A Little Bit About Orio

The breathtaking Italian Alps dominate Orio's skyline.

The town in which we visited is about 30 minutes outside Turin in the northwest of Italy. Orio Canavese has perhaps 750 people and dates from medieval times--which is abundantly apparent from the layout of the streets and appearance of the buildings. The town is populated by people named Ponsetti, Tapparo and Zanino, all of whom are somehow related to each other. For the most part, none of them know HOW they are related, but they can tell you if you ask which of the various branches are NOT related, even though they bear the same surname. Laura's grandmother immigrated from this small town at the turn of the 20th century, leaving behind a large clan of siblings and cousins. Apparently, the families on opposite sides of the Atlantic lost touch during the Second World War, and it was not until Laura tracked them down again in 1992 that they were reconnected. She has since been back five times and is quite welcomed by all the family as the American, especially since she learned Italian so that she would be better able to speak to them. This time, however, she gained new stature because she is The American WITH CHILDREN! One of the things we have been trying to do since Laura first met the family is track the family history, which was largely lost when the connection was severed in the middle of the last century. Each visit, we add a few more branches. Thus we were all the more amazed and delighted on Sunday when we had lunch with a cousin whose house we had not previously visited to find a complete, printed family tree hanging on the wall! It was, admittedly, the tree of the cousin's wife, but as I pointed out, since everyone is related, it eventually branched into Laura's line as well. Unfortunately, we only discovered this treasure as we were leaving, but big plans were made for exchanging email and for a future visit to go together to the records of the parish church and finish the job!