Orsara Di Pulgia

The Tasty Tomato found a blog on none other than Orsara Di Puglia! All who are interested in looking and learning more about the Campagna of our heritage are encouraged to check this out. Mind you, it is in Italian, but there are photos and some items which will make sense.

Today the group split up. The Di Lauro family when to Ascoli Satriano for more interviews and filming for the documentary. There was much conversation, laughter and good food to be had.

Carmella and Michael remained in Orsara to meet up with their family. This is the first time Michael has ever met these relatives and he was amazes at the family resemblance. One cousin looked just like Grandpa he said. There another relative on our father's side came walking down the lane and both took a double take, as it looked just like their father's mother, who lived with them for a time. Even some of the grandchildren grew up with this grandma, we referred to her as Grandma Diseno.

The stories the sharing, the planning for tomorrow's big family meal was all underway. Photos were shared and news of a family tree which outlined our mother's mother's family is forth coming. Very excited to see the lineage and learn more of the family history. It seems a cousin of ours also owns a hotel.

Now you can imagine the wheels are turning in Carmella's brain. What about a trip to Italy next year were the only real destination is Orsara for a cooking school week and the opportunity to live among the real Italians of our ancestry? Any takers???

You can be certain, this trip will inspire many changes to come for La Campagna. All of those changes to include more family, more food, more artful ways of living and an increased connection to the roots of the tasty tomato!

This is a picture of Saint Michael's church. Saint Michael is the patron saint for Orsara and consequently a popular name for the men of this town in honor of Saint Michael. Now the pieces start to come together, our Great Grandfather was named after this saint and of course the boys in the family are usually named after the elder men so our one boy was named Michael. The church is under restoration, but one of our cousins, Carmen, was able to get us in due to the fact another cousin is working on the restoration. They were unable to go into the grotto, underneath, but were able to see the church of this beautiful town. This very church is where Grandma and Grandpa Fragassi were married.

For Italo - American's our history goes back only so far, early 1900s or so. Imagine actually being able to go to the place where your family has lived for centuries, not decades, but centuries? This is mind blowing and Michael keeps saying, "I am home again, this is awesome and great".