Join me and Nick Zingale for another of his fascinating stories as he continues to recount his visit to Molise, his maternal ancestors’ homeland.
As depicted in Nick’s original blog post, during his day-trip to San Giovanni in Galdo he goes through a series of encounters that make him closer to his roots and that he will remember forever.
In the episode, Nick mentions the characteristic regional pasta called cavatelli (please check it out on Manu’s Menu!) This pasta shape also happens to be most commonly found in Cleveland’s Little Italy, as further evidence of the strong influx of Molisan immigrants in the area.
As always, the music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.
Listen now! 
Che bel giorno! I hope you took a lot of photos! Cavateli are the typical pasta of my paese in Puglia too, but we call them cicatiell’. I’m glad you didn’t show up in the paese for an afternoon and expect to ‘find your roots’. I can’t tell you how many times someone comes to find me when I’m in Orsara to say there are ‘americani’ in town looking to find ‘I parenti’. They usually have not learned any Italian and are just passing through for a few hours- always when the anagrafa is closed! I’m off to Italia Lunedì. Buon viaggio Nick, Cristina
I’m really enjoying these posts. Makes me wish I had spent more time tracking down my long-lost relatives while I was in Italy… at the risk of being another one of those pesky “americani”. Like Cristina, I was going to mention that cavatelli are also typical of Puglia. I had an aunt who was a real expert in making them!
Thanks, Frank! I don’t think you can ever be pesky.
You definitely would not qualify Frank! Never too late to research your family….just go prepared like Nick did?
We are going to visit San Giovanni in Galdo next week. Thank you for this interesting episode!
Hi Laura, thanks for your kind note. Enjoy your trip!