Family Comes First (Aug 2006)

Susan Sarandon. Rachael Ray. What do they have that you might not? Sicilian relatives. Yes, Susan came out to Ragusa in August 2006 to return to her grandparent’s roots, and be crowned an honorary citizen. Newly-elected mayor Nello Dispasquale and politician Ciccio Barone are at her side (see photo) as she signs the official documents. Some weeks later, while Susan was a guest on the Rachael Ray Show in the USA, they chuckled over their common Sicilian ancestry. Hands-On Sicily brought the show’s transcript directly to the Ragusa City Hall.

I wonder if Giovanni Nifosi’ and Francesca Campo, great-grandparents of Hands-On Sicily founder, Sally Veillette, knew Susan’s?

Years before Hands-On Sicily even existed (when Sally had just “retired,” began studying Italian, and frequenting her Sicilian relatives), she helped Stanford professor Rosanne Siino find her way home to Sicily, too. It was a “find-the-long-lost-family” madcap adventure where the two women hopped around the small western Sicilian village of Isola delle Femmine, chasing a string of black-and-white notices that bore her family’s name (Sicilians post notices like these around town to mark the death of a loved one).  Their connect-the-dot frenzy led to eating pizza with one of Rosanne’s distant cousins (who spoke English!), then dessert with another (who shared the same great-grandfather). Rosanne wrote a story about it entitled “Sicilian Synchronicities” [link to text] for Ariel Ford’s book, Magical Souvenirs, claiming that these mini-miracles happen only with Sally at your side (Rosie, it’s actually Sicily’s magic, not mine!)

If you don’t come with your own Sicilian roots, don’t worry. Hands-On Sicily will make you feel like part of the family. We’re all about cross-cultural exchanges—inviting international tourists, artists and volunteers to play, work and live hand-in-hand with the locals—making everyone feel at home.

The magic of travel is calling… you!

P.S. Sally met Rosanne on a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak, to raise money for CARE. Sally’s story about this adventure is also in Magical Souvenirs, entitled “Facing Death on Kilimanjaro.” [link to text]

Sally’s Sicilian family from the 1930s. (Foxes must have been in style that year!)

Zia Tina Veninata and Frances Nifosi’ Veillette, Sally’s mother

Three generations of Veillettes attend a Ragusan family wedding (2007)

Four generations of Arezzis gather for a photo. (They eat together every day, by the way.)