The Project · in collaboration with Luca Pastore
When memory crosses the ocean again
Every migration seems like a fracture: a departure, a farewell, a name inscribed in a register, and then a ship fading into the distance. Yet roots do not break — they extend.
This project, born from a collaboration with Luca Pastore, is dedicated to the documented reconstruction of the Italian origins of American personalities of Italian descent. It is not only genealogical research. It is the reweaving of memory — the reconnection between the diaspora and the homeland.
Internationally significant cases
Ralph Macchio — Honorary Citizen of Villanova del Battista (Avellino)
The research contributed to the recognition of the actor’s Irpinian roots. In April 2025 the town granted Macchio honorary citizenship and the keys to the city, in a public ceremony that was a true symbolic return. Welcomed as the “rediscovered son of Irpinia,” he shared with the community the emotion of walking the very places his ancestors had left.
Martin Scorsese — Honorary Citizen of Polizzi Generosa (Palermo)
The director’s Sicilian roots lie in the towns of Polizzi Generosa and Ciminna, in the province of Palermo. On 13 October 2024 that bond was celebrated publicly through cultural initiatives and the granting of honorary citizenship. For Scorsese the reconnection is not only genealogical: it is cultural, symbolic, and deeply intertwined with family memory and his artistic vision.
From document to institutional recognition
The research unfolds through American and Italian civil records, parish archives, military documentation and passenger lists — the reconstruction of a family line into a documented genealogical dossier. In this way a path is traced that connects a small Italian town to a story that crossed the Atlantic. Every document is a trace; every identified ancestor is a return.
Identifying the town of origin opens another path: dialogue with local administrations, a proposal for honorary citizenship, the public celebration of roots, and the organisation of a return journey to the homeland. Honorary citizenship does not alter legal status — it recognises a deep, indissoluble belonging.
In this way genealogy becomes a tool of cultural diplomacy, a way to enhance Italy’s migratory heritage, to promote roots tourism, and to strengthen the bond between the diaspora and its communities of origin. Every rediscovered root is not just about one person — it is about a territory.
An invitation to Italian towns and communities
Many small Italian towns are, without knowing it, the documented birthplace of figures who became legends abroad. A surname on a weathered register in a comune of Irpinia, Sicily or Friuli can prove to be the root of an American actor, athlete, entrepreneur or statesman — a bond that has waited a century to be recognised.
For a town, establishing that connection with archival proof — not with legend — is a genuine opportunity: the granting of honorary citizenship, a public celebration of shared roots, cultural and media visibility, the first steps of roots tourism, and a living relationship with the descendants of those who left. It is a way to turn a departure of a hundred years ago into a return.
I work alongside municipalities, cultural associations and local administrations to identify and document these bonds, verify them in the Italian and American archives, and prepare the dossier that can support a formal recognition or a public initiative — as was done for Villanova del Battista and for Polizzi Generosa. Every rediscovered root, after all, does not belong to one person alone: it belongs to a territory.
Beyond the town, the family itself → The Living Branch. The same bond, made personal: I find the relatives who stayed in Italy and, with their consent, bring you together.
Every famous name has a town. Every town has a story to reclaim.
Whether you are searching for the Italian town your family came from, or you represent a town that may be the origin of a figure who became famous abroad, tell me about it — and I will give you an honest assessment of what is possible.