When I first found the box of letters and photos, it brought me back to a sunny afternoon in the kitchen with my grandmother, listening to her stories about Italy and feeling the magic of being “Italian.”
So when I saw the same address on a few different envelopes, I started to wonder, what if these people are still there? What if I have relatives still living in Italy?
I thought about it for a while before I hand-wrote a letter to that address and sent it off to Italy. And then — without bothering to wait for a reply — I booked a ticket to Italy for spring break.
My life changed when I got off that plane…
After finding my way through train strikes, language barriers, dead ends, and even pickpockets, I arrived at the address on the decades-old envelope and found my family I’d never known.
There’s an entire story there… but it’s not the one I want to tell you about.
You see, in my endless adventure to trace my family’s roots and get my Italian citizenship, I ran into problem after problem. The language barrier. Complex bureaucracy. Hard-to-find documents. (Not to mention those pickpockets.)
And in spite of my best efforts to find help, there were no reliable services to guide me. So I had to figure it out on my own – later creating the company that I wished existed when I was doing this for myself 20 years ago.
For the last 16 years, my team and I have shared our expertise and passion to help thousands of people get dual Italian citizenship, meet long-lost family members, visit their ancestral family homes, and uncover incredible stories of their past hidden in their family tree.
So reach out. We would love to hear your story (and cannot wait to be a part of your journey).
Two decades ago, italyMONDO!'s founder Peter Farina had no one to help him claim his Italian passport and walk in his ancestors' footsteps. It wasn't easy, but the experience was life-changing. So, he created a company that he wished existed when he was on his own journey. Since then, Peter and his team have helped hundreds of families claim their own Italian passports, find and meet long-lost family members in Italy, and uncover and preserve their families' stories for generations to come.
italyMONDO! is proud to operate a family of brands in Italian Heritage Services, a field we pioneered 16 years ago. Each brand is dedicated to one of the three exceptional experiences we offer— citizenship, research, and travel.
