FILÒFILÒ

A Quarterly for Tyrolean AmericansA Quarterly for Tyrolean AmericansWinter 2011/2012Winter 2011/2012

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In some way, some how, through parents or grandparents, we share common roots with a wonderful people from an enchanted part of the world. While we are not immigrants, we are descendants and heirs of an extraordinary culture. While we remain and revel in being Americans, you are being addressed as Tyrolean Americans without a hyphen or division. Our roots and our ancestry do not separate us but enriches our very American identity. WWhhoo wwee aarree iiss wwhhoo wwee

With this understanding, you are being contacted to join us as we explore, re-discover and enrich our understanding of the Trentino---its history, its people, its culture, its cuisine, music, art, its spirituality, its extraordinary mountains, valleys an The plan is to send you the Filò on a quarterly basis for you to enjoy and for you to promote to others that we will be missing in our data bases. Filò has a special significance since it was the nightly gathering of the villagers in their stables to tell stories and

Filò will attempt to do that very thing in

I wish you Lou

The Filò is to be published and distributed on a quarterly basis and is targeted to the children of our immigrant parents. The Filò (pronounced fee-lo) was the daily gathering in the stables of the Trentino where the villagers met and socialized. (See page 7 for a description of this ancient custom)The intent is to provide a summary of our culture, history, and customs in plain English to inform and provide you with the background of your roots and ancestry. You are urged to participate by submitting questions, provide articles, and relate experiences to be shared with our readership. If you wish to contact us, call Lou Brunelli at 914-402-5248. Attention: Your help is needed to expand our outreach to fellow Tyrolean Americans. Help us identify them, be they your children, relatives or acquaitances. Go to filo.tiroles.com and register on line to receive the magazine free of charge. You may also send your data to Filo` Magazine, PO Box 90, Crompond, NY 10517 or fax them to 914-734-9644 submit them by email to filo.tiroles@att.net.

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The Trentino-Aldo Adige is an area that was considered part of the

Southern Tyrol or to the Germans Weschtirol. It was annexed to Italy less than 100 years ago after World War I. It had been part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire and prior to that it was for 800 years feudal states of the Bishops of Trent and Bolzano.. To the South, there is the magnificent Lake of Garda and mountains to the East and West. The region is bordered by Tyrol (Austria) to the north, by Graubünden (Switzerland) to the north-west and by the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto to the west and south, respectively. It covers 13,607 km² (5,253 sq mi). It is extremely mountainous, covering a major part of the Dolomites and the Southern Alps.

While we will return in future editions to exploration of spectacular beauty of the Trentino geography, there is a special and distinquishable difference regarding the mountains of the Trentino. In 2009, UNESCO declared the Dolomites as a World Heritage Site panel praising the Alpine range as ''one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere.'' This spectacular designation and its affirmation indicated that they are among the most attractive mountain landscapes in the world. Their intrinsic beauty derives from a variety of spectacular vertical forms such as pinnacles, spires and towers, with contrasting horizontal surfaces including ledges, crags and plateaus, all of which rise abruptly above extensive talus deposits and more gentle foothills. A great diversity of colors is

provided by the contrasts between the bare pale-colored rock surfaces and the forests and meadows below. The mountains rise as peaks with intervening ravines, in some places standing isolated but in others forming sweeping panoramas. Some of the rock cliffs here rise more than 3000 m and are among the highest limestone walls found anywhere in the world. The distinctive scenery of the Dolomites has become the archetype of a

captured by the beauty of the mountains, and their writing and subsequent painting and photography further underline the esthetic appeal of the property.

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Our Origins When the glaciers receded and the Trentino geography was established, this very geography established our history. The effect of the glaciers left in the Trentino inviting passages, corridors, portals that invited more and more people tcorridor flanked by mountains that was a natural passageway to and through the Trentino either from the Southern plains or the Brenner pass, the lowest of the Alpine passes that served as a portal for the north. The Valsugana and the Lake of Garda were yet other convenient and inviting entrances for peoples who came or passed through or stayed. The first inhabitants came up along the rivers from the south from Vallagarina and the

Lake of Garda and the southeast from the Val Sugana and the Brenta River. These people were the Veneto-Illyric, the Ligurians, the Gauls and the Iberians. All these groups belonged to the great family of Indo-Europeans which form the largest family of languages in the world comprising most of the languages in India and South West of Asia. The principal sub families are the Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Albanian, Balto-Slavic, Thracian, Phrigian, Ligurian, Illyrian, Messapian and Venetic. The Illyrians or the people of Illyria were bording the East Coast of the Adriatic while the Iberians were from the Southwestern part of Europe comprising Spain, Portugal, and modern day Georgia. The Ligurians were members of ancient people who inhabited northern and central Italy and the adjoining regions. The Galli or Gauls were yet another ancient people south west of the Rhine River, west of the Alps and north of the

Pyrannees i.e. modern day France and northern Italy, Cisalpine Gauls. All these

populations, exc is nomenclature became our very first true identity so that the Trentino region was called Raetia in the third century. The first settlers, the Ligurians and the Iberians, lived on piles above Alpine lakes as did the lake dwellers of the Bronze Age (2000-1200 BC). These early settlers left behind many remnants, including large canoes carved from blocks of pine; pieces in stone, horns, bones, wood and granules of amber; pins, axes, and daggers. These objects give us some idea of their burial rites, customs and agricultural practices. The Gauls-Cenomani from the Valsugana took possession of the Doss Trento and together with other people formed the nucleus of Trento on the left back of the river Adige.

The archeological history of the Trentino region gives us an idea of the physical, social and cultural development of these people as well as their geographic distribution, customs beliefs and folkways.

At the beginning of the first century BC, the Cimbri poured down from the north of central Europe through the Brenner Pass. They were defeated by the Romans but stayed and integrated further with our origins. It should be noted that we have a remnant of the oldest mummies in Europe and the best preserved mummies in the world un de nossifound in the Ortzal Alps and now resting in the museum in Bolzano. He lived 5000 years ago. He was found in a glacier and his clothes and artifacts are providing yet further clues of our origins. They call him Otzi since in was found in the Trentino Alps of Otzal. It should be noted that our real history has given us an identity of being Middle Europeans rather than Mediterranean since we have more commonalties with the mountain people of Bavaria and the Austrian Tyrol. We will continue exploring our origins in future editions.

Paleofitti of Fiavè

Bronze receptacle 4-5 BC

Otzi

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Just above Trento (17 km north of Trento), there is a village named San Michele all`Adige. It happens to be the place where Pinot Grigio Santa Margarita originates, one of the most popular wines in the USA. San Michele has the Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina, the Museum of the Customs and Costumes of the Trentino People. It is a museum that has a history and is full of history, the history of our people. The building that houses this wonderful museum was once one of the many

fortresses and palaces of the Counts of the Tyrol. The Trentino was the Tyrol both under the feudal bishoprics of Trento and Bressanone as well as under the Austrian Hungarian Empire and there were these Counts that served as the military arm of the bishoprics and protectors of their individual

the site of the remnants and artifacts of our ancestors, covering every aspect of the traditional culture of Trentino: agriculture, arts and crafts, folklore. The Museum was , ethnographer, essayist, personality eclectic, considered father of the modern museography. The Museum at Santo Michele is the greatest regional Italian museum of folk traditions. The museum is the ideal place to discover memories and traditions of the valleys of Trentino. In its

many rooms, there are displayed so many of the objects that created and enhanced the culture and life style of the area. There are the agricultural objects and practices, tools in all its shapes and styles, the use of animals. The use of the mulino, the water mill that powered the grain mills, the blacksmith, iron foundry. The kitchen with its artifacts and products. The production of the cheeses, grappa, bread, the cultivation of bees, vines and so many of the food stuffs that our emigrants remembered and attempted to replicate as they settled in the states. There are displays of the Filò, the wardrobes of the men and women, their religious practices, dialect and music. The Museo will become a collaborator in subsequent issues of the Filò and will attempt to explain and illustrate the customs and activities of our people. covers every aspect of the traditional culture of Trentino: agriculture, arts and crafts, folklore. The website of the Museum is www.museosanmichele.it.

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A common, popular and even daily activity in the villages of the Trentino was the Filó. It is pronounced fee ló with the accent on the last syllable. The expression far

do Filo` or let us gather. The Filo` was a daily gathering of the villagers after their evening supper in the stables that were situated in their very homes. The stables being in their interior of the houses were insulated and further warmed by the body heat of their all important cattle that not only provided them with dairy products but served to draw their carts and till their fields. It was a welcomed conclusion of the day. The adults engaged in their ciacerar, the chatter about the activities of the villages and their struggles as they pursued their farming to survive. Stories would be told. Often there would be a designated story teller who entertained the children as well as the adults with wonderful and engaging yarns. The stories relayed history, memories, as well as the morals and the expectations of the village community. There were poems and sayings that expressed their sagezza and peasant wisdom. Songs would be sung. The songs were of the mountains, the young lovers, the wars, and their struggle. They sang often with the formula oTrentini, one choir. The women knitted, shucked corn and multi-tasked their chores while enjoying the company.

Filó would conclude with the corona, the rosary in which they remembered their dead, their sick, and their relatives traveling through Europe working or emigrants to far off lands. There was a commonality in that all had the same limited means and the Filó was an engine of socialization.

Representation of a Filo-Bruno Faganello Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina

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When the migrations from the Tyrol ensued, the clergy, the bishops, Don Guetti all expressed their disapproval and concern fearing that

their traditions and their interactions with Protestants of the new

cultural interaction with the Protestant to the north of their borders would be a threat to their religiosity. They could not have been more wrong. While destiny took them out of their villages and lands, their spirituality and attachment to their religious traditions remained and

even flourished. When they came to our country, this religious cultural was distinguishably different and distinct from that of the majority Southern Italians. What were the substance and the distinctiveness of this faith tradition? The Filo hopes to explore and detail the elements of their religious cultural traditions that so nurtured our people. For now, let us take stock of some of the elements that

The Sud Tirol, the Trentino Alto Adige was a governance of the Bishops of Trento and Bressanonecalled the Principato of Trento. Religious culture was the very heart and soul of these domains. But unlike the Papal States where the Pope was a temporal leader, governor, tax collector, war lord, the Bishops had a distance from these

the Counts of the Tyrol that took care of these temporal matters. While so much of the rest of the Italian peninsula had for centuries been absorbed by the politics of the state and the church, the Trentino had a comfortable distance from these internecine struggles. The Trentino was

extremely loyal to the church without the Papal politics that engrossed the peninsula and prompted the Reformation. Hence, it was understandable that the great Charles Borromeo, the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, the promoter of the Ecumenical Council, came to the Trentino and shrewdly selected Trento as the location for the Council in 1565. It was an acknowledgement of

geographically but its neutrality that provided a safe haven for both the Mediterranean Religious orders flocked to the Trentino to situate their seminaries and convents since it was one of the most fertile areas for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. In my very own family, I can boast of one aunt and 6 cousins who became nuns. Religious living and the priesthood were held in high esteem and its missionaries went throughout the world to the very court of Kublai Khan (Father Martini) and explored our Southwest (Fr Eusebio Chini). In the consultant to the popes. At the time of the migration from the Trentino and times of great hardships, a priest, Don Guetti did some spectacular things with farming cooperatives to assist the struggling communities. When Fascism and the Italian nation collapsed after World War II, it was Alcide De Gasperi, a profoundly religious man, from the Valsugana, that literally created the modern Italian democracy. He would often say that he was lent to Italy. Finally, our very own boast, our fellow Trentino, Cardinal Bernardin who rose to not only lead the

Archdioceses of Chicago, headed the National Council of Bishops but became the most distinguished clergyman that the Church produced in the United States church history. We will explore in future editions the customs, practices and mentality

processions, shrines, village feasts, its communal prayer, and their world view.

Council of Trent

Way Side Show-Capitello

Duomo of Trento

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Our dialec The dialects of modern Italian all have their roots in the spoken form of Latin (Vulgar Latin), in use throughout the Roman Empire. Vulgar Latin had, no doubt, its own local peculiarities before the fall of the Empire. The political instability that followed Roman rule kept Italy from re-uniting as a nation until the nineteenth century. This long period of fragmentation and the fact that Classical Latin was preferred as the international language of study allowed the various modes of speech to develop on their own until they could almost be called separate languages. Many dialects are, in fact, unintelligible with each other. The separate language of the Trentino or Tyrol had the effetto montagna, the mountain effect. The communities of the Trentino developed as separate entities by virtue of real divisions due to the mountains, the valleys, rivers, and even streams. The dialect of the Val Adige (Trento) is distinguishably different from that of the Val di Non or the Valsugana or the Val delle Giudicarie. ed the traditions, mannerisms, culture, and traditions. The dialect was a distinction for a particular community, area, or valley. The vocabulary, the enunciation, the very intonation were a distinguishing trademark, an affirmation of

possessive acknowledgement of who they were and what they were like. Take for the example, the knife grinders from the Val Rendena who actually developed an almost separate language, el Taron, which was a spin off from the dialet but a mechanism of separation and protection as they traveled far a field r as Russia. to earn their living. Our Tyrolean relatives in our country relied and maintained their distinguishing dialect physically staying in colonies and types of work. It is a challenge to present to our readers the dialect. Many of our readers do not speak or understand the dialect and many might not have pursued language education. There will be an attempt to present the background and history and styles of the distinctive dialects in the various valleys of the Trentino. But both for the interested and the curious, there will be presented some grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. In doing so, the hope will be to do a little a bit of teaching or simply to have our readers possibly connect to the memories of the sounds and phrases that they might have heard in their homes or gatherings. In Trentino dialect, it's common to say, 'sa fente, nente o stente? (cosa faciamo, andiamo da qualche parte o stiamo qui?) Translated, it means What should we do, stay or go. Hence... a bit of grammar. Here is the present tense of the verb to be (red), italian (blue), and in the dialect Mi son Io sono Mi sonte? Ti te sei Tu sei Ti set? Lu l`è Egli è Lu èlo? Noi sem Noi siamo Noi sente? Voi sè Voi siete Voi sè? Lori i è Essi sono Lori èi? Some of our words.... Oci occhi eyes Rece orechie ears Nas naso nose Cavei cavelli hair Col collo neck Ociai occhiali eye glasses Capel capello hat Figure 2

Figure 1

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A Foremost Tyrolean If you want to beam with pride and joy, go to the rotunda of the US Capitol where you will find the statues of the of individual states. Although Columbus discovered this New World, you will not find an other than one that has a seemingly

He is.un de nossonly ours but the very first Tyrolean American in our country who identified himself as from the Tyrol. Founder of Arizona, Agronomist, Explorer, and Cartographer His gigantic accomplishments matched and probably exceeded those of Coronado, De Soto, Marquette, Junipero Serra, and others. Volumes have been written about our fellow Tyrolean and it is difficult to affirm in which field he was greater, as a missionary, an explorer, an agronomist, a diarist, a farmer, a cartographer, a cattle raiser, a Native some sketchy introductory details regarding Father Chino in the expectation that we can return in future issues to delineate him further.

Eusebio Kino was born in Segno, today frazione of Taio, a village in the Val di Non in the Bishopric of Trent, which after his death became the Austrian Hungarian Empire and in 1919 present-day Italy.The Trentino for 800 years had no nationality but resided in these feudal states or provinces ruled by Bishops. He was born on Aug. 10, 1645. He was educated in Innsbruck where distinguished himself in the study of mathematics, cartography, and astronomy. From 1664 to 1669 he received his religious training at Freiburg, Ingolstadt, and Landsberg, Bavaria and was ordained a Jesuit priest on June 12, 1677, at Eistady, Austria. Although he wanted to go to the Orient, he was ordered to establish missions on the Baja California peninsula and Northern Mexican Sonora

and Southern U.S. Arizona). Kino arrived in Mexico City in the spring of 1681. He became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States (primarily northern Sonora and southern Arizona) in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta. He is known for his exploration of the region and for his work to Christianize the indigenous Native American population, Kino was a doer and the history of his accomplishments staggers the inquiring mind. . During his 24 years in Pimeria Alta, he traveled over 50,000 square miles to reach, to baptize and to civilize the Indians helping to create a civilization. He founded 24 missions and established 19 rancherias. Cattle ranching and the

introduction of European cereals and fruits owe Fr Chino their beginnings. He was well loved by the Indians He was their spiritual director, their defender against the assaults of the Apaches and the exploitation of the Conquistadores opposing Indian enslavement in the silver mines of northern Mexico. His maps of the South West made him famous throughout Europe. He is also said to have explored the sources of the Rio Grande, the Colorado and Gila rivers. His explorations of the area around the mouth of the Colorado River in 1701 convinced him that Baja California was a peninsula, not an island. His 1705 map was the standard reference for the southwestern desert region for more than a century. Kino was a prodigious letter writer; many of these letters, relating his achievements and trials, have been preserved and published. He was also the author of an autobiographic work, Favores celestiales. A movie was made about Farther Chino or Kino starring Richard Pryor. One obtains it through Netflix. Fr Chino is our pride, boast, and common Tyrolean American possession.

Statue in US Capitol

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symbol of the area. It is also one of the oldest foods eaten in Italy, dating back at least to 990 BCE. In its original form, polenta known to the ancient Romans as pulmentum was a porridge made from spelt. In later ages other grains such as barley and millet as well as pulses and even chestnuts were used to make various kinds of gruels

eaten generally by the poor. It is said to have originally been an Etruscan dish, which the Romans adopted and spread throughout the Empire. It has a glorious history helping Rome conquered its vast empire? Well, there are traditions that relate that the Roman soldier was given each day a ration of grains called puls in which he made in his very helmet a pulmentumpolenta since corn had not as yet arrived from the Americas. But indeed, polenta can be said to have a glorious past. But did you know that it touched our very own American history? George Washington, the Father of our Nation, the symbol of our nation, got to savor his very first ethnic meal at Monticello at the hands of Thomas Jefferson. George was served the one and only polenta that Jefferson had learned from

his mistress Maria (she was not a Trentina) when he served as the ambassador to France. Wow!

It is easy to make but requires patience and care.

Ingredients: all you need is corn meal, salt and water. The corn meal should be coarse or stone grown. If necessary, get to a health food store to get the real things and not the flour like degerminated type in so many of our supermarkets

Tools: Looking at the illustration, you will need a large

large spoon or a polenta stick called a cana della polenta or a trisa. You will also see the optional tabiel where the polenta is placed on completion. Process:

filled the pot with water just below the brim and brought the water to a boil, added salt g all the time to avoid

lumps. The amount of corn meal is what needs the care..too little and it is soopy too much and it hard to handle and hard to the taste. Once integrated, then you start the turning with the trisa or the wooden spoon. Lower the heat just a bit and turn from time to time. Many Trentini will insist that it takes 90 minutes. My mom would tell me to cook it long enough so that it begins to detach itself from the parol

that when the polenta is ejected, the crosta..the crust comes out almost as a shell (delicious to nibble on..truly corn chips!) Whereas a pasta or a minestra are considered primi piatti, first dishes, polenta is a combination and is both first and second dish. It partners with so many things in the Trentino cuisine. It combines with Krauti(sauerkraut), luganega, spezzatino (stew) of beef, veal, rabbit or chicken, cotegin (pork sausage), la peverada (sauce made with bread crumbs and the water of the cotegin. We will explore some of these combinations in future editions.

If you have a Trentino recipe that you wish to share or a recipe that you had enjoyed and wish us to describe, do not hesitate to send it to us by email to louis.brunelli@att.net

Polenta with a boscaiola sauce

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Deeply rooted in their rural world, our Tyrolean forbearers developed an oral tradition of wise sayings..Wisdom stories that were distilled from individual and group experiences. They were handed down, repeated from one generation to the next generation as a treasury of wisdom, common sense, and moral lessons. They had so many of the features of the styles and modes of the oral traditions of the Sacred Scriptures and in many ways these sayings were a bible, a Tyrolean scripture of a sort. They were exchanged in ordinary conversation, at the dinner table, exchanged with

, repeated at the fontana, the village fountain , laundry and gathering place, in the piazza, in the daily encounters and gatherings in the villages. They were instilled in the young at the Filó. Brief, often quite witty, wisdom stories that had a distinctive style of one or two memorized sentences that always concluded with a sardonic counterpoint that not only summed up the lesson but made clear the moral of that lesson. They are the expressions of a popular culture which had coined them for a specific communicative purpose. The proverb was an admonition handed down over the generations to the ingenuous young from their forbearers. Some were simply common sense with a universal message. Dancing without a woman is like eating polenta without salt. These proverbs served as a mental repertoire, a wisdom data base, a treasury for these rural people of the mountains and valleys. It acted as a conclusion to a conversation or simply as a way to elicit smiles and laughter in ways quite specific to their culture and traditions. There was an improvisational skill to elicit or match the occasion and the moment to a particular proverb. They elicit a picture or an image of the lives of our forbearers a hundred years ago that reflect their struggles and concerns for survival and right living. Our immigrants brought these sayings to the coal fields of Pennsylvania and Colorado, the docks of New York and the factories of Syracuse. They found their way to the dinner tables and parlors of their peasant. They punctuated conversations with the ancestral wisdom, lessons and charm. The Filó will bring to its readers these proverbs about a variety of topics. They will be presented first in the dialect (red), then in Italian (blue) and finally in English as best as they can be translated. Women and Men I omeni I fa la roba, le done le la mantegn Gli uomini accumulano la sostanza, le donne lo conservano Men accumulate things, women look after them A balar senz olenta senza sal! Ballare senza una donna è come mangiare polenta senza sale Dancing with a woman is like eating polenta without salt. Animals Asen ben vesti` no `le sconde le rece. Asino ben vestito non nasconde gli orrechi A well-dressed donkey cannot hide his ears. Dal cantar se conos l`osel e l`om dal zervel Dal canto si conosce l`uccello e l`uomo dal cervello. The bird you know by its song, the man by his brain

Figure 5

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Our Valleys The Giudicarie are not one but a network of several valleys: Exterior, Interior, Valley of Churches de Giudicarie Exterior with reference to the centerfold on the next pag There are several portals to this valley. Coming from the south, up from the Lake of Garda, one passes through the Passo Ballino, passing through the village of Ballino where the great patron of the Tyrol, Andreas Hofer, lived 7 years as a shepherd and conceived of his peasant army, the Schutzen. Coming from Trento, one comes through Limaro`, a deep gorge referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Trentino. One arrives at Ponte Arche and Terme di Comano. Ponte Arche derives its history to

Roman times and the Terme are a well known Wellness Center famous for its thermal waters, hot springs of health and wellness . Coming up from the Val D`Adige, just north of the city of Trento, one approaches the valley from Fai della Paganella, Andalo, and Molveno and its magnificent lake, Lago di Molveno. Coming from the North, one descends from the Passo Carlo Magno, named after Charlemagne who came through this pass and the Passo Durone, through which armies of 50,000 soldiers passed through led by the Condottiere, Gattamalata. The Valley straddles the Parco Brenta Adamello, the park or a reserve that boasts of the Brenta Dolomites and the Adamello, the highest mountain in the Trentino. The Brenta Dolomites have the extraordinary designation of the UNESCO World Heritage. There are several immediate accesses to the park and the Dolomites: Val D`Algone, Molveno, and Val D`Ambiez. Each of these accesses led by designated trails to refugi, hostels that are situated in the magnificent Dolomites. Hovering over the valley is the Care Alto, with its towering glacier. part of the Adamello Presanella group of glaciers. Towering over the Bleggio, is a ring of mountain peaks referred to as Val Marcia. Those peaks provide a beautiful setback for the valley but were also the encampments of the Austrian army. The entrenchments are still in evidence on the ridge of these mountains.

The valley has several castles: Castel Stenico, Restor, Spina and Campo. They served as fortresses that protected the entrances of the valleys and as seats of governance for the Castellani and the Bishop of Trento whose jurisdiction included the entire valley. Proximate to Fiavè, one finds the pre-history remains of paleofitti, wood posts that supported lake houses dating back to the Bronze Age of 4300 BC. Just above it, one finds the ancient and picturesque village of Rango, designated as one of the most

beautiful villages in all of Italy. There are many very notable art treasures throughout the valley in their castles and churches. The church of Santa Croce in Bleggio Superiore (right), is one

of the most important sanctuaries in the Trentino. It has a crypt dating back to 1303 and its interior is an example of early Renaissance art. Several famous people originate or spent time in the valley from Charlemagne, Cardinal

Charles Boromeo, Gattamalata,Andreas Hofer who organized a peasant army to defeat the Napoleonic forces, to Giovanni Prati, a poet , to Fr Guetti who organized farm and food cooperatives.

Val di Guidicarie Esteriori

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(TNM) was founded in 1957 and aims to help Trentino nationals who live abroad maintain strong ties with their motherland and their cultural and social roots, whilst becoming citizen of their host country. The association

different populations by providing information and coaching and by promoting and supporting social diversity. Their services include:

Outreach to Trentini American Associations: Trentini nel Mondo stays actively involved with over 220 Circoli Trentini throughout the USA. There are 21 such associatons in the USA and 5 in Canada.

Convention Collaborators TNM works closely with ITTONA (International Tyrolean Trentino Organization of North America) in the bi-annual convention of the Circoli Trentini.

Publications: TNM publishes a monthly magazine and a variety of studies regarding the Trentino American community

Trentino Resource Center: TNM provides access to an extensive library of literary sources regarding Trentino emigration at their headquarters in Trento

Advocacy for Trentini Americans TNM seeks to promote and advance iniatives to promote communications and cultural development.

Magazine

Website

NExT

TNM publishes a monthly magazine in Italian providing information about the Trentino and Italy and with articles regarding the activities of the Circoli Trentini throughout the world. One many subscribe by enrolling on the web site: www.trentininelmondo.it

TNM offers an informative and enriched website offering information about Trentino activies throughout the world and well as the those of the Circoli Trentini in the USA. Go to www.trentininelmondo.it

The TNM sponsored projectNExT, (Nuove Energie per il Trentino) seeks to create networks of Trentini Americans who have achieved positions of excellence in their professional field. Go to: http://next.trentininelmondo.it

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Preparing to leave was an enormous undertaking and challenge for our Tyrolean relatives. The dream and

way to escape poverty and raise their standard of living. Being wrenched from their villages and their lovely environments, the pain of separation from their relatives and friendsthe uncertainty of the future all combined to make the departure a traumatic experience. These traditional farmers, contadini, were headed to coal mines with all their dangers and pitfalls. Facing unknown difficulties ahead, many emigrants prepared their wills even though very few were considering permanent settlement. Many sold everything including their houses. Others borrowed from relatives and friends to pay for their travel expenses. Both the authorities and the clergy disapproved of their departure making the emigrants feel ever more isolated. After the first wave of emigration, 36 years passed before there was to be a focus on the emigrants. In 1904, there was established the Office for the Mediation of Labor in Rovereto that attended to emigrants and by 1910, there was published the Guida dell`Emigrante Italiano. The Guide contained all the information emigrants needed: the economic situation in the USA, the physical conditions, steamboat fares, a timetable of trains from Trent, the names of the naval companies, ports of embarkation, the documents needed, procedures for naturalization and citizenship, location of the various consulates, facilities for medical inspection, various diseases and the agencies in the Trentino. It detailed the dangers facing the emigrants such as the infamous Padroni or merlo that took advantage of them. It further explained the information needed for the transoceanic trips as well as the names of

the ferry boats to Ellis Island the railroads leading from New York to the mines in various states. The Guide provided the names of St Raphael Society in New York for moral and financial aid, US postal rates, insurance, accidents, legal aid, currency, measures and the risks in the mines. Those who left the Trentino went to Trent by some jolting cart. At the window of the Gottardi Agency at Via Lunga (now Via Manci) they bought tickets for 500 crowns which included boat fare and the first expenses in the United States. The long trip began from Hamburg, Germany, Antwerp, Belgium or through Voralberg via Switzerland to a French port, Le Havre. Tickets for steerage from Le Havre or Hamburg to New York City cost $15 in 1880 and $28 in 1900. On the departing the village itself, often in the wee hours of the morning, since they had to walk or journey down to Trent, the whole village would gather at the church to pray and send off one of their very own beloved brother or sister, an image of solidarity and intimacy that kept our immigrants connected and associated with their roots.

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The Odyssey of a Tyrolean Immigrant History and Nature combined to create an economic depression for the Trentino that became the cause for emigration. Agriculture, practiced in the traditional was the fundamental activity in 1850 for 70% of 314,770 inhabitants of the province. Farmers were frustrated and without hope. Their children automatically followed them into farming. Real estate was divided into small parcels and was owned by few landlords. Commodities and food had to be imported from the Trentinoneighboring provinces, the Veneto and Lombardy. Their economic conditions worsened when their traditional trading partners became part of Italy. The new borders created custom barriers, taxation and duties on imports and exports. In those years, nature further complicated the depression with deceases to their vines, silkworms, and their potato crop. Rather than further detailing the hardships of the Trentino, what follows is a profile of one such emigrant who was certainly affected by the forces of naturTrentino and in the United States. Angelo Berasi was born in 1870 in Marazzone, Bleggio Superiore in the Val di Giudicarie. Following the typical and usual traditions, he worked as a paesant farmer and while we have no recollection of his motivations, it can be presumed that he followed the then current pattern of escaping poverty and raise his standard of living which diluted the pain of departure. Like fellow emigrants, America acted as a magnet beckoning them as a real adventure with the flavor of a mystery. In 1890, Angelo Berasi followed the pattern, left for Trento where he took a train to Le Havre, France and embarked for New York, with its strange language, traditions and jobs. But Angelo did not stay with the Trentino colony in New York but took a train and traveled for five days to Walsenburg, Colorado. There, although a farmer, Angelo like his paesani, was forced to work in the coal mines. Mining was dangerous and difficult work. Coal miners in Colorado were at constant risk for explosion, suffocation, and collapsing mine walls. Between 1884 and 1912, mining accidents claimed the lives of more than 1,700 Coloradans. In 1913 alone,

ccidents that widowed 51 and left 108 children fatherless. The high death was due in part to Colorado's unique geology, but also due to poor enforcement of safety regulations. In 1914, the United States House Committee on Mines and Mining attributed the high fatality rate to the management of its coal mines.Angelo worked in these mines for 15 years adding prospecting for gold as well as he searched for alternatives to the mines. He came in contact with two relatives of mine, Carlo and Giuseppe Brunelli who originated from Rango of the same Bleggio Superiore.

Giuseppe and Carlo, coming earlier than Angelo, had ventured beyond the mines purchasing land, raising cattle and even opening a hotel or boarding house for the miners of Walsenberg .in 1902, Angelo is made a naturalized citizen. In 1905, he returns to the Trentino where he seeks out the unmarried niece of Giuseppe and Carlo, Teresa. They are wed and after a time, he returns to Colorado to follow yet another pattern of those emigrants. He precedes Teresa who is now with child and in September 1907 with her new born, Lino,

Teresa makes the long ocean voyage to New York and then the 5 day train ride to Wallsenberg, Colorado. Angelo, properly inspired by the entepeneurship of Carlo and Giuseppe and possibly aided by some of their capital, opens us the Star Saloon. Such an enterprise was singular for our Trentini emigrants but Angelo was a confident, enterprising person and was not averse to taking risks. More children arrived in quick succession. Angelina in 1908, Rosa in 1909, Maria in 1911, Cora in 1913, and Adele in 1914.

History again touches the lives of the Berasi family. While they lived in the town of Walsenburg, the ensuing turmoil with the mines would engulf everyone. In 1913-1914, there ensued the 14-month southern Colorado Coal

Angelo Berasi & Carlo Brunelli

Berasi Family 1912

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cre

Strike, itself the deadliest strike in the history of the United States. The strike was organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against coal mining companies in Colorado. The miners resided in company towns, in which all land, real estate, and amenities were owned by the mine operator, and which were expressly designed to inculcate loyalty and squelch dissent. When the miners go out on strike, their families were evicted and went to live in a tent city.On April 20, 1914, the Colorado National Guard attacked the tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado shooting through the tents with a machine gun mounted on an armored car causing the violent deaths of 19 people. This was to be known as the Ludlow Massacre. In response, the miners armed themselves and attacked dozens of mines, destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard causing the death of yet another fifty.

Violence permeated Wallsenberg and Teresa Brunelli Berasi was so terrified for her family that she gave her husband no peace saying in our dialechildren. So history again affects his life; this time American history. Angelo, despite his successful American

moves them on the long five day train trip across the country to New York and sets sail for La Havre, France retracing his original route and arrives at the Austrian border to the consternation of the Austrian officials who ask him: Why are you

Angelo, a successful American businessman had now returned to his farming and the simple life of the village. He was conscripted into the Austrian army as were hundreds of other Trentini. Many of which became the crack squad, Tiroler Kaiserjaegger, the Tyrolean hunters of the Czar. They fought in Russia and then returned to the Trentino to combat the Italian forces Angelo served as a cook strangely enough on the entrenchments on the peaks of mountains of Val Marcia, the mountain range that stares down at his very own village. Two more children arrived: Amalia and Bruno. After the war, he returned to Colorado alone in the hope of resuming his enterprise but his oldest son, Lino, was simply too traumatized by the violence that he experienced in Walsenburg and refused to return and this concluded his American odyssey. He returned permanently to his village and like Giannini in San Francisco he assisted his cash poor paesani offering them small loans to pay their taxes. Two of his daughters, Maria and Adele returned to USA, their country of origins as spouses to yet other emigrants. Angelo Berasi is truly a Tyrolean pioneer and a genuine hero.

All these details of this family was compiled by Danny Caliari of Queens, NY, a grandson of Angelo Berasi, who in 1980 was determined to discover his roots and his family`s odyssey. Well before the Internet, he would go every day on his lunch time to the Main Library on Fifth Ave and search what records he could find. He wrote and made trips to the National Archives. He interviewed whoever might provide information about his family. His work spanned 30 years. He is to be saluted for his passion and diligence. In subequent issues, we hope to have him give us some tips and instruction of how to conduct family research.

Attention: We would welcome submissions of the history, stories, and episodes of other Tyroleans who made their passage from the Trentino to our United States. Contact Lou Brunelli by phone or email. 914-739-2313 or www.louis.brunelli@att.net

Berasi Family 1921

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When our Tyrolean relatives moved about their fields, when they lifted their eyes from tilling their fields, when they looked to the distance of their valleys, what did they see and behold? They saw church steeples and lovely churches embellished with frescoes and artifacts contributed by many over the years. When they moved about their villages or led

crucifix. Looking up the mountainsides, they beheld ancient castles replete with art from a variety of artists, castles where feudal lords meted out justice and exacted tithes on behalf of a higher authority. The Trentino countryside is marked by architectural works complete with sculptures and paintings by skillful artists. When the town dwellers moved about their cities and towns, when the people from the countryside

came to these towns for services or to transact their affairs, they passed edifices and monuments that boasted of charming art and sculpture and communicated a sense of continuity and harmony. Poor as they were, they had the riches of so much art in their ordinary and everyday environments

The art of the Trentino or the Tyrol was profoundly influenced by its history and geography. It lies at the extreme southern edge of the Germanic empire, the Tyrol or the Welsch Tirol so that it became a meeting place and a sponge between the Nordic and the Latin cultures. While flanked by the Lombardy and the Veneto, the Trentino or the Sud Tirol was never part of Italy until 1919. For 800 years it was an empire or lands under the control of feudal bishops many Germanic and then for the 200 years prior to its annexation to Italy, it was the part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. This cultural and geographic combination makes its artistic expressions heterogeneous and fascinating. This very geography and cultural mixture prompted St Charles Borromeo to select the Tyrol as the logical and ideal

location for the Ecumenical Council of Trent which launched the Counter Reformation that fueled the assertiveness of the Baroque. These remarks are an introduction to how we will present in future editions of the multi-faceted aspects of the art

s, its village churches and shrines to its castles with its sculptures and paintings. We will attempt to move around the Trentino to highlight and explain the history and the features of these expressions. We welcome your inquiries and/or suggestions regarding specific examples of the art. Just below, we present the church of San Virgilio in the shadow of the Brenta Dolomites. The church is illustrated by the famous Simone Baschenis.

Shrine of San Luigi Larido Bleggio

Castel Toblino

Shrine of the Madonna & the Santi-Cavrasto

Church of St Virgilio-Bascheni frescoes Pinzolo

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Discovering your family…. With this issue of Filò we begin a journey to rediscover and to reclaim a part of ourselves, a part that lives unconsciously in us. Who we are as individuals is not just the product of what we are explicitly taught, but of our history as well. It should be important to us! History is memory of the past, its best vehicle is the family. It is found in our beliefs, abilities, genes, and gestures, but lacking awareness of the link between past and present, these lack color, depth, or even sense. Without it we are rudderless, with it we have direction and the sure knowledge that we can do anything.

We Trentini are blessed to have a long, relatively complete record of our families, recorded for us by our parish priests. We can retrieve our history. We can know the towns from which our ancestors came and find our relatives who live there today -- we are still of the same blood. One hundred years don't erase one thousand! Let's begin: gather all the information you can about your family. Write it all down: dates, places, maternal and paternal ancestors, their arrival here, the ship and port. You will quickly discover two things: first, you may know more than you realize, and second, what you don't know. Both are crucial in order to proceed.

One final task: once you discover what you do know, communicate it to your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. What are you waiting for? It's their heritage, too. Failing to pass it on to them is failing them, yourself and your ancestors. In the next issue, we'll explore tools you can access to expand what you found. You'll be surprised how much you can discover and how much it will enrich your life.

Jim Caola will serve as our guide and mentor in learning how to research and discover family roots. His paternal grandparents emigrated to Pennsylvania from Pinzolo in 1905. In 1998 Jim began to investigate his family heritage, and within the course of the intervening years he has created a database of about 56,000 individuals, a project to index all births, marriages and deaths in Val Rendena from the early 1600's through 1923, and the creation of a photographic index of all 13 cemeteries of Val Rendena, soon to be available in a set of DVDs. He hopes that his projects will one day be duplicated throughout Trentino.

Atti di Matrimonio-S. Lorenzo-Pinzolo 1

Ship Manifest of Noordland 1

Albino Caola - Giovanna Collini 1904

Jim Caola

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Fill out a data sheet for each person, beginning with your emigrant ancestor. Personal Data Sheet Subject Data: Subject Number: _____ Surname: __________________________________________________________ First Name(s) ______________________________________________________ Date of Birth: ______________________________________________________ Town of Birth: _____________________________________________________ State or County of Birth: _____________________________________________ Date of Immigration: _______________________________________________ Port of Entry: ______________________________________________________ Name of Ship (if relevant) ___________________________________________ Date & Place of Naturalization: _______________________________________ Spouse: Name of Spouse (use maiden surname): ___________________________________________________________________ Subject Number of Spouse: ___________________________________________ Date of Marriage: ___________________________________________________ Place of Marriage: ___________________________________________________ Parents of Subject: Name of Father: ___________________________________________________ Name of Mother (Maiden name): ______________________________________ Children of Subject (w/subject numbers) : ___________________________________________________________________ _________________________________ __________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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Origins of Names of the Trentino We wish to explore the origins of names of the Trentino. We will do so by examining their meaning, origins, and derivates

BELLOTTI The name derives from the words Bello and Bella and refers to a attractive physical characteristics. Many Trentini names derives from this root; 1147 a Bellotus in Trento; 1220 a Belottus in Tione.

BENINI derives from the word Beno (Benus) and means . The name is found in the Val di Giudicarie, Arco and Riva as well as the Valle dell`Adige.

BRUNELLI The name originating from the high German and meaning armor. Mozus et Vivianus sons of Calvus di Rango (1220); Manfredino Brunelli in 1316 from the Bleggio in the Valle di Giudicarie. Brunelli dictis Brunelli in Lovato 1445. 1517 Nicolò Brunelli notaio; 1527 Giacomo son of Nicolò Brunelli of Rango, lived in Arco, Notary, Vicar & Judge of the area of Arco until 1567 ; Giacomo Brunelli (XIX-XX century) born in Riva, a musician and band leader.

FENICE means a phoenix eg. Opera House in Venice is La Fenice; this name seems to have a specific origin in the Bleggio in the Val di Giudicarie; 1730, Alberto Fenice in Vezzano;1760 a Francesco Antonio Fenice in Canale.

FORADORI In dialect a forador refers to a large auger or drill. The sopranome or nickname is attributed to a craftman or a vendor of augers. It derives from the Val di Giudicarie. In 1537, there are found Antoni Foradoris e Antonium Foradoris in Seo of the Bleggio. In the nineteeth century, there is another Antonio Foradori, a

Foradori 1889-1974, born in Mezzolombardo, a vernacular poet.

We wish to reach as many Tyrolean Americans as can be identified so that we might be able to bring them information and resources regarding their roots and ancestry. Please provide us with names of friends, relatives, family members so that we can begin sending them the Filò American on a regular basis. You can do this by completing the coupons below or sending us an email with this data.

Name Address Email address Trentino Valley of Origin Send this to: Filò, PO Box 90, Crompond, NY 10567 or fax it to 914-734-9644. For further information, call 914-402-5248

Name Address Email address Trentino Valley of Origin Send this to: Filò, PO Box 90, Crompond, NY 10567 or fax it to 914-734-9644. For further information, call 914-402-5248

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Acknowledgements In the name of the thousands of Americans across our United States who long to embrace with pride the treasured heritage of their land of origin and their courageous emigrant relatives and friends, we thank and congratulate the Office of Emigration of the Autonomous Province of Trento for their support of this first issue of the Filò magazine. The recognition of their advocacy of us is truly an acknowledgement of our desire to hold on to this heritage with a greater knowledge and understanding since it gives us the gift of

Federazione Trentina delle Pro Loco e loro Consorzi is the association of 160 Pro Loco and 10 Consorzi Pro Loco working in the Trentino. 'Pro Loco' is composed of volunteers working to enhance the understanding and appreciation of their individual valley with its villages. The Federazione will focus on introducing and orienting our readers to the valleys of the Trentino: their geography, history, art and culture. Our partner will be the Director Ivo Povinelli

Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina gathers materials that refer to the history, economy and dialects and folklore of the Trentino.The Museo will be providing us with information and accounts regarding the customs of our people and the religious practices of the Trentino. Our partner will be Daniela Finardi, Communications Department &

Museo Storico collects , preserves and researches historical materials and collections of Trentino history. They have carefully documented the emigration history of the Trentino. The Museo will be providing providing the Filo with articles regarding our celebrated figures of our history, profiles on emigration and emigrants. Our partner will be Dr. Patrizia Marchesoni, Museum's Deputy Director and Head of Research, Archives and Collections

Trentino Marketing S.p.A provides information, articulation and publicity for the promotion of tourism for the Trentino. They will as glimpses in the Trentino of today. Their website is http://www.visittrentino.it/ Trentini nel Mondo Onlus is the principle advocacy agency of the Province of Trento offering outreach to Trentini Americans, convention collaboration, a monthly newsletter, a Trentino resource center replete with library, and advocacy for Trentini Americans. Their staff will serve as consultants and collaborators in the promotion of the Filo` project.

University of Trento is one of the leading unviersities in Europe with a strong international character offering a wide range of programs for international students. Our partner will be Paola Fusi, Head of Communications University of Trento

Jim Caola has worked relentlessly for more than a decade to construct a genealogical database of all the towns of Val Rendena. The database, about 50% complete, is being constructed from the baptism, marriage and death records of parishes of the valley, records which extend from the late 1500s through 1923. His articles will contribute guidance and insight to those who want to research their Tyrolean/Trentini origins.

Image Credits

Reproduced from Canti della montagna. Parole e musica, introduzione e commenti di Nora Gianmoena, Trento, Panorama editore, 2003 Figures 1-5

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Filo Magazine PO Box 90 Crompond, NY 10517