For me my genealogy journey began with wanting the opportunity for my own fresh start.  

An Italian passport for me, my daughter, my mum, my brother, my aunts and cousins, the opportunity for a fresh start in Europe 

Going back to my Italian Roots is giving me stories of how and why my ancestors made the heart breaking (we can only assume) decision of leaving their mountainside villages, parents, wives and children behind for a fresh start in a new country. 

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Family rumour has it my great, great grandfather Giuseppe Clementi arrived in England as a Stowaway inside an organ barrel with his two brothers! 

We always took this story with a pinch of salt but thanks to our research and DNA we’ve been able to connect with a distant cousin, a descendant of Giuseppes brother, who was told the same story, so maybe not so much salt needed for this story. 

Many Italians left Italy for the bright lights of…….. wait for it……. Birmingham. 

Giuseppe Clementi uprooted his wife Arcangela and firstborn daughter Antonia for a new life ,their fresh start. 

We don’t know yet exactly how they got to England, but it’s one of two ways.Either across land, working their way through northern Italy and France, with some of the journey literally walking (not the travelling I’m used to all) or by ship leaving, the port of Naples (again not under the same type of travelling we used to do today) dire conditions at the cheapest ticket price. 

Some Italians used the UK as a stepping stone for a new life in the United States working and saving enough for a ticket. 

 My family stayed in Birmingham. We may never know why they stayed or if they even thought of going anywhere else. We do know for definite that Giuseppes younger brother made the move to the United States and to date we assume his youngest brother return to Italy. 

Like many of the English cities Birmingham had its own Italian quarter namely three streets Bartholomew Street, New Bartholomew Street and Fazeley Street, made up of back-to-back houses housing families up on families of Italian migrants all looking for that new start. 

Giuseppe and his wife and daughter resided at one of the back to backs for their first few years of their time in England, earning a living is ice cream sellers in organ grinders. 

Giuseppe and Arcangela went on to have two more children whilst living in Birmingham, one being my great grandfather Dominica and the other his younger brother Luigi. 

They’re fresh start in a new country began like so many other Italians looking for a better way of life and now myself and other members of our family are preparing for our fresh starts back in the motherland for a better way of life. 

From what I’ve learnt about my family I believe that they would like this turn of Events returning back to the motherland, returning to our home.