Important archeological find close to Sonnino

News: Lost city of Amyclae discovered

News: Lost city of Amyclae discovered.

Sonnino's "Festa tricolore" article that mentions my cousin Luciano

Evangelici.net - Notizie: Sonnino, una "Festa tricolore" benefica

Grandma and Grandpa talking about making pasta

This is part of the oral history I recently did with my grandparents. In this clip they're talking about how my Great-Grandmother (Guessipina Bernardini) used to make pasta by hand. Just click on the play arrow to listen.

Is the Sonnino blog going to have sound soon?

The answer is yes. I’m looking for tools to add audio to the blog. My hope is that people will send me audio files as well as pictures. I recently did a bit of oral history with my grandfather and grandmother that I would love to post.

Additionally, I would like to add audio to my “Sonninese Word of the Week” posts. When I’m in Sonnino April, I plan to record my Sonninese relatives pronouncing the Sonninese words. Residents of Sonnino, beware of me approaching you with my digital recorder!

Places to stay around Sonnino

I'm keeping a list of placed to stay around Sonnino. Please add any that aren't mention on the blog. You can even leave reviews. Here are the first two. One in Fossanova and the other in Terracina.

www.albergoanticoborgo.it/index.htm

www.villaida.com/home.html

Olive di Sonnino

This picture makes me happy every time I look at it. It's a picture we took when we were in Sonnino in November. It makes me think of the all of the amazing Sonninese olive oil we had.

Boots in the Oven: Driving Lazio

This is link to a couples' travel log. They were driving down the Lazio coast and just picked Sonnino off a map and decided to stop. It's neat to see Sonnino thought the eyes of tourists. They even posted pictures. Enjoy.

Boots in the Oven: Driving Lazio

Jews in Italy (and what is has to do with Sonnino)

This is an interesting article about the history of the Jewish people in Italy. More interesting is the fact that "Sonnino" was one of the more common Jewish last names. You can find the reference about halfway down the article.

Tracing the Tribe: At the ICJG: Jews in Italy

Short video of chanting in the Fossanova Abbey (click twice to view)

This is a short video of the inside of Fossanova Abbey, a very famous abbey next to Sonnino. I found the video on Youtube.com. Enjoy.

Video of the view from Sonnino (click twice to play)

This is the view from the backside of Sonnino. You can see the sea and the town of Terracina in the distance.

My first batch of pasta

Inspired by Lydia and Annunciantina Bernardini, I tried my hand at making fresh pasta last week. I went on a website called Craigslist.org where people buy and sell things they don’t want or need. I was able to pick up an Atlas pasta machine for $25. The women who sold it to me even threw in a ravioli attachment. With help from my wife Margherita and friend James, we were able to make some delicious artichoke ravioli and tagliatelle. Margherita made a white wine sauce with butter and garlic that was fabulous. I’ve never had so much fun or had such fresh ravioli. On top of that, the pasta machine gave me quite a workout. I’m hoping that as I get better at making the pasta, I’ll be able to cut down on the time.

All this leads me to a request or a request for recipes. I would love to create a place on this blog where family recipes can be shared…so start sending them in. You can even take a picture of the dish! My next batch of pasta is this weekend, wish me luck.

Sonninese Word of the Week

Since I come from a family of butchers I figured this would be a good one to add to our Sonninese dictionary:

Butcher in standard Italian: Macellaio

Butcher in Sonninese: Maceglio

Thoughts and Prayers please

My grandfather, Angelo Bernardini, starts chemotherapy tomorrow. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. On a happier note, I was able to do some oral history recording with my grandmother and him over Christmas. Once I figure out how to post audio clips, I'll post samples.

Me and Giovanni with "pertecas"

 

This is a picture of Giovanni and me shaking our "pertecas". As I learned during my last trip to Sonnino, a perteca is used to knock the ripe olives out of the tree. Giovanni and Anunciantina were nice enough to take my wife Margherita and me to the campania (countryside). Each family has a plot where they grow olives, lemons, oranges, figs, pomegranates, etc. Giovanni and Annunciantina have a beautiful plot and a great outdoor brick oven.

Christmas gift from Sonnino

This is a picture of my grandfather, Angelo Bernardini, holding some soppressata that his cousin Tonino from Sonnino sent to him. It was his favorite Chistmas gift. I'm glad customs didn't check my bags on the way back!

 

Want to look at posts from past months?

It's easy. Just click on black arrows next to the months on right side of the page. This will show you all the posts for that month. Check them out!

Refurbished church in old Sonnino

This is the church right across from the Castle in old Sonnino. It was recently refurbished and looks great. I was told it was built in the 12th century. Anybody know the name? As we were leaving the church my cousin Graziano pointed to the man in the picture who takes care of the church and said "that's another one of your relatives. I seem to meet new relatives each time I visit!

Look up where your last name is found in Italy (or the USA)

This is such a great site. You can type in you last name and the the website will show you where people with you last name live and the concentration. You can run the same search for the US as well. Apparently there are on Bernardinis in and around Sonnino. Enjoy!

- L'Italia dei Cognomi

Photo of the castle taken from the piazza in Sonnino. The photo was taken by Bob Frateschi of Syracuse, NY

Pitcure of the "torre di Antonelli"

Sonninese Word of the Week

So I've started to keep a little Sonninese dictionary (the dialect of Sonnino) and add new words each time I visit. My relatives in Sonnino will often say "It's great that you're learning Italian, now when are you going to learn Sonninese!" Maybe they don't realize there are only 6,000 or so Sonninese speakers in the world. So here's the first word...please write me with any Sonninese words or sayings that you know:

Ihoni = Oh God!

"Ihoni" is very similar to the Jewish "Oye Vey!"