My Mission to Bring Descendants Back to their Roots – Giovanna Di Biccari

Back in 2019 I started a Facebook page called Amici di Orsara with my intention to bring people that have moved away, visited once, or have never been to come back to their roots. The song by Imagine Dragons called “Roots” often plays in my head while working on the page. I often visited Orsara as a kid and continued to, long after my dad passed away. But it was Christmas of 2019, the last time I visited my late dad’s home town, that it occurred to me that Orsara needed my help. My aunt and uncle spoke of how the winter feels desolate and I remembered how alive I felt running the streets as a kid, without my parents.

I decided to make a Facebook page and connect descendants to Orsara with a mission to come back often, and a homecoming in the year 2022. I was happy to get 100 fans. A few months later, an Instagram and YouTube page added, I’m over 2,000 fans and counting. Not only that, but things have been taken to another level. I’ve been contacted by people all over the world including Argentina, the United States, and Canada looking for their distant cousins. We’ve actually connected some! What a wonderful world.

But I need to focus on the mission to bring people for the homecoming in 2022. Luckily I have my NOIAW friends Laney Sachs and Kathleen Guglielmo who have both advised me on travel, and both offered to create travel packages to Orsara (with stops at other cities) to make it easier for those who have never been. I can’t tell you how excited I am for those choosing to go.

Getting people to go is a monumental task in some ways. It requires them planning, paying for a vacation to Italy, and intention to make that their vacation destination. However, I find that many people are in love with this magical town after seeing the pictures as well in love with the idea to go on a heritage tour. Finding where their family started gives one a sense of pride.

And then there are the people in Orsara that will be waiting for them. Often on the page, I will see many people commenting to foreigners that they are invited to have dinner at their house or that they will show them around. The excitement is there. In fact, my story was written about in a Puglia newspaper as well as the local newspaper in Orsara.

There’s a hope from the people in Orsara that the foreigners do show up. Maybe it’s the thought of Orsara being alive again. Or the feeling that long lost family is coming home. Could it be the foreigners will show up in honor of their late grandparents’ sacrifice? Whatever the reason one feels the hope of foreigners visiting, or the reason to visit Orsara, all of the reasons are right.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Giovanna Di Biccari is an actress, producer, and writer. “While looking for an Italian club to join and stay connected to my Italian heritage, I found NOIAW. They were the only organization I found that were about empowering women and sharing our pride. Joining NOIAW has opened new doors for me across the globe. I now work with women in NYC, DC, and Connecticut who have helped me in my line of work as well as with my personal goals.”