Hello!

You were waiting for it, here is the date for our first General Meeting in Procida, to which I hope many of you will be able to attend.

General Meeting in Procida on 10^th September 2005

I have the pleasure to officially announce that our first General Meeting will be held in Procida on Saturday 10^th September 2005. Other festivities and visits will be proposed during the whole week end, like I was describing it last month.

I thank those of you that have returned to me the pre inscription form, allowing me to judge the interest and feasibility of organizing such event. Some thirty of you have responded “yes”, which means approximately 60 people will attend including spouses and parents.

The next objective is now to organize for all of you the accommodation that best fits your needs and desires for your stay in Procida and/or Ischia.

How are we going to proceed? Easy, I’m going to Procida next week end for two weeks… I will then be able to collect the best prices for the best accommodation and negotiate discounts for you. This will include our main sponsors: “ETP Casavacanza” www.casavacanza.net for apartments and “La Casa sul Mare” www.lacasasulmare.it for the most beautiful hotel of Procida, but also other hotels and residences in Procida and Ischia.

On my return in March, with the next newsletter, I will communicate you this list with the tariffs and conditions, along with any additional information that could be useful to you, including plane and ferry timetables. Also, the final inscription form will allow you to confirm your attendance to this event as well as book the accommodation wanted.

The next trip to Procida & Ischia

Like I said above, I will be in Procida & Ischia for nearly 10 days to organize the General Meeting, but also to carry on with the digitalization of the registers, and visit family and friends!

The digitalization of the registers of baptisms and marriages of Forio and Barano in Ischia will continue, as well as some “registers of the souls” in Procida. For more information on these registers, please read further down and go to our Web site.

This trip also means that your requests for certificates will be delayed by another couple of weeks, and will wait until March. Your requests are numerous as the Association continues to grow. Today we have reached 140 members!

The other genealogical events in 2005

While waiting for our General Meeting in September, the Association has been invited to the following events:

• 2^nd and 3^rd April 2005: Genealogical Encounter organized by the Cercle Généalogique Lorrain du PACA in Brignoles in the south of France.
   

• 21^st May 2005 in Paris, Place d’Italie, for the inauguration of the “Salon des Italies” dedicated to Italian Culture and Gastronomy, organized by the magazine FOCUS.

I will communicate further in the coming months.

What’s new on our Web Site?

This month you’ll find history, genealogy and new indexes of course…

1. New indexes are available for Procida and the first ones of Barano and Forio for Ischia, the results of the laborious and difficult work of computerization in the last couple of months.

2. A page dedicated to Italy to help you understand the life of your ancestors and give you other pointers for pursuing your research. The contents of this page (accessible from the “Links” section):

• The history of the Italian State Records

• The Italian surnames and first names

• The children abandoned in Naples

• The “Parthenopean Republic” of 1799

These documents are the first ones of an historical and genealogical synthesis of the events that have affected our ancestors. Other ones will be added throughout the year to complement our work in Procida and Ischia. I am sure you’ll find those interesting.

3. In the series “Cousins”, you’ll find a short biography of Vincent SCOTTO the famous French compositor from Marseille, but 100% Procida origins! You’ll find also an overview of his family tree, and many of you share some of his ancestors, like I do! This article has been realized by Gaby LUBRANO LAVADERA and her husband Jean-Marie DUFOUR, thanks to the help of another “Marseillais”, René BARONE who carried out the necessary research in Marseille. This page can be found under the “Members” section.

4. In the series “Cousins”, you will also discover a triple cousinage between Gaby LUBRANO LAVADERA and myself!

Of course, do not hesitate to send us any other complementary information to share it with everyone.

Once again, I want to thank your for your support, your patience, and your collaboration to the concretization of all our projects close to our hearts, allowing us to understand and get closer everyday more to our “Grande Famille de Procida & Ischia”.

Best wishes.

Pascal SCOTTO DI VETTIMO
President of the Association