The Costantino Family

( Costantini if you live in Italy! )

The Costantino family came from Adelfia Canneto, Italy. Canneto was founded in 1114 by people from northern Italy as a twin town with Adelfia Mondrone. The Costantinis, Tom's Dad's people, were from Canneto and the Paciullis, Tom's mother's people, were from Mondrone. Canneto is also referred to as Canneto di Bari.

Saverio and Palma were Tom's great-grandparents. He was a farmer. Both he and Palma were born in Canneto. Saverio had a brother, Michele, a government tax collector in Bari. Palma had a brother named Leonardo. The only child of theirs I know about is Gaetano.

Tom's grandfather, Gaetano, married Domenica Nicassio, who was a widow with one child, Rafaella. Then, together, they had six more children.

Around the end of the 1800s, Gaetano was the town baker in Canneto. He had a large brick wood-burning oven and every day the women of the town would come with their bread, pizza or meat and he would cook it for them. Gaetano's grandson, Michele, inherited the oven and converted it into a villa, keeping the oven chimney as part of his home. We saw the chimney of this oven when we went to Italy in 1996.

This picture looks like it was taken a couple of years before Leonardo came to the States. Michele came about 1 year later. Look how young they look. Can you imagine sending your child across the ocean, knowing you probably would never see him again? At that age? The times were very difficult then, I suppose. For some reason, the picture was cut, leaving the left side off. You can't see it now, but you could see a woman's hand resting on Gaetano's right shoulder.

Leonardo came to the states when he was 16 years old. Michele came when he was 14. They both lived with their mother's brother and wife, Francisco and Anna Nicassio, in San Diego. Their older brother, Saverio, came to the States several times, but he had a wife in Italy. He would stay and work for a year or two and then return home to Italy. He wanted to move to the States but his wife didn't want to come over. Saverio was known to be a ladies' man and she didn't want to be embarrassed.

Once, Saverio loaned his two younger brothers, Leonardo and Michele, $400 to buy a shoe-shine parlor. They repaid him $1 a month. The last time Saverio was in the U.S., he lived with his brother, Michele, and Michele's wife, Helen. On this trip, Saverio hit a Mexican over the head because the Mexican called him a "wop". Saverio ended up in jail for 6 months for that. ("wop" was a derogatory term for Italians, meaning With Out Papers.)

Later, in this country, the Costantini name was changed. Leonardo's name was changed to Costantino thru clerical error when he was discharged from the Army after WW I, around 1919. Michele added Coster to his name, becoming Michele C. Coster when he started in business during the 1920s,

Those Who Stayed in Italy

Rafaella, Saverio and Marietta stayed in Italy; Leonardo and Michele came to the USA. Costanza and Brena died before they were ten.

As an old man, Saverio used to daily ride his bicycle to the field where he had a garden. He would tend to it, eat his lunch and then ride the bicycle home.

These are photos taken in 1996 when Tom and I visited Italy. It was very exciting to meet the cousins. They were as excited as we were! The photos are of Saverio's children, Domenico, in Rome, and Domenica and Maria in Canneto, together with their families.

ROME

Domenico would take two busses every day to our hotel. He had bus passes for Tom and I and he would take us wherever we wanted to go. Then we would go to his house, have dinner and visit with everyone until night, when Patrizia would take us back to our hotel.

> At St. Peter's Square

> At Domenico's home.

> Out to dinner before we left on our tour. Tom, Rita, Patrizia, Domenico, Nancy, Rina. Patrizia is one of Domenico's daughters. Rina is his wife.&

> Two of Domenico's daughters, Patrizia and Ana.

CANNETO DI BARI

Rita and Ana rented a car and we drove from Rome to Canneto to visit the cousins there.

>	Domenica, Tom and Maria Domenica and Maria are daughters of Saverio, sisters of Domenico.

>	Maria, Anna, Domenica, Tina, Andreana, Giorgio. Maria and Domenica are sisters. Tina and Giorgio are Domenica's children. Anna is Giorgio's wife. Andreana is the daughter of Rafaella. We brought the baseball caps, "California, 1996"

Mima, Anna, Giorgio Tina, Antonella, Domenica, Tom, Maria, Nancy Antonella and Mima are Giorgio's daughters The alcove in the rear is the bedroom for Domenica and Tina. This house has wonderful brass doors with heavy glass

Concetta, Tom and a friend. Concetta, the daughter of Marietta, spent two days tracking us down. She lives in the city of Bari, where our hotel was. We walked to her house and visited awhile. The young man is the son of Patrizia's friend. His family has a cherry orchard and he brought us a crate of cherries to bring back to Patrizia. They are a special kind that only get exported. They were delicious.

> Above is the back of the old oven. Michele built his home there, using the chimney of the oven as part of his house.

> The streets of Canneto. You can see a remnant of the old city wall ahead. Tom's father was born in one of these houses and we were able to go into it.

Those Who Came to America

Leonardo served in the Infantry in World War I, 1917-1919. He trained in Tacoma,Washington, at Camp Lewis and served in France and Belgium. His unit was ready to go over the hill when the Armistice was called. Leonardo kept a diary during the war, a big offense. He kept it on small pieces of paper, then when he came home Helen Coster, Michele's wife, helpled him organize it. He kept up his diary until he died.

Michele started working for the streetcar company, as a conductor. After a while he bought a small grocery store. He enlarged it and added to it over the years until he had a liquor store and a bar. Mike had a wife and family during the war so he was not called to service. Leonardo was living with them before he went into the service and lived with them for a while after he was discharged from the Army. This was in Huntington Park, California.

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