced FOO GEE TONE phonetically. Will check out Fucida'.

Google Earth is absolutely awesome! Cheaper than a plane ticket, One day they will add sound and smell.

Many thanks all!

[johnnyonthespot]

In Italian, your "FOO" sound might be spelled "Fu" (foo) or Fiu (few).

The most likely comune which I came up with is Comune di Fiuggi, Provincia di Frosinone, Regione di Lazio (Central Italy). According to Wikipedia, the official demonym of the residents of Fiuggi (pronounced FEW-gee) is Fiuggini (few-GEE-nee). However it is entirely possible that citizens have in the past (or even today) referred to themselves as few-gee-TOE-nay. (-tone in Italian is two syllables, toe-nay, but it is common for Italian speakers to chop final syllables and so it might sound like "tone" - the musical term.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiuggi

[wisemonkey]

Very possible, Carmine. Am trying to reach some of the Indendis I grew up with to see if they can shed some addltional light.

There is also the possibility that they may have come from Faeto, Foggia, Puglia, Italy and what I heard as a child was a reference to the region of Foggia. Sort of like being known as Calabrese.

Wish I had a better memory or that I had some living relatives to ask.

[johnnyonthespot]

Residents of Foggia = Foggiani (foe-JAA-nee).

Try this site: http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php I prefer the voice of Roberto.

[wisemonkey]

Very cool site. I like Roberto best also.