Termini Imerese Stories

My Trip To Termini Imerese


Submitted by William Galbo


Bud Galbo - Apr 7, 2002

What can we say! Cefalu yesterday...high up a hill to another church where we attended Mass, then on to another great restaurant where they all met us again for dinner.

On our way again at 8AM for Mt. Etna and Tiarima. Went all the way around Mt. Etna which is still smoldering. You can smell the smoke as it finds it way down and they say at night, you can see the glow. You can see the lava all around the homes in Catania..and they are still building. Then to some village high on a hill above Tiaramina. And another Cathedral. Then to Tiaramina which is built in the middle of the mountain overlooking the sea. No cars can drive in the town. Buddy got plenty of videos all around. Then back to Termini. Guido drove 500 Kilometers today. (Over 300 miles) Jean & Janet can fill you in about the phone calls.

See you soon!

Bud Galbo - Apr 8, 2002 The only ones living there are Theresa, the one that was born in Meadville, Concetta Maria, the little redhead in your pictures, and her mother, Giovanna, who is 90 years old. All the rest are gone. Giovanna & Theresa were a link with the past. They gave me a photo of Joe, Ange and I, when we were less than 3 yrs. old, with Mom & Dad. Also a photo of their dad, Grandpa's brother Uncle Tom, when he had a fruit & produce store in or around Meadville when they lived here.

Guido's Lab is in Gradpa's homestead. He has completely restored the four stories. Beautiful marble floors and tile. Very beautiful and functionale lab.

They all have their cottages built on acreage in Caccamo that Vincenzo the tailor had acquired years ago. They all spend their summers up there where it is cooler. We have videos and photos.

They are all doing well over there. Guido, and his son Gabrielle, have Doctorates in Biology and son Marco is more that half way there. Francesca is also a biologist. Guido's Lab is in the house where Grandpa was born. Gabrielle is in the Naval Academy near Florence, and will receive his commission in May. Giovanni works for Parmalat. They have a variety of products over there. We met another Uncle Guiseppe Galbo who is a surgeon in Palermo. Noticed that his AUDI license plate frame said Galbo on it and they said that was another Uncle who has the dealership in Cerda, Sicily.

Galbo is one of the dominate names in Caccamo and Giuffre is one of the dominate names in Termini Imerese. It us unfortunate that we do not know the years that any of them actually immigrated to America, or their ports of departure and entry. (Many of the US records, covering the period that they immigrated, were lost in the late 1930's when the WPA hired people to transcribe the manifests) We could acquire a lot more valid information about our Giuffre ancestry. There are so many Antonio Giuffres, that without the foregoing details, you cannot track anyone. Leone is one of the dominant names in Valledolmo, where Grandma Galbo came from. It is also in the province of Palermo and not too far from Caccamo or Termini Imerese.

My son, and I, also came back weighing less. I think a lot of the walking also helped. We climbed a lot of steps going up to all the churches that we visited. They always were built on the hightest spot in the town and had plenty of steps. The towns are built on the top of mountains. I think that they wanted to be as close to "Heaven" as they could get. And they didn't have helicopters to take all that building material up there.



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