Christian Fratello

My most wonderful trip was a “trace-your-roots” adventure with my dad. My goal was to take my dad to the place his mother/my grandmother was born. But, and it’s a big but, we had no idea where that was!

I worked with my personal contact at Your Private Italy, a destination management company I often work with. He reached out to the consulate and amazingly, discovered that my grandmother came from a small humble town outside of Salerno. 

We started out in London, where we stayed for a few days, caught up with the time change and jet lag, and saw some of the places he’d always wanted to see. Then we headed off on a grand tour of Italy, seeing the places we’d talked about all our lives. We started in Rome, experienced the Amalfi Coast, and visited Florence, Tuscany and Venice, but the highlight was going to that small town where my grandmother was born. We wandered around, had lunch, talked to people and then went to a local park and filled a small container with dirt to bring home.

This was the trip of a lifetime for my father, and I feel incredibly lucky that I got to plan this trip and experience it with him!