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 For
Italo-Americans, a Perillo Tour is a great way to get to know
your roots - walk the streets your grandparents walked, visit
distant cousins, dive deep into your genetic pool. And it goes
without saying; your relatives in the "old country" will be even
more excited to see you!
While a Perillo Tour is a structured vacation, you can visit
the towns of your ancestry by flying into Italy early or extending
your stay at the end of your tour. We can help you with that during
the booking process. (Extending Your Tour). If your family lives
near a scheduled Perillo Tour stop, your may be able to fit them
easily into the tour itself.
(Perillo Tours does not arrange for travel and accommodations
off of the tour, your local relatives will probably know best
about these arrangements. But as always, we are here to help in
your planning.)
It is often possible to determine where your Italian ancestors
lived-and where your relatives may still live! - from your surname.
Also, the prefixes, including "di", "da", and "la", can shed some
interesting light on the history of your family.
Of course, your Tour Guide will be happy to discuss the subject
further, as ancestry is a favorite avocation for all Italians
(as is "discussing"!)
You can explore your Family Roots on any of our Perillo Italy
Tours.
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- Rossi - Hugely popular from Naples up to the Alps
- Russo - Milan, Naples and Sicily
- Ferrari - North of Florence
- Esposito - Very Neapolitan!
- Bianchi - Rome, Florence & Milan areas
- Romano - Rome (obviously), Sicily and quite a few found in Puglia region
- Colombo - Milan and, of course, Genoa!
- Ricci - Naples to the Alps
- Marino - Naples down to Sicily
- Greco - Where is Italy closest to Greece? Puglia!
- Bruno - Both Milan and southern Italy
- Gallo - Both Milan and southern Italy
- Conti - From Rome up to Milan
- De Luca - Rome and Naples
- Costa - North of Florence
- Giordano - Naples and Milan
- Mancini - Naples, Rome and Florence areas
- Rizzo - The south and Sicily
- Lombardi - Naples and Milan
- Moretti - Milan and Central Italy
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Patronyms (son of): The prefix "di" (meaning "of" or "from")
is often attached to an otherwise ordinary Christian name to form
a patronym. di Benedetto (for example) is the Italian equivalent
of Benson, di Giovanni is Johnson, and di Miceli is Michaleson.
Most interesting is the fact that such patronyms often derive
not from the name of a paternal ancestor, but from a favored saint
or religious figure. Saint Dominic (for example), the founder
of the Dominican order, gives us di Domenico, Didomenici, Menico,
Menicossa... literally hundreds of related patronyms.
Location: The prefixes "da" and "di" (again meaning "of" or
"from") are often associated with a place of origin. Examples
include da Vinci and di Napoli. This often evolved from a nickname
for someone who was "from" a place, but no longer lived there.
Nicknames: The prefixes "la" and "lo" (meaning "the") were often
derived from nicknames. Giacomo la Greca, for example, means Jimmy
the Greek. But in the mid 19th century, the prefix was widely
attached to older names in Sicily (at least) where it meant "of
the family of." For example, the Licata family became la Licata,
and the Greco family became lo Greco.
Over time, the prefixes could often be dropped again, or sometimes
combined to become a single name (like Dimiceli, or Diliberto).
Often siblings would go through lives with different forms, or
change them almost willy-nilly from one document to the next.
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