La ricerca delle radici - Tappa OFF It.a.cà

Discover

In 2024, the Year of Italian Roots in the World, continuing the Mantova and Sabbioneta stage of the It.a.cà Festival, which this year dedicates its program to “roots in movement,” the State Archive of Mantova, the Friends of the Archive, and Italea Lombardia present on Saturday, November 23rd, a day with experts and witnesses to engage everyone in the theme of genealogical research.

In a world that has always dealt with the phenomenon of uprooting and the search for new dynamics of coexistence, the metaphor of roots in movement encourages us to reflect on our individual and collective stories, but also on the stories of others – those who come from afar and carry their roots with them, and those who have gone far and are searching for the places of their memory or imagination.

The Year of Italian Roots in the World has been promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to develop a tourist offer dedicated to “root travelers” – the over eighty million Italians and descendants of Italians abroad who want to return to discover the places from which their ancestors emigrated.

The day will offer a journey through space and time, with experts and witnesses who will teach methodologies and share stories of family research journeys and their outcomes. Sometimes surprising results, as documents come to life and turn into films, like Jormenthe passionate story of a daughter searching for her father, who had been a prisoner of war for many years. Or the story of Daphne Perin, an Italian-Brazilian who returned to live in Mantova, her grandparents’ hometown, where she works to tell the richness generated when different cultures meet.

Program

• 9:30 AM – Institutional greetings – Presentation of the Italea Lombardia project
• 10:00 AM – How to do genealogical research
  • Charlotte Lekhal, Onoma Genealogy and Italea Lombardia
• 10:30 AM – The Antenati Portal
  • Franca Maestrini, State Archive of Mantova
• 11:00 AM – A Story of Emigration from Italy to Brazil
  • Daphne Pierin
• 11.30 AM Jormen – A War Prisoner, the Story of a Father
  • Screening of the short film with testimonies by Afra Salami and Federico Jormen Ferrari