The Adventurers

I had long wanted to visit Sant’Andrea Apostolo dello Ionio, the ancient town in which my father was born.

The town, embedded in a hill overlooking the Ionian Sea in Calabria, Italy, is the setting of a story I plan to tell about my grandparents and their experiences during and immediately after World War II.

It is the stuff of legends.

Though I had learned much from my grandparents, who shared with me many of their wonderful memories over the years, in order to truly understand their story, I needed to witness life in and around Sant’Andrea for myself.

For one reason or another, the trip kept getting put off.

But when Uncle Bruno (aka ‘A Bru’), who was also born in Sant’Andrea, learned that I was finally making the trek, he jumped on board, wanting to visit relatives he hadn’t seen in years.

These are our stories.