Migration from South towards Rome?

[Jc0713]

Hi All,

I’ve been stalled on ancestry.com for quite some time. I was able to see that my family lived in Filettino in the Lazio region prior to coming to the US, but it appears several generations before that, the family was in Martina Franca in Puglia. How common was such extensive migration in the early/mid 1800’s? I cannot find any way to connect the movement from place to place. I’m also concerned that I’m following the wrong line back to Puglia, but I cannot find the family name in Lazio beyond that time. Any suggestions? Thank you.

[Tessa78]

Can you post some details? Names, dates, etc.

T.

[lyn1982]

Some of mine came all the way from Agrigento Sicily to Rome in the late 1800s. Would love to know the reasoning. I'm guessing perhaps better employment opportunities.

[MarcuccioV]

I too have deep roots in Agrigento but more recent ancestry near Rome. It is also my belief it may have been due to better opportunities as they were all tenant farmers.

I have also some even more distant connections to Puglia, but they may be unrelated to the Sicilian line. I then pick up ancestry in Campania so I'm guessing it came by way of boat from Palermo to Naples, then worked it's way north from there...

It looks like it took several generations to make the distance.

[darkerhorse]

Although any migration scenario is possible for a given individual or family, migration northward in stages over generations makes sense.

The traditional migration framework consists of pushes from the place of origin and pulls from the place of destination (attractions), with distance and intervening opportunities serving as resistance (ending short of original place of destination).

One generation could have started out from Madre Sicily intending to move all the way to Rome, but found the distance too far or found a closer opportunity or attraction in Naples. Likewise, a subsequent generation could head for Rome from Naples and either make it all the way or not.

This migration framework is really for evaluating migration flows, not individual migrants, but similar dynamics are at play. For example, all else equal, you might expect the migration flow from Sicily to Naples to exceed the migration flow from Sicily to Rome because the intervening distance is less. Or, conversely, you might expect the pulls (attractions) of Rome to be so many and strong that the flow from Sicily to Rome would be greater than the flow from Sicily to Naples, despite the greater distance. Being the capital and a cosmopolitan city, Rome would offer a variety of attractions for migrants, jobs being only one of them. So size of destination is also important.

[Jc0713]

Hi All, thanks for the replies. Sorry for the vague first post. The last name I’m hunting for is Palizza. In the last few days I was able to find a death certificate for one of my relatives that gave me the names of their parents that I was previously unable to find. I can now confirm that I was following the wrong line to Puglia and they were always from Lazio. I’ve discovered in reading some of the other threads that finding records in Frosinone pre-1850, especially in a small commune like Filettino, may be very difficult. I’ve struck out on the antenati site. I’ve gotten as far back as about 1830, with my last confirmed relative being born in 1855 in Filettino. I have a Leonardo Palizza being born in 1855 in Filettino, with parents name Vincenzo and Giuseppa (Ottaviani), but I can’t get many more details or any further back.

[Jc0713]

Can you post some details? Names, dates, etc.

T.

Sorry for being vague, I posted some more info in the thread. The last name is Palizza. I have a Leonardo Palizza being born in 1855 in Filettino, with parents name Vincenzo and Giuseppa (Ottaviani), but I can’t get many more details or any further back.