Join us as we journey into the overlooked chapters of World War II history with our esteemed guest, Carmine Vittoria, author of the insightful book, Hidden in Plain Site. This episode promises to unravel not just the tales of hidden internment camps in Southern Italy under the reign of Mussolini, but also the gripping dynamics of post-war migration and internment in Italy. We’ll delve into the heart-tugging realities of internment towns wiped out by bombings, and follow the trails of displaced Jews, who found new homes across the globe, from Israel to America. Carmine also shares some fascinating insights from Carlo Levy’s renowned book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, a literary masterpiece that offered a sense of identity to the local Italian populace during those turbulent times. Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video

But I know my grandparents came from Italy, how come I’m not 100% on my Italian  DNA test?  I know where I came from, why should I take a DNA test.  Ahh, there just made up anyway, somebody I know took the test and it said they where only 10% Italian, how can that be? All valid questions.  One thing we have to remember is that Italy was not united until the mid 19th Century.  Before then, it was conquered and ruled by many other countries.  In addition, cities like Naples, Florence, Venice, Milan were all important stops on trade routes as was Sicily. Autosomal DNA tests trace back 10 generations, so to your 8th great grandparents or anywhere from 200 to 250 years.  The charts below will help you to understand.   My children are both adopted and for several years I kept seeing the same names from my wife’s DNA as matches to my son.  I knew they had to be related in some way, but could not prove it.  When her first cousin did a test, our son appeared as her 5th cousin.  As they are all from the same general area in Puerto Rico, it is very possible that they are related. Relationship to You Likelihood of a Match % of DNA Shared 1st Cousin (common grandparents) 100% 7-13 2nd Cousin (common great-grandparents) >99% 3-5 3rd Cousin (common great-great grandparents >90% .3-2 4th Cousin (common ggg grandparents) >50% <1% 5th Cousin (common gggg grandparents) >10% Sometimes none detectable at match threshold 6th Cousin (common ggggg grandparents) <2% Often none detectable at match threshold Click on the photo to buy a great book on the origin of Italian names! Enter IR2020 at checkout for 20% discount. Another great question, how come my sister or brother is more Italian than I am?  Here’s a great example from Who are you made of?  Check there site for a lot more good info.  Here’s a link to my DNA COMPARISON from 3 different companies.  And one of my first posts on DNA. Jellybean example to explain how impossible it would be for two siblings to have 100% identical DNA Imagine that you are sitting in front of two giant jugs of jellybeans.  Each jug has 7,000 jellybeans, and each jug represents DNA from each of your parents.  You are instructed to pour half of each container into a new jug, which represents your own DNA. You then put them back. Your sister or brother comes along, and is instructed to do the same thing (let’s pretend, in our story, that the jellybeans magically were poured back into the right jug for mom or dad).  Your sibling pours jellybeans from each container into their own jug. How many matching jellybeans do you think you each got? The probability is that about 50% of your jellybeans were the same, and about 50% of them were different.  This is a very simplified example of the way that DNA inheritance works.  When your parents conceive you, the DNA that you will randomly inherit from each parent is already programmed into the sperm and the egg.  A statistician could probably give us the exact odds, but all we really need to know is that probability favors about half of your randomly chosen jellybeans matching the ones that your sibling selected. In this image below, They illustrate overlapping shared DNA between siblings, and what is not shared: We have some recommended some very good books on DNA. Click to Join Our Facebook Page I tried to make this simple, but not easy!!!   Where does Italian DNA come from? Another thing to also consider is Haplogroups.   Here is a simple explanation from Living DNA on Motherline Within each of your cells, you have thousands of mitochondria, structures which supply energy to the cell. Your mitochondria have their own DNA, which makes it possible to trace the motherlines of individuals across the world and see how they connect. As our ancestors changed how they were living, from generations to generations, it created changes in the mtDNA – which is shown as branches of the mtDNA tree. Each person on this planet receives their mtDNA from their mother, who received it from her mother, who in turn received it from her mother. Males also receive the mtDNA from their mothers, but do not pass it on to their children, as the few mitochondria that power the sperm before it fertilizes the egg are dwarfed by the thousands of mitochondria in the egg. Your haplogroup is a collection of family lines you are connected to within your mtDNA. You share a common ancient ancestor with all the people who share your haplogroup. Haplogroups can be associated with geographic regions, and are also used to trace the ancient migrations of early humans. The details and history of your haplogroup are and you can view a map of haplogroup distribution, your haplogroup’s speculated migration route over hundreds and thousands of years and where on the mtDNA tree you fit. The maps used are what we know today to be the borders of each country, however these have just been created for political reasons. This means that although you may be shown your ancestry comes from certain countries, this would have looked very different 100 years ago. Haplogroup: U4 Subclade: U4a A genetic story of your motherline Haplogroup U encompases U1-U8 and K. Origin pre-dates agricultural expansion in Europe. Your motherline belongs to the U4 group. The U4 haplogroup can be found in low frequencies across much of Europe and Asia. Uncommon in Middle Eastern areas, and it is rare to find frequencies above 2%. Similarly, U4 is not far from absent in African populations. This group is more commonly found in populations near the Ural Mountains and Volga River in Siberia (Malyarchuk et al., 2010).. Studies have suggested that the Kalash have the highest percentages of U4 in the world (Quintana-Murci et al., 2004). However, these are based on small samples that may suggest the percentage of U4 is higher than it is in reality. This motherline is estimated to have arisen up to 25,000 years ago. Amongst the Mansi, a small Siberian population, U4 originated around 18,000 years ago in the later stages of the Upper paleolithic (Malyarchuk, 2004). U4 is therefore an old group, which helps to explain the relatively low frequencies in populations today. It is now thought that haplogroup U4 was involved in migrations into Europe from the Middle East that occurred before the end of the last ice age. Who were the people who carried your signature? The U4 group has been linked to migrations into Europe during the last ice age. The populations who migrated from the Middle Eastern regions would have been hunter gatherers. They were hardy nomadic people who utilised caves and natural shelters to protect themselves from predation and the elements. They ate edible plants, nuts and berries and had skilled huntsman to catch prey to cook and eat. The Pitted Ware cultures have also been interlinked with this motherline. Pitted Ware populations were a later hunter gatherer group. They were mainly found across Scandinavia from 5200 years ago. Studies suggest U4 is at its highest frequency today in Kalash populations. This population has puzzled geneticists for quite some time, proving to be a difficult enigma to crack. They appear to have much higher frequencies of U4 that neighbouring populations, which was once thought to be down to conquering groups colonising the area. This would perhaps fit in with the Kalash’s self proclaimed idea that they are descendants of the armies of Alexander the Great. However, discoveries in genetics are beginning to point towards a Siberian descent – an area in which U4 is commonly found (Ayub et al., 2015). Citations Ayub, Q., et al. 2015. The Kalash genetic isolate: ancient divergence, drift, and selection. Malyarchuk, B. A. (2004). Differentiation of the mitochondrial subhaplogroup U4 in the populations of Eastern Europe, Ural, and Western Siberia: Implication to the genetic history of the Uralic populations. Malyarchuk, B. et al. 2010. Mitogenomic diversity in Tatars from the Volga-Ural region of Russia. Quintana-Murci, L., et al. 2004. Where west meets east: the complex mtDNA landscape of the southwest and Central Asian corridor. BUT MOM WAS FROM BARI!!! Motherline Countries Motherline Migration Fatherline haplogroup from Living DNA. Your Y chromosome (YDNA) is passed down from father to son, which we refer to as your ‘fatherline’. The Y chromosome is the sex chromosome that determines you are male. So only sons inherit the Y chromosome from their father, who inherited from his father and so on. It is a direct male line you can trace back along your entire ancestry. Your haplogroup is a collection of related family lines you are connected to through your Y chromosome (YDNA). You share a common ancient ancestor with all the people who share your haplogroup. Haplogroups can be associated with geographic regions, and are also used to trace the ancient migrations of early humans. The details and history of your haplogroup are and you can view a map of your haplogroup’s distribution today, your haplogroup’s speculated migration route over hundreds and thousands of years and where on the YDNA tree you fit. The maps used are what we know today to be the borders of each country, however these have just been created for political reasons. This means that although you may be shown your ancestry comes from certain countries, this would have looked very different 100 years ago.   Haplogroup: G2a Subclade: G2a2b2b A genetic story of your fatherline Your fatherline is concentrated across the mountainous regions of Europe. Your fatherline signature belongs to the G2a  group. Your fatherline has been associated with the migrations that occurred from the Near East to Europe during the Neolithic (New Stone Age). Around 11,500 years ago, haplogroup G2 split into two branches: G2a and G2b. G2b spread across Iran, whilst G2a travelled with its carriers across Anatolia and Europe. WIth the spread of agricultural technologies, practices and ideas came movements of people and populations. The populations that spread into Europe are thought to have carried the G2a fatherline with them, which helps explain the small presence of this haplogroup across Europe today. The high percentage of G2a found in samples from Neolithic burials suggests the carriers of this group played a significant role in Neolithic migrations across Europe some 6-8000 years ago (Lacan et al., 2011). Today, the highest frequency of G2a can be found across the most mountainous zones of Europe. This fatherline can be found from the Apennine mountains to Greece. One possible reason for this haplogroup being so concentrated in the mountains is that these high altitudes acted as a place of refuge for the migrating tribes who carried G2a. Most likely during the early Bronze Age, carriers of your fatherline retreated to the mountains after Indo-Europeans invaded much of Europe from the Eurasian Steppe (Hay, 2016). Who were the people who carried your signature? People from the Near East gradually migrated across Europe via Anatolia from 9,000 BP, bringing the knowledge of raising livestock and cultivating crops. Hunter gatherer lifestyles were slowly replaced and farmers assimilated with many existing groups across Europe. These populations are thought to have brought the G2a haplogroup to Europe, alongside the new farming techniques. The farming populations that migrated from the Anatolia region to the rest of Europe were discovered to be predominantly of the G2a group (Lacan et al., 2011).  The farming of land occurred around 2000 years before this European expansion, partly due to the lengthy processes involved in the domestication of crops, thus hunting and gathering for food would have remained a staple for survival for many millenia. It is possible to link carriers of G2a with populations who were part of the Cardial Pottery culture, among many other cultures across Europe. These people were likely farmers who made and transported cardial style pottery, travelling across the Aegean by sea and ultimately settling across what is now Italy, France and Iberia (Hay, 2016). From here, the style evolved into Cardium Pottery some 6000 years before present, whereby shells were used to print shapes onto clay (Amorosi & Morelli, 2012). Of the Neolithic remains associated with this culture, a large majority belonged to G2a. Citations Amorosi, A., & Morelli, A. (2012). The Influence of Transgressive Paleogeography on the Development and Decline of Cardium Pottery Culture (Mediterranean Neolithic). Climates, Landscapes, and Civilizations, 171-176. Hay, M., (2016). Haplogroup G2a, [ONLINE]. Lacan, M., et al. (2011). Ancient DNA suggests the leading role played b y men in the Neolithic dissemination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(45), 18255-18259. Fatherline Countries Fatherline Migration My Autosomal Chart from Living DNA Start your own newsletter

Imagine stepping back into the brilliant opulence of 15th century Italian fashion with none other than esteemed author, Tim McCall as our guide. Picture the Italian princes adorned in radiant attire, their shining bodies reflecting their wealth and power. Not just a dazzling display, this episode uncovers the intricate Sumtuary Laws, the rules that dictated the length, color, and type of clothing according to status. And buckle up, because there’s an intriguing twist: the severe consequences that came with attempting to deceive buyers with counterfeit gems and gold. But this journey doesn’t stop at the glistening surface. We go behind the scenes of the silk production that engulfed Italy in the 1300s, culminating in a fashion peak in Milan in the 15th century. We’ll trace the pathways of Isabella D’Este, dubbed the ‘Jackie Kennedy of the Renaissance’, navigating the royal courts of Europe with her refined sense of fashion, even as she traded dress dolls to keep up with international fashion trends. And just when you thought it couldn’t get more interesting, we dive into the her riveting correspondence, and some tantalizing discoveries about Isabella’s role as a patron of the arts. Finally, we take a detour into Renaissance masculinity and fashion. You won’t want to miss the tale of a 15th-century Italian prince’s quest for self-fashioning, complete with fresco cycles and a desire for whiter teeth in a time before modern dentistry. As we wrap up, we’ll delve into the creation of Tim’s new book ‘Making the Renaissance Man’, a treasure trove of insights about this vibrant period. So, come along on this fascinating journey into the heart of Renaissance Italy. You won’t be disappointed. Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video

Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook Originally, the city’s northeast shoreline extended only to what is today Taylor and Francisco streets. The area largely known today as North Beach was an actual beach, filled in with land fill around the late 19th century. Warehouses, fishing wharves, and docks were then built on the newly formed shoreline. Due to the proximity of the docks, the southern half of the neighborhood south of Broadway was home of the infamous Barbary Coast.[6] Following its reconstruction after the 1906 earthquake, a large number of Italian immigrants created the Italian character of the neighborhood that still exists. Prominent Italian Americans that came from the neighborhood include baseball legend Joe DiMaggio who grew up in the neighborhood and briefly returned to live there with his wife Marilyn Monroe during the 1950s, as well as former San Francisco mayor and politician Joseph Alioto plus others from the prominent Alioto family. During the 1950s, many of the neighborhood’s cafes and bars became the home and epicenter of the Beat Generation and gave rise to the San Francisco Renaissance. The term “beatnik” originated from the scene here and was coined in a derogatory fashion by famed San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. Many of that generation’s most famous writers and personalities such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Neal Cassady lived in the neighborhood. Another poet from this generation, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founded the City Lights Bookstore that still exists today on the corner of Broadway and Columbus as an official historic landmark and serves as one of the main focal points of this generation. During the 1960s a notable night spot was The Committee, an improvisational theatre group founded by alumni of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300-seat cabaret theater. 19732012Carol Doda‘s Condor Club at Columbus and Broadway The Broadway area also created innovations for the strip club industry. The Condor Club, on the corner of Columbus and Broadway, was opened in 1964 as America’s first topless bar, which it is again today. The Lusty Lady was the first striptease club to be structured as a worker cooperative, which meant that it was managed by the dancers who worked at that peep-show establishment. Broadway strip clubs owe their legacy to the Barbary Coast, which was located just one block south on Pacific Street during the late 19th-century.[citation needed] In the 1970s and 1980s Broadway was the location of many live music clubs, like the Stone, and a punk rock club called the Mabuhay Gardens.[citation needed] Since the 1980s, and much like Manhattan’s Little Italy, due to a decrease in emigration from Italy and gentrification, the neighborhood has seen its native Italian American population rapidly shrink, while neighboring Chinatown has been rapidly expanding north into the neighborhood south of Broadway and along Stockton Street causing a major demographic shift to a mix of mostly Chinese and young professional population, although some, albeit very few, Italian Americans remain.[citation needed] Paul Kantner was living in North Beach in an apartment unit above Al’s Attire at the corner of Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street at the time of his death, and was often a patron of nearby Caffe Trieste.[7] North Beach was home to the first lesbian bar in San Francisco, Mona’s 440 Club. Mona Sargeant and her husband Jimmie opened Mona’s in 1936 in a North Beach basement as a small underground bar celebrating the end of Prohibition. Once Mona’s gained enough popularity between the gay community and tourists, the club moved to a much larger location at 440 Broadway Street. The club remained Mona’s 440 until the mid 1950s. Wikipedia Little Italy in New York goes back to the late 1800’s .  Rather than go into a all that history here, I will give you some links to articles and some books on the subject, written by people who write better than I.  Also, there are some great Youtube videos that you can watch. San Francisco’s Italians – SFGenealogy Where to Find Italy In America – Italy Magazine Italian Americans in California – Berkley   Some great videos of Little Italy in San Francisco 1970’s Molinari’s North Beach Gino and Carlo Things to do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9TZFt4gA8khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlDmz8QYoQ4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3o2onIxS-Mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXXGkWpxQKUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O_VgtrK8x8

Photo from northend.com Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook I’ve been to Boston’s Little Italy or the North End many times.  Smaller than New York’s Little Italy, it still has some great Italian restaurants and bakeries.  The home of Prince Spaghetti and where Sacco and Vanzett were arrested. Little Italy in Boston goes back to the late 1800’s .  Rather than go into a all that history here, I will give you some links to articles and some books on the subject, written by people who write better than I.  Also, there are some great Youtube videos that you can watch. Short History of Boston’s North End – The North End How the North End Became Boston’s Little Italy – The Boston Globe North End Italians – North End Boston Mike’s Pastry.  Some of the best cannoli around.  And they deliver!