Professional Researchers Tracing YOUR Genealogy

Last Trip

My last on-site research trip was in October/November 2025 and included these adventures:

Fall Trip 2025

Monday, 27 October – Flew SLC-CDG

Tuesday, 28 October – arrived in Paris, slept at B&B Hotel, Roissy-en-France

Wednesday, 29 October – flew CDG-VCE, picked up rental car, slept at Hotel Scaldaferro in Sandrigo, an hour drive north of Venice

Thursday, 30 October, at the Cathedral in Vicenza, I attended Mass and talked with the priest afterwards. He said they have no records there, perhaps at the Diocese museum across the piazza. I located the Diocese of Vicenza Archives next door to the museum and was able to talk to a priest as he was entering that door. He told me that it would be open the next morning at 9 and held the records of the parishes in the Diocese. I took lots of photos of the city on my way back to my car.

Friday, 31 October, when I arrived at the Diocese Archives, they asked if I had an appointment since all the records are on the computers and they needed to be reserved ahead of time, and there were no free computers. I told them the priest I met yesterday told me to arrive at this time,so they went and found him. He vouched for me and they let me use an extra computer in the hallway. I took a photo of the board showing the email for computer reservations as well as the one for inquiries, plus the rates for copies. I learned they had digital images of the 14 parishes in the city of Vicenza, with no indexes for the city as a whole, plus the other towns in the Diocese. So the search started in the Cathedral records and other parishes in the city, ending up in a couple other towns in the Diocese. The result was expansion of the family tree in several locations. This archive is only open on Wednesday mornings and all day Friday, slept in Firenze at Auto Park Hotel, just off the Autostrada.

Saturday, 1 November – On my drive South, I took photos of each headstone at Orvieto CWGC cemetery, slept in Roma at Flaminio Village Bungalow Park, a favorite because it is on the edge of the city at the edge of a forest.

Sunday, 2 November – relaxed after the many miles of travel in the past week, walked to nearby Carrefour for food shopping and wandered around the area.

Monday, 3 November – Took the local train and arrived at AAV early to renew my research pass, then worked in POW documents.

Tuesday, 4 November – more documents work at AAV, drove down to Sant'Angelo in Theodice (FR) where I took photos of a US military monument from WWII, slept in Colletorto at PEDA Hotel Ristorante Pizzeria, about an hour drive from Casalnuovo Monteraro because no lodging was closer.

Wednesday, 5 November, I arrived at Casalnuovo Monterotaro at 8:45 am. The cleaning crew was working in the Church, so I spoke with them. They told me that the priest would be available at 6 pm for Mass. I took photos of the name plaques on the pews showing which of the client's family names were still living in the area.
I then took photos around town, with frequent checks at the open, but empty, church during the day. I waited in the church from 4 in hopes that the priest would arrive early. People began arriving about 5 to prepare for Mass. The priest arrived at 6.
After Mass, I asked him for permission to research in the parish registers for a marriage around 1750. He said he was new to the parish, so didn't know anything about the archives. He said that the woman who is responsible for the archives was out of town for a few days. He accepted the printed pedigree chart with the circled marriage, showing their three children born 1750-1759, with my email address. He assured me that he would email me after he spoke with the archivist. I later followed up with an email repeating my request. Still awaiting a response.

Thursday, 6 November – drive , sleep in Serrastretta at B&B Colle di Condro

Friday, 7 November – meet Rabbi Barbara in Serrastretta

Saturday, 8 November – drive to Villa San Giovanni, ferry, sleep in Catania at Etna Parking

Sunday, 9 November – survey photos of Agira CWGC, sleep in Lercara Friddi at Simor Amour

Monday, 10 November at the Chiesa Madre in Alia. I spoke to the priest who said he had two funerals that day, but told me where to wait during the first funeral. After the funeral, the priest and another man led me to the archives and assisted until they understood that I really did know what I was doing. The priest checked in on me every once in a while, at one point despairing of the awful handwriting of the records. He was having quite a busy day, so I was grateful he gave me time to research. The priest was kind enough to walk me back through the rain to my car, parked at the little grocery nearby. We met the owner of Villa Della Mimosa on the way. He kindly asked about my daughter (she accompanied me there on a couple of trips). I had to tell him that she passed away in 23, so he and the priest advised me to continue to be strong. Nice men, but a difficult moment for me.

11 November, was spent in Valledolmo. The church was open, but empty all day, except for an occasional parish member who stayed only a few minutes in prayer. I took a photo of the schedule showing a Liturgy at 4 pm, with that evening's Mass in another town at 6. I also took a photo of the contact information for the closed Church office at the back of the building and both called and emailed them with no response. There was a similar sign outside the priest's residence on the West side of the building so I tried that number, also with no response. I wandered a little around town taking photos and checking back to the Church often. At 4, no one showed up for Liturgy, so I left. I have followed up with email, but still no response. I slept in Partanna at Duca di San Martino, a favorite stop when working in this part of Sicily.

Wednesday, 12 November, I worked at the Archivio di Stato in Trapani, reading notarial records from Partanna for 1638-1647, locating probable family members while seeking a notarized marriage contract to extend the matrilineal line.

Thursday, 13 November – returned to work in Partanna notarial records for 1635-1637 with the same results. I had hoped to meet with the church archivist in Partanna, but he was unavailable due to surgery. Followed up with email, no response yet. I slept in Catania at Etna Parking

Friday, 14 November – fly CTA to CDG, sleep in Roissy-en-France at B&B Hotel

Saturday, 15 November – fly CDG to SLC


For more about travel and research in Italy and other topics, please see my newsletter.

My next research trip to Italy is scheduled for Spring 2026.



My book on CD titled Sicily, Part 1 and Part 2 and is now available on 2 CDs. With a file for each town (plus many other files), it relates the history of Sicily as reflected in the photos, records and festivals of its towns. It contains over 2500 text and photo files and can be ordered at CD order.



My book is titled American Prisoner of War Camps Colorado and is available at Amazon in paperback format. More information about POW camps in my book titled Prisoner of War Camps Across America and is available in Kindle format at Amazon. The updated version is available at Miliary publications