Barkerburgh

Luisa is part ancient Roman, part pre-Indo-European Italian aboriginal (maybe related to the Basques), probably part Classical Greek (ancient pre-Roman colonies at Naples, Taranto and Cumae, for example), maybe part Etruscan (it’s a short hike) , possibly part Saracen (invasions), possibly part Norman French (more invasions), perhaps Spanish (even more invasions). She might have the blood of immigrants, slaves or merchants from all over the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, or possibly, just possibly, Phoenicians or Egyptians out exploring for lands or trade opportunities far past the edge of their worlds when Greece and Rome were nothing and nobody.

(Of course, that means her two boys are half all that too, plus half of whatever their fathers have going.)

Well, she’s going back to one of the ancestral homelands for a visit, the central Italian province of Isernia, and the municipality of Macchiagodena.

This is a bit about Macchiagodena, the burg her parents come from, actually a village outside Macchiagodena with the mysteriously delightful name (for an Italian mountain village), Incoronata.

This is the Google map of Italy focussed on the latitude and longitude of Macchiagodena, (because Google Maps couldn’t find it otherwise.) You can zoom in on the mountains and countryside. It must be beautiful to be parallel to it at ground level, instead of perpendicular. I’m sure Luisa will get plenty of pictures for us.

Have a safe trip, dear friend. Bring me back a rock (even a pebble) of geographical and historical significance.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 19th, 2005 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Milestones!, Thoughts, True Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.