I'm told my great grandfather Palmiro Londi was a legend in his lifetime and, with some time on my hands, I decided to see if Google had anything in its archives that might tell me more about him.
My search only returned one possible result which is the story of a 90 year old man from my mother's home town Cecina Mare in Italy who recounted his war experiences and says how he was a student of of my ancestor and returned to fishing after his Italian war service ended.
What I do know about the great Palmiro is written in this book published to celebrate the new millenium which features high profile characters in the town and included chapters on a few of my relatives.
It said that he was a very strong man, the only one who could swim from the Cecina shore to the far away lighthouse at Vada and he liked his wine. Apparently he never drank from the glass and prefered to lift the barrel with strong forearms and drink direct from there.
The book - E Nel Mezzo Il Mare - also tells me that he was awarded the French Legion of Honour medal for saving the life of two French pilots whose plane crashed into the sea at Cecina during the First World War but I can't find any record of that on the internet and wonder where I should start looking.
Palmiro, it is said, also loved his women and romanced them all in Cecina in true Casanova style but I have no idea who his wife, my great grandmother, was.
His son was also a legendary figure in the town. Roberto Londi, also a fisherman, was my mother's father, my grandfather. I never met him because back in those days travel was not as easy or as cheap as it is today and he died before my first ever visit to this charming fishing village which is now a tourist haven. That began, apparently, when my great great grandfather Giannacio Londi hired out the beach where they launched their fishing boat from to soldiers stationed in nearby barracks so they could admire the beautiful young women sunbathing on the beach.
Roberto, however, did get a mention in the Corriere Della Cecina when he saved the life of a nine year old boy who was drowning in the sea. Apparently after retirement, he took up Palmiro's old spot on the beach to watch out for danger in case they needed to save more lives.
A cousin's eldest son now works as a lifeguard and so it appears to be something of a family tradition and there was something said in the book that there is "genetic propensity" among the Londi family to save people.
I can't find anything about Roberto online but now I've posted what little information I know here maybe distant relatives also keen to hear about these shared legendary family members will find it if they ever come looking.
All I know is that I come for damn good stock.
Nicely researched and told Patsy!
ReplyDeleteKeep on fightin!
:)
Michael
Thanks Michael. The research was done by Renato Menicucci who wrote the book which, I think, was commissioned by the Bagno Bisori Bar. The Bisori family is a branch of the Londi family. The bar sits by the beach that my ancestors owned and launched their boats from.
ReplyDeleteI knew a lot of this Pat, and of course I lived in Italy as a child with our grandfather and our mother's mother, our grandmother, Teresa but there are things I did not know about. A genetic propensity to save people would certainly explain my life, and my love of the sea is also very genetic I imagine. You did a good job on this. Our search for family, and history seems to be very similar. Well, sis, that's it.
ReplyDeleteLin
Just one more thing. You actually met him when you were a baby and we were in Cyprus. Mum took you and Moggie there for 2months. I doubt you would have any memory of that though.
ReplyDeleteI have no memory at all of any of my grandparents or wider family as the youngest so lucky you for getting the chance to get so close to these heroes. I have been reading the book again, thanks to Google translator, after my interest was inspired by the TV show that featured the American actress whose roots also went back to Cecina. There is a lot more to write about and I plan another blog post soon. However, at present, I am bogged down with work and can't lift my head out of the paperwork long enough to get to it.
ReplyDeleteI am just as fascinated with the English side of which I know much less but I wouldn't know where to start the research on that. As I said, Renato Menicucci made finding out about my mother's family roots easy.
I saw the Marissa Tomei show, and she is a Bianci to whom we are also related. The English side has a lot of stone masons, and so forth. I found out various things from Ancestry.com but it's a bit confusing. I put a tree to show how far I had got. The Italian side is, frankly, more interesting to me. I think great great grandfather's wife was called Augustina but not 100% certain. anyhow, if I find anything I will post it, and links.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, it seems like the English side was not surprisingly located in the Manchester area, but more surprisingly they started in Surrey.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a link to that tree? I don't actually find ancestry.com very easy to use. There is no mention of the Bianci family in the book although it is said that the Londis and their relatives could fill an encyclopaedia so only "those who left an an indelible mark" were mentioned - hence Giannaccio, Palmiro, Roberto and Clementina - who is to be the next character I look at - were mentioned.
ReplyDeletel Will look up the tree I put up and if I can I will send you a link, or a web address. Ancestry is a bit confusing making sense of it is a bit tricky. Vita's computer skills are much more extensive than mine so I will ask her to have a go. She will be with me for a few days starting tonight, and then she will be here next weekend. Let me see what I can do. I find this stuff fascinating all around. Funny thing is, I found dad's marriage to Mary, but couldn't find any record of his marriage to mum. Still looking. I found jeans death certificate, and figured out that mum was pregnant with Carla when jean died. That explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteone other thing I found out was that giannaccio and Palmiro were married by the Duke of Tuscanny before Italy became a unified country. That blew my mind.
ReplyDeleteYes, I knew that about Carla and Jean. I have a copy of mum's marriage certificate. I can't remember where I got it from but the military rings a bell. It was when I got a passport to come and visit you that I had to get more documentation than is usually required to prove I was British given that I was born abroad which - as you know - was only because dad was a British serviceman posted abroad.
ReplyDeleteThat's in the book. Not that they were married by the Duke but that they lived in pre-unified Italy
ReplyDeleteBTW - to get the link for the tree, you need to bring up the page and then copy and paste the link into a comment here. It may still not allow me in as one who is not a paid up member of ancestry.com
ReplyDeleteand here is something that may interest you too http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=2047314
ReplyDeletethanks for the link I am going to get Vita on the link today when she wakes up. Would love to get a copy of that book, any ideas? Thanks. Not sure how to stop being anonymous, but can't figure anything else out. Will be in touch with link later today.
ReplyDeletejust checked out your link. I was a baby when he died for some reason I had thought I was a bit older. Good info. Thanks.
ReplyDeletewhen I found the marriage certificat not sure where now, it was signed by the Duke of Tuscanny, so that's probably why I made the mistake of thinking he married them. Still cool though, to think of Tuscanny as an independent state.
ReplyDeleteDunno how you'd get a copy of the book but it was commissioned by the Bagno Bisori which gave me a copy when I asked for one.You could try here. Our cousin Elena Bisori has fond memories of you as a toddler https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bagni-Bisori-Di-Elena-E-Sandra-Bisori/129576453760369
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't appear to be a link that you can engage with but it has details like phone number and address.
ReplyDeleteHmm I didn't think there was anyone alive who remembered me as a toddler. Good to know. I did spend a lot of time in that bar as a kid. My nickname was Miss Nopenny because that was apparently my stock response when asked if I wanted a drink or something else I would say ' no penny'. Somethings don't change. OK tried to get link to you but because my subscription has run out it would only let me view the part of the tree that has our immediate family on it and that's not our area of interest. When I afford the new subscription I will send it then. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteLin
I looked at the date of Grandfather William's death, and I realized I was 'in utero' at the time Not sure why I thought he died later but there it is.
ReplyDeleteL.
Renato Menicucci is on FB. You can follow but not friend him. I sent a message hoping he replies. It might also be another way to get a copy of the book. I do recall Elena saying something about nopenny but I only met her once briefly at the time she gave me my copy. I got another copy for the girls a couple of years later when I called into the Bagni Bisori which had several on display. I'm guessing you visited Giannaccio's old bar which, if I read the book right, was demolished and rebuilt after the Cecina floods of Nov 1966.
ReplyDeleteprobably so Thanks for info.
ReplyDeleteLin
Good conversation. I hope you pop in again and keep reading this blog when I get time to update of course - and I will from more I've read on this particular family subject. Of course if you ever fancy contributing and writing a piece for my blog yourself - especially a piece of fiction or one of your lovely poems - then please feel free and of course I'll credit you with a byline. You have my email and I can post it up for you. I began this in hope that other writers would also get involved but none have taken me up on it yet. Maybe they just prefer to keep their own blogs which of course you could do too if you wanted to. Take care, stay well and stay happy xx
ReplyDeleteok thx
ReplyDeleteI've been using Ancestry myself for several years. Have you checked church records in the area where he lived? Marriage and birth records are recorded in churches.
ReplyDeleteMay be I have some knew about those french pilots David Donati Cecina This is my e mail address : davidandgolia@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteI did email you a few days ago. I'd be very interested to hear what you know about them.
ReplyDelete