Imagine discovering that your family roots go back to a small Italian village. This is exactly what happened to Angela Uliana, an American woman who, thanks to the project “Italea, the journey to your roots“, embarked on an exciting journey to discover her Italian origins.
Angela discovered that her great-grandparents, Anchise Tonelli and Teresa Baviera, were originally from Orciano, a small village in the province of Pesaro Urbino. Driven by the desire to learn more about her family, Angela decided to visit these places personally, accompanied by her husband James and our team.
Thanks to the collaboration with the Municipality of Terre Roveresche, she was able to obtain important historical documents, including the birth certificates of her great-grandparents and the marriage certificate, celebrated in 1902. The trip offered Angela not only the opportunity to explore the beauty of the Marche region, but also to connect with the past, in the hope of finding descendants of her ancestors still living in the area.
With the support of the Municipality of Terre Roveresche and in the presence of the councilor for culture, we visited the main places of Orciano di Pesaro, known for the production of bricks and jars. The Museum of Rope and Ancient Crafts was opened especially for us, allowing us to discover how bricks and ropes were made.
One of the most exciting moments of the visit was the stop at the church of Santa Maria Novella, where Angela’s ancestors got married and were probably also baptized.
The tour ended with a visit to the Museum of Emigration in Recanati, a fundamental stop to understand the history of emigration in the Marche region. Here, our guests discovered that Pennsylvania was a common destination for many emigrants from the Marche region, who traveled there to work in the mines.
Angela, with the support of Italea Marche, hopes to meet someone who can help her piece together the missing pieces of her family history. Who knows, maybe one day he will be able to shake hands with a distant Italian relative.
