Wednesday, 30 September
For more than thirty years, I have been researching my family history, with my Italian ancestry proving to be particularly challenging. Naturally, the records are written by hand in Italian, and even dates pose a difficulty—appearing as long written numbers like milleottocentottantadue instead of simply 1882. However, recent advancements in AI have made transcribing and translating these documents significantly faster and more accurate. While the resulting translations are not flawless, they serve as an excellent starting point.
Anzi, a small southern Italian commune located roughly two hours east of Naples with a population of around 1,500, is where my maternal grandfather and three of my four great-grandparents were born. My grandmother’s parents departed Anzi around 1885, and my grandfather later emigrated in 1906. Utilizing commune records from 1809 to 1865 available on the Portale Antenati website, I have successfully traced my family lineage back seven generations, with the earliest recorded events estimated around 1730.
I am planning a ten-day journey to Anzi, where I will walk the very streets of my ancestors and visit the local church where they celebrated their baptisms and weddings. I hope to obtain certified copies of my grandfather’s birth record as well as his parents’ marriage record. Because my grandfather never became a naturalized US citizen, I might be eligible for Italian citizenship.
But first, I will be flying to Munich to spend a couple of days with Nicole and her husband, Frank. I hiked about 500 miles of the Appalachian Trail with Nicole in 2017 and we have kept in touch since.
Dolora dropped me off at Dulles for my 10:20 pm flight. Traffic was light on the way to the airport, her trip home was delayed by an accident. Right away the flight board showed a delay with no time. Messages from Lufthansa still indicated the flight would board on time. The Flight Aware app showed that the plane would not even arrive until 9:00. Shortly after the planned boarding time attendants at the gate announced 10:40 boarding with an 11:20 departure. The plane is a four engine, double deck Air Bus 380 which has a capacity of 509 passengers. I expect boarding will take all of the 40 minutes scheduled plus!Dolora dropped me off at Dulles for my 10:20 pm flight. While traffic was light on my way to the airport, an accident delayed her drive home.
The flight board immediately showed an unscheduled delay, even though messages from Lufthansa still claimed boarding would be on time. However, the Flight Aware app indicated the aircraft wouldn’t arrive until 9:00. Shortly after the initial boarding time passed, gate attendants announced boarding for 10:40 with an 11:20 departure.
The aircraft is a double-deck, four-engine Airbus A380 with a 509-passenger capacity. I expect boarding will easily take the full 40 scheduled minutes, if not more!
Finally took off at midnight and served dinner at 1:00.