Documents for the Family History of Giovanni VALENTE (1887-1969) and Nunziata DiRENZO (1897-1983), spouses of Gambatesa, Italy, and Camden, New Jersey, and their Ancestors back to 1690

Lists of the Family's 86 [90] Known Surnames:

• The Village Origins of the Family's Surnames

Note: the following three links are all to the same page. In these lists the surnames are linked to transcriptions of the Valente and DiRenzo family's Italian Civil Register records.

• The Names in Alphabetical Order

• The 42 [43] Names With Lines of Ascent

• The 44 [47] Names Without Lines of Ascent

Italian Civil Register Records from d'ALESSANDRO to VALENTE:

The records are arranged alphabetically by Family Name, and within families arranged from Oldest to Youngest, for the most part translated into English.

Women are listed under, what in English would be called, their maiden names (Note that an Italian woman kept her father's surname all her life). Marriage records will be found under the surname of the husband. An asterisk (*) in front of a name indicates direct-line of descent.

• d'ALESSANDRO to ANDREOLA

• BIANCO to CONTENTO

• CORVELLI to di DOMENICA

• FARINACCIO to IACOVELLI-1

• IACOVELLI-2 to di MAURO

• PORCARO-1 to REGINA

• di RENZO (DiRENZO)

• SACCONE to [SIMONELLI]

• VALENTE

These records were mostly drawn from microfilm copies of the Stato Civile ("Civil Registration records") from 1809-1910 of Gambatesa (which include copies of related church documents from circa 1750-1808) stored in the Archivo di Stato ("State Archives") of the Province of Campobasso, Italy.

Italian to English Vocabulary

This glossary is intended to help with reading Italian Civil Register records.

Gambatesa is a village in central southern Italy between Naples and Rome.

Village History Background:

• Gambatesa: Fragments of History and of Art by Salvatore Abiuso, with the collaboration of Palmiro Di Maria, an English language translation with photographs and sketch maps. (There are also links to several older photographs of Gambatesa and to several newer photographs of Gambatesa below.)

Gambatesa is a comune (that is, a township or borough or municipality) in the Province of Campobasso, Region of Molise, Italy; a comune is both a village and its agricultural territory, a paese (native land).

Maps showing the location of Gambatesa within Italy, and within the Province of Campobasso as that province has been since 1970 | Road map showing Gambatesa and some neighboring villages | Street map of the village center of Gambatesa based on maps from 1927 and 1939.

[The Gambatesa mine in the Region of Liguria in northern Italy is not the subject of this page.]

• An Italian schoolbook's notes about the village of Gambatesa, circa 1920s, with photographs (Panorama and Traglie). And from the same book: A Description of the Fortore River, with a photograph of the Bridge of the 13 Arches near Gambatesa. (These pages are in both English and Italian.)

• Map showing the part of the Diocese of Benevento that includes the parishes of Gambatesa and San Marco dei Cavoti, as well as the parishes of Santa Croce del Sannio ("Santa Croce presso Morcone"), Jelsi and Riccia; from 1951.

• Two Civil Registry Seals used in Gambatesa during the 19th Century, the first from the reign of Ferdinando II, King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the second from the reign of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Italy.

• The Sheep Migration Trails of Molise, a summary translation of an Italian Web page that tells the story of Molise's "sheep tracks" (tratturi, sing. tratturo), the wide grassy paths shepherds once used to herd sheep and cattle between the highlands of Abruzzo and the plain of Puglia, ancient paths that shaped the history of the region.

• Summary Outline of the History of Molise, showing the years for Spanish rule, Austrian rule, Bourbon rule, and for the "French decade" of Napoleonic rule over southern Italy.

• Tufara, its Historical Origins, a summary English translation. Because Tufara is the comune in the Province of Campobasso that lies directly south of Gambatesa, Tufara's earliest history suggests a similar historical origin for Gambatesa.

Tufara was the village of origin of Felicia BOCCAMAZZO who came to Gambatesa in 1833 following her marriage to Bartolomeo CONTENTO; these were ancestors of Giovanni Valente.

[The subject of this page is not the frazione of Tufara in the Province of Benevento or the frazione of Tufara in the Province of Avellino.]

• Life of Blessed Giovanni the Eremite of Tufara, 1084-1170, translated from the Italian, with notes about the religious holidays, traditions and holy places of Tufara.

• The Capture of Gambatesa by the Canadian Army. In October 1943 the Carleton and York Regiment ended the German Army's occupation of the valley of the upper Fortore River below the village of Gambatesa. Here is an excerpt from G.W.L. Nicholson's The Canadians in Italy, 1943-1945, quoted here for its description of the geography of the area.

• Roccabascerana, its Early History, and Chestnuts, a summary translation of a brief Italian history of the village of Roccabascerana, Italy, with a brief description of the territory's treatment of the chestnuts that grow there.

Roccabascerana is a comune in the Province of Avellino, in the Region of Campania. Height above sea level of the Casa comunale: 1,368 feet. Population: 3,130 (1961 Census), 2,308 (1999 Census). Diocese: Benevento. In the Civil Register of 1809-1811 Roccabascerana is the Università di Bascerana, Provincia di (Principato) Ulteriore.

Roccabascerana was the village of origin of Filippo PORCARO and his wife Carmina TOSA, the parents of Giovanni PORCARO (1700-1756), ancestors of Nunziata DiRenzo.

• Il Molise dalle origini ai nostri giorni ["Molise - From its Origins to Our Own Day"] by Giambattista Masciotta, Volume II (Napoli, 1915), selected chapters: Gildone, Gambatesa, Pietracatella, Tufara, Riccia, Jelsi, and Uno Sguardo generale al Circondario di Campobasso ("Overview of the District of Campobasso", with lists of village patron saints and festival days). The texts are in Italian only.

Italy and Camden History Maps:

These maps are meant to supplement the above Historical Outline, although they might also stand on their own.

• The Orbis Terrarum of Rome: "the Whole World", based on the ancient Greek representation of the earth as a disk floating in a sea.

• Map of the Roman Republic and Southern Italy in 264 B.C., showing the region of Samnium (where modern Molise lies), with various notes about ancient Rome and the origins of feudalism in southern Italy.

• Map of the 6th-8th Century A.D. Lombard Kindom of Italy, before its conquest by Charlemagne, with a brief chronology for Italy before, after, and during its conquest by the Lombards.

• Map of the 11th Century Norman Conquest of Southern Italy, and a map showing the Italian parts of the Holy Roman Empire circa 1100 A.D., with a chronology for southern Italy before, after, and during its conquest by the Normans.

• Map of the 19th Century Piemontese Conquest of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily, also known as the Unification of Italy, showing the route taken by Garibaldi's army, with a chronology.

• Maps showing the Province Boundaries of the Kingdom of Naples, or, Central Southern Italy, at the time of Napoleon and in the 20th Century, with an account of the 20th Century more-or-less equivalents to the 19th Century provinces.

• Map showing the Principal Mountain Ranges of Italy. Note: the ranges are not labeled, although the locations of the cities of Naples, Rome, Termoli, Foggia, and Milan are indicated.

• Map showing the twenty Regions of the Republic of Italy.

• Map of the City of Camden, New Jersey, as it was in 1935, with an early chronology of the city.

From Our Correspondent in Geneva
(Angelo Abiuso)

Gambatesa - History and Traditions

• Luca Valente (1894-1955) and his son Francesco Valente (1917-1980) of Gambatesa; Luca and Giovanni Valente were first cousins.

• How and Where Giovanni Valente's Cousin Serafina became a Nun, with two photographs of Sister Serafina.

• The Ship Passenger Arrival Record and the Declaration of Intention for Luca Valente (1894-1955). Luca arrived at New York on 8 July 1922 aboard the SS Europa; the ship sailed from Naples on 24 June 1922.

• The Christmas Zampognaro, a traditional Italian Nativity scene figure. With memories about the visits of the mountain shepherds to Gambatesa and of who the zampognari  ("bagpipe-players") were.

• Easter in Gambatesa, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter Monday.

• Notes from Monsignor Donato Venditti's books about the origins of Gambatesa and the origins of its families. Don Donato was born in Gambatesa and was its parish priest for more than 20 years.

• The chapter titled The Parishioners of Gambatesa from Mons. Donato Venditti's booklet "The Parish of St. Bartholomew in Gambatesa", which lists the oldest surnames in Gambatesa and gives the village of origin for the surnames that arrived 1688-1880; in Italian with English translation.

• Notes about Gambatesa's traditions and special days: La Madonna delle Traglie (July Wheat Festival); La Madonna del Rosario (October Grape Festival); the musical night of the Maitunate; the Bridge of the 13 Arches (brigands and war); the legends about the Medieval Castle; the legend of "The Old Man and the Stone"; and Saint Lucy's Fair.

• Notes about the way people used to live everyday in Gambatesa in the last century: When wheat was like gold, Daily meals for farmers (with a recipe for "Milk soup"), Electricity in Gambatesa, Civilian deaths in Gambatesa during the Second World War, the tufo ("sandstone") on which the village stands.

• Photograph of Luca Valente's brother Donato Valente of Gambatesa and Rochester, New York. Donato was Giovanni Valente's first cousin.

• Dialect Sayings from Gambatesa, also restated in Italian, with an English language version, and some sayings from Gambatesans who used to live in Camden, New Jersey.

• Color photograph of a Girl Wearing the Traditional Costume of Gambatesa, postcard from circa 1979 or 1980.

• A short account of When the Shepherds of Abruzzo Came to Rome at Christmas, from an illustrated French magazine of December 1911.

• The Wheat grown in Gambatesa, a photograph of Gambatesa's winter wheat.

• The Biscotti con le uova of Gambatesa, big egg biscuits made at home in a similar way to taralli; finished photographs with recipe from February 2006. Step-by-step (passo passo) photographs of how Biscotti con le uova are made by Angelo's mother Maria.

• How to make the Biscuits called Cantucci of Gambatesa, which are hard almond biscotti called Maletagliate in the dialect of Gambatesa; step-by-step photographs with a recipe from March 2006.

• Macaroni from Gambatesa, a brief description of how they used to be made by hand (both in Gambatesa and in Camden) and a photograph of modern pasta made in Gambatesa.

• A Cat's life in Gambatesa, a photograph. Vipers can be quite dangerous on the farm. In the past people were killed by vipers. "Where there are cats there are no snakes, and that is maybe why cats were so important in Gambatesa."

• Vicolo del Orologio ("Clock Lane"), the old location of Gambatesa'a Municipio. Two photographs showing repairs underway to the (slight) damage caused by the earthquake of 31 October 2002.

Historical Photographs of Gambatesa

• Threshing Wheat in Gambatesa, from 1947, with a description of the ancient and primitive processes of wheat harvesting that were still in use in Gambatesa in the early 1950s.

• School Prize Winner in Gambatesa, a recitation by Luca Valente's grandson Luca, from around 1965, with stories about Gambatesa's legendary parish priest Don Giacomo Venditti.

Photographs of Gambatesa,
2001-2003

• The Valente Casa Paterna, August 2002. This is the present (and it will be the last) paternal home of the descendents of Nicola Valente and Carmina Iacovelli in Gambatesa.

• The Beginning of Gambatesa's Via San Nicola, the old southeastern entrance to the village, the location of the Church of San Nicola.

• The old Valente house in Via San Nicola, two photographs from August 2002; there is an old gun port in the rear of the Church of San Nicola.

• The Church of Saint Nicholas and the old house of Luca Valente's brother Donato, photographs showing the facade of the Chiesa di San Nicola and the beginning of Vicolo di San Nicola. Gambatesa, August 2002.

• The Water Trough at Largo Fontana called i brevelatur'  in Gambatesa's dialect (l'abbeveratoio in Italian), August 2002.

• The Masseria Valente ("Valente Farm"), the farm that belonged to the ancestors of Giovanni Valente and his cousin Luca in the agricultural land of Gambatesa. History, photographs (August 2001 and 2002), and maps (1957) showing the location of the masseria and the village of Gambatesa.

• Colle della Putina, a reforested hill in Gambatesa that used to be part of the Masseria Valente; August 2003.

• Documents about the Masseria Valente in Gambatesa; folded legal manuscripts (not the texts themselves) from the 19th Century.

• The Casa comunale or Municipio (Town Hall) of Gambatesa, the Ufficio dello stato civile (Civil Registry Office) of Gambatesa; two photographs from August 2001.

• Street Map showing the Village Center of Gambatesa, based on Italian real estate tax maps from 1927 and 1939.

• Gambatesa from the Southwest, looking across the Contrada Carestia (Famine District) toward the Castle and Church of San Bartolomeo, August 2001.

• Largo del Castello, the small square in front of Gambatesa's Church of San Bartolomeo Apostolo, across from the Medieval Castle, August 2001; with an image of the Lamb and Cross panel from the church's bell tower.

• Via Municipio and Corso Roma from the Southeastern Corner of Largo Fontana, August 2001.

• Via Appulo-Sannitica in Gambatesa, the old road (maybe from Roman times) that connected the cities of Campobasso and Foggia, August 2002.

• Largo della Madonna, the large square in Viale Vittorio Veneto near the southwest entrance to Gambatesa, August 2001.

• Houses facing the Southwestern Side of Largo Fontana, Gambatesa, August 2001.

• Gambatesa - looking Northward toward the Castle and the Lago di Occhito, August 2001.

• Looking Northwest from the Village of Gambatesa, August 2001.

• An old doorway in Gambatesa with a flower decoration, a door for the cat, and a rusty old plowshare; August 2003.

Photographs of Gambatesa,
2004-2005

• A crossroad northwest of Gambatesa, showing some reforested countryside and a roadside oratory.

• The house of Donato Luciano Abiuso (1906-1998); this was the Abiuso grandfather of Angelo Abiuso (Geneva).

• The street where Angelo Abiuso lives in Gambatesa; this is Angelo Abiuso (Gambatesa), the great-uncle of Angelo Abiuso (Geneva).

• Ancient Gambatesa, the view from Via Serrone, which is high above Salandra, Vipera and Piana delle Noci.

• The Pass between Molise and Puglia: the Fondo Valle, Lago d'Occhito, and (faintly) a village in Puglia; this was the path of the tratturo ("sheep trail") long before there was a road in the valley bottom or a lake created by damming the Fortore River.

• Toppo della Vipera and the Masseria Venditti with Toppo della Salandra, showing the land between the village of Gambatesa and Piana delle Noci.

• La Piana delle Noci and Torrente Succida ("The Plain of Walnuts" and "Succida River"). The former is something very rare in Gambatesa: flat farmland; and the bed of the latter is shown after it destroyed its banks when it flooded the winter before.

• Via Serrone in Gambatesa; the village lies on the ridge of a hill, so there are many levels on which walkways, houses and stables were built.

• A poor, small house in Via Serrone such as used to be referred to as a catapechie, pejorative dialect for a small house (maybe "stone hovel" would be equivalent).

• Painted houses in Via Serrone, one showing the stone arch of a wealthier family, the other showing the pattern of rooms for the family constructed over stables for the animals.

• Altitude - Via Serrone; the distance from the top of Via Serrone (1,500 feet) to the valley bottom below (675 feet) results in a real feeling of height.

• The northwestern (lower) end of Via Serrone. Here were living the poorest families, and here begins the old path down to Our Lady of Victory Chapel.

• Two views of Via Serrone from the house of Nunziata DiRenzo's childhood in Gambatesa (1897-1913).

• Two tomoli, Roman unit-measurers made of stone and wood, that were used in Gambatesa until the end of the 1950s. The tomolo was used to measure oil and wheat and other commodities, which were often used by the poor of Gambatesa in place of money.

• Gourds of the type once used in Gambatesa to store salt; from the Masseria Biagietti.

• Model traglia or "wheat sled", like the sleds used for the wheat festival of La Madonna delle Traglie in Gambatesa.

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2005

• Four kinds of biscotti made in Gambatesa; store-made, not home-made, biscuits, although people also make these at home.

• The wheat originally grown in Gambatesa, a stalk from July 2005.

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2006

• The Beginning of Via della Madonna; Via della Madonna ("Our Lady's Way") begins at a height of 422 meters and plunges almost 200 meters down into the valley below; the end of Via Serrone is where Via della Madonna begins.

• Via della Madonna, Gambatesa, the ancient tufo path down from the village to the Chapel of Our Lady of Victory in the valley below; with a small map.

• Colle della Madonna, Gambatesa, the valley-pass between the village of Gambatesa and Toppo della Salandra, in which is located the Chapel of Our Lady of Victory.

• Gambatesa's Cemetery: its Location and Altitude; the Entrance and Chapel of the cemetery; the Oldest Part of the cemetery; a Newer Section of the cemetery; Above Ground Burials in the cemetery; Gambatesa's Ossuary, the modern trap-door to the bone-pit.

• The old DiRenzo house in July 2006, with the view of the landscape from the stairwell looking out across the border into Puglia.

• The door at the bottom of the stairwell, which has a door for the family cat, with a photograph of the back wall of the old DiRenzo house.

• How farmhouse roofs used to be made in Gambatesa, an ancient Roman method.

• Woven wheat decorations for the July harvest dedicated to la Madonna delle Traglie.

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2007

• Gambatesa's Daily Bakery Bread, description and new photographs from July 2007.

• How Gambatesa's bread is sliced at home, which is a special way requiring some skill. And half-slices of this bread served with cheese and sausages and wine.

• The bread baker Nicola Concettini, an old street photograph with children of Gambatesa.

• The Cheese of Gambatesa, il formaggio gambatesano, which the old people still dry and age in their bedrooms.

• Salvadore Valente of Gambatesa, the younger brother of Giovanni Valente, from Gambatesa's cemetery.

• Gambatesa's Old Jail: the vault-like door of the prison cell inside the old Carabinieri station; the outer street doorway and window of the old jail; and outside the old Carabinieri station in Via Sannicola.

• Behind the old Valente house in Via San Nicola: the backyard and the old well; the garden behind the house; and the opulent houses beyond the backyard.

• The Cellar carved out of the tufo of the old Valente house in Via San Nicola; and the house's old ceiling beams supporting a flat wooden roof.

• Two Street scenes from the City of Campobasso: the city hall and a woman carrying a parcel on her head.

• Places made sacred by the memory of San Giovanni da Tufara: the stairs to his house and the source, in the neighboring village of Tufara.

• School Class Photograph, Gambatesa, from before WW2.

• Scale drawing and statistics for the Ponte dei 13 Archi, from which we learn that the 289 yard long bridge with thirteen arches was completed in 1871 by the De Resa Company.

• Blue arrows pointing the way to German Army offices are still visible on the walls outside Palazzo Rotondo in Gambatesa.

• Gambatesa - Via Serrone - Toppi, viewed from the east.

• Gambatesa - Looking east toward Puglia from farmland to the east of the village, with notes about the burning of straw and stunted trees.

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2009

• A stone vat used to store olive oil in the tufo cellars of Gambatesa.

• Bilancia romana: a Roman balance or scale of the type once used in Gambatesa.

Report from Gambatesa, 2009-2010

• Bosco di Chiusano, one of Gambatesa's original human settlements. And living arrangements at the Masseria Valente; until the late 1960s, early 70s, different families owned different rooms at the farm, with entire families (father, mother, children) living in a single room and stable. Also: When Gambatesa's historical center was built and where the seven palazzi were (with maps of the village center).

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2009-2010

• Angelo Abiuso's Valente grandmother, Luigina Abiuso, in her kitchen. She is the widow of Angelo's grandfather, Francesco Valente.

• A Cat's Lunch in Gambatesa. In the village cats eat spaghetti from nice bowls. They also forecast the weather.

• The bidente, an agricultural tool used in Gambatesa for the hardest field work.

• The piccola zappa ("small hoe") used in Gambatesa where it is called zappetele, and Samuele Conte in his garden near Bosco Chiusano.

• The vegetable plants that Mr. Conte is growing is his garden, peppers, egg plants, turnip tops, and sweet basil.

• The quality of the soil where Mr. Conte grows the vegetables in his garden.

• Beans drying in the sun: fagioli bianchi ("white beans") left outside on a porch to day in the air and sun.

• Market Day in Largo della Madonna. An old lady in morning dress, and hand-made wooden goods for sale on market day in Gambatesa.

• The rafters and stone floor of what was once a rich family's house in Gambatesa. For some houses in the old days ceiling beams were cut and shaped by hand with an axe.

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2012

• A new, old postcard panorama, in color from the 1960s.

Photographs of Gambatesa, 2013-2014

• Addition: Woman dressed as a pacchiana for annual the grape festival, from 1956.

• Pump for spraying grape vines, Piana delle Noci. The vines must be treated with various chemicals against fungi and insects, in this case with a solution of rame ("copper"). The vineyard worker carries this manual pump on his back.

• The tomolo in the village of Gruyère, an ancient grain measure in Switzerland to contrast with the smaller tomolo in Gambatesa.

• Abandoned farmhouse where two old people were living in the 1950s. There is one room with a fireplace, but now there is a hole in the roof. This is in the Piana delle Noci, and beside the door are painted the words "DDT" to indicate that after WW2 the house was treated with that chemical.

• An old farmhouse in the Piana delle Noci, but it is now collapsing.

• Meat curing in the secondary kitchen of a farmhouse in the Piana delle Noci ("Plain of Walnuts").

A Short Postscript to these Family History Documents

Descriptions of what the lives of our ancestors were like, in the words of various writers.