The year 2000 was amazing for me. Not only was it my first trip to Italy, but my
travels during that incredible Jubileum Year put me face to face with our now deceased Pope John Paul II at the Vatican,
took me all over Roma...and further south of Roma to my father's side of the family's village, Gallo Matese. Learn more
at the village's website
www.GalloMatese.com which was designed by my cousin, Bonifacio
DiPietrantonio. Gallo Matese
sits one mountain south of the beautiful monastery Monte Cassino. Exiting at Cassino from the autostrada, I began
my climb into the clouds where this tiny community of about 700 remains as a vibrant farming village. There
are no guardrails on the roads leading northward, and in some spots, the roads are precariously rocky. I
suddenly realized I was in the middle of nowhere in a rented car, did not speak Italian well (at the time), and had no cell
phone, should anything have happened. And just when I thought I was completely lost, I came to a dead end
with one arrow pointing left to the village of Vallelunga....and another pointing right toward our village, Gallo Matese.
I was elated. All told, it had taken about two and a half hours to get to Gallo Matese from Roma. I had
already seen pictures of the village from a cousin Frank, who had been there only two years earlier.
I immediately recognized
the church up on a hill in the village square. It was in this particular chiesa my great grandparents, Giuseppe DiPietrantonio
& Maria Perrino got married. I met a gentleman outside the church, Giovanni, who understood a little
English. He was the church caretaker and let me in. I said a prayer on the altar my great-grandparents had been
married on. It was truly a terrific time for me. Then, Giovanni took me to meet one of my eldest cousins alive,
Antonio DiPietrantonio.
Everyone knows everyone
in Gallo Matese. So believe me when I tell you, the phones (which are still on the old party line system) began ringing
off the hook, that an American descendant of the DiPietrantonios had come home for a visit.
I met Antonio
and his lovely daughter, Antonella. They welcomed me into their home and immediately broke out the homeade wine, bread
and cheeses. Antonella also took me to the village's cemetery, which is gated and the police have to be summoned
to let you in. Once inside, I began counting all of the names on the graves I had researched from my
own family tree investigations. I picked-up a pine cone on the cemetery floor for every relative's name I recognized....and
those pine cones sit in a bowl in my home today.
My grandfather and his
brothers came to the United States. Many settled in upstate New York...my great-grandfather, in Weirton, WV, hoping to find
good jobs in the steel industry. If you look closely at the surnames in the cemetery in Gallo Matese, nearly every single
one you will also find today in the Weirton phone book. While in Gallo Matese, many people stopped by the
house to say hello to me. One gentleman, whose last name is Chiodi, is now retired from the Bronx, NY, and lives
in Gallo Matese part of the year and in the Bronx the other half. Talk about your small world, His brother
lives in Columbus, OH and his other brother lives in Weirton, WV and knows my family.
I plan to re-visit Gallo
Matese again soon and learn more about the Boiano School, where my grandmother Mary attended grade school. I have
spent more than two decades researching my family's history and have discovered some truly fascinating information.
A good place
to start is in your local county courthouse and at www.EllisIsland.org
Buona Fortuna! Ciao e Grazie, Stefano 
