Luco dei Marsi

Today, after our subway, train and bus rides, we finally arrived in Luco dei Marsi. This is the town that we believe my mom’s grandmother- Maria Gargana was from. We exited the bus near the piazza, and walked down the street to see if we could find a tourist information center. Most shops seemed to be closed, but we did find one open place – some sort of office. Using my small Italian language skills, because the three women in the office knew absolutely no English, I learned the location of the town church and also that we should eat at Ristorante Carallo. We returned to the piazza and walked up the steps to see the town church. We met a Luco man in front of the church who spoke English. He said that the family name Gargana was definitely from the area and there were still family members in the area. He suggested that we check with the town hall to see about family records. We went in to the church, wondering if it was possible that this was where our grandmother and grandfather were married, before taking the boat over. How cool is that? We looked for a church office but nothing was open.

We then headed to lunch at Ristorante Carrallo. It was really nice – traditional Italian and such sweet service. Our server there also knew the Gargana name. She said they might own a tabacchi shop on the main road. After eating, we went past the shop but it was closed. We stopped in at the town hall, and I gave the man a list of the names we were looking for. He said it would be impossible to find the information that day, especially since our bus back to Avezzano was leaving in ½ hour. I left him my address so we’ll see what information, if any, turns up. (All this communication was also done strictly in Italian – I am getting impressed with my abilities!) It is too bad we did not have more time in Luco, and more information before we even arrived in Italy, but it was still interesting to see the town and streets that our ancestors walked before immigrating.

We took the bus – train – subway route back to Rome, stopped and had gelato and pastries for dinner and then back to the apartment to play chess and go to bed.

Tomorrow we fly to Croatia!