As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.
I just recently created a Facebook page to share images of Italian and Italians Americans from the 1800s to the mid 1900s. Not only will it show images of Italian Americans from those eras, I'll be posting images of Italians/Italian Americans that are not identified. I hope to somehow connect these photos to the ancestors.
Thank you so much for sharing these Dominique. These are brilliant and very interesting. A couple of these photos are somewhat heart-rending – they certainly add another dimension. Like you I also love old photos and would love to have some pics of my ancestors. The few pics I have start from about the 1930s.
I had to giggle at the photo with the caption : "A Neoplitan macaroni stand with the proprietor, cooks and the customers eating in true Italian street fashion." What did they mean by “customers eating in "true Italian street fashion"?” Really? We would never have been allowed to eat spaghetti like that – it was always with a fork rolling the spaghetti against a spoon! It was quite an art.
(Re “Facebook” – I’m not actually signed up to this and don’t exactly know how it works. Just a naive question “if I click on this link from time to time will I still be able to see the future images that you might add to it – without being signed up to facebook?)
Thank you once again for this post. I’ve really enjoyed looking at the pics and am looking forward to seeing more. Good luck with finding lots more photos of your respective ancestors.
AngelaGrace56 wrote:Thank you so much for sharing these Dominique. These are brilliant and very interesting. A couple of these photos are somewhat heart-rending – they certainly add another dimension. Like you I also love old photos and would love to have some pics of my ancestors. The few pics I have start from about the 1930s.
I had to giggle at the photo with the caption : "A Neoplitan macaroni stand with the proprietor, cooks and the customers eating in true Italian street fashion." What did they mean by “customers eating in "true Italian street fashion"?” Really? We would never have been allowed to eat spaghetti like that – it was always with a fork rolling the spaghetti against a spoon! It was quite an art.
(Re “Facebook” – I’m not actually signed up to this and don’t exactly know how it works. Just a naive question “if I click on this link from time to time will I still be able to see the future images that you might add to it – without being signed up to facebook?)
Thank you once again for this post. I’ve really enjoyed looking at the pics and am looking forward to seeing more. Good luck with finding lots more photos of your respective ancestors.
Angela
Hi Angela, I'm so happy you liked them!
A lot of my fans share their personal family photos on the Facebook page in hopes of connecting with their ancestors.
Yes, you can still check out the photos. You just can't interact with the page such as posting your own family photos or leaving comments. If you ever have questions or want to contact a possible relative, just send me a message on here!
Ahahaha, my Nonna would have cracked me with a wooden spoon! However macaroni stands were very popular then! It was a street food that many in Napoli enjoyed... I remember hearing many stories of those "lovely macaroni stands".
I'm assuming they have something like that in Italy? Is the Ufficio di Stato Civile ( Civil Registration Office ) the same thing as a Vital Statistics???
Very few works have been published in English on the topics of Italian heraldry, nobility and onomatology as these relate to genealogy. Yet all three fields depend upon genealogical research. This concise presentation is not intended as a historical treatise, but rather as a simple guide for those i...
Really? We would never have been allowed to eat spaghetti like that – it was always with a fork rolling the spaghetti against a spoon! 
However macaroni stands were very popular then! It was a street food that many in Napoli enjoyed... I remember hearing many stories of those "lovely macaroni stands". 
