Luigi and Francesca Nannariello Children

This section is the story of the children of Luigi Nannariello and Francesca Martiniello Nannariello. There were ten children, four of whom died in early childhood.  The six surviving children all immigrated to the United States. The story of Canio Nannariello provides insights into the ancestry for all of the children.

Luigi and Francesca Nannariello and their family and roots in Calitri, Italy

Ancestry information about their six surviving children and four children who died in early childhood.

Insights into life in Italy and the United States in the first two decades of the 20^th  Century

Canio Nannariello’s early years in White Plains, New York

The connection of the six Nannariello siblings with Donato Nannariello, brother of Luigi Nannariello.

The support from Donato Nannariello and his  wife Vincenza Toglia Nannariello to  facilitate the immigration of his brother Luigi’s six children.

Canio Nannariello is no more important than any of the six Nannariello siblings in telling this Ancestry story. There are reasons that parts of this Ancestry are more focused on the details of Canio’s  life and his marriage to Angelina (Angie) Passarella. The two principal developers of this Ancestry are direct descendants of Canio Nannariello. They are Richard Nannariello, the son of Canio and Angie Nannariello and Stephen Nannariello, the grandson of Canio Nannariello and Angie Nannariello.  They both had more life experience and  documentation and oral history about Canio than his other five surviving siblings. The research of Canio Nannariello  revealed aspects of his life, the lives of his parents and the lives of his siblings, not previously known. The  more detailed knowledge of Canio Nannariello and lack of  information about his other siblings, dictated the Ancestry focus on  Canio. 

The Nannariello’s  were part of the millions of people from Europe that immigrated to the United States in the late 19^th Century and early 20th centuries to escape poverty, joblessness, the impact of the First World War and the Spanish Flu, and many other social and economic circumstances. They came to pursue opportunities unknown or only imagined in their new home in the United States, “whose streets were paved in gold.”

The topics for each Nannariello siblings  are listed chronologically by  birth dates: Grazia, Mariantonia, Lorenzo, Rosa, Canio, and Leonardo. There were four other children that died in early childhood, not an uncommon situation for large families and the challenges of childbirth..

Canio immigrated to the United States in 1921. According to US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, 222,260 Italians immigrated to the United State in 1921. Because of Federal legislation and quotas for various countries, only 40,319 Italians emigrated from Italy in 1922, and similar reductions for the next few years.  There was a significant change in attitudes and acceptance of emigrants in the United States during that period and the fact was reflected in establishing  the quota  immigration legislation. The number of emigrants  from Italy was significant reduced for decades. Quotas were established for various countries and one can imagine what  the United States was dealing with competing national views of the benefits and challenges of allowing immigration in large numbers.

We do not know the rationale and events that occurred among the six siblings when they  began their exit from Calitri. There were challenges in the cost of going by ship to the United States and the issues of sponsorship, where to live, and what kind of work they would be able to do.  None of them  spoke no English and all had a limited education. Their education acceptable by the norms of that part of Italy in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s would limit their opportunities in the United States. However,  they all survived, married  raised families, and lived the American dream as best they could. They contributed to their name becoming part of the American immigration experience.

See Personal Perspectives Heroes Luigi and Francesca Nannariello

Canio (Charlie) Nannariello

This is the beginning of the story of Canio Nannariello and Angelina Passarella Nannariello of White Plains, New York.  All of their story cannot be told, because as with most families, there is a vast amount of oral and documented history that was not captured to pass on to future generations. There is an innocent and non-malicious pattern of oversight and failure to

• Acquire the anecdotal and oral history from parents in their lifetime
• Inquire about their motivation and personal experience to immigrate
• Share their initial and evolving  experiences in coming to and surviving in a new country
• Learn about  their family history and life experiences in Italy and specifically in Calitri

Canio was born in Calitri Italy on May 31, 1901. At the turn of the  new century, the population of Italy was about 33 million and the population of Calitri was about 6,000. Victor Emmanuel III (1900-1946) was the Italian monarch. Italians, just as workers in many other countries, had discovered the effectiveness of the  “strike” and the power of workers being unified by numbers. There were more than 1,600 strikes in Italy in1901, but we do not know if there were any in Calitri. It was a new century of change. Pope Leo XIII occupied the Vatican and issued an encyclical on Christian Democracy. Prime Minister Zanardelli spoke of investments made to improve the economy of Naples.  Two new railroad lines were announced to be built between Rome and Naples. Italy and much of the world was becoming industrialized, but there was not much industrialization in Calitri.

In 1901,Giuseppe Verdi died at the age of 87. In  Milan Verdi’s  life was celebrated by a concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini performing  of  “Va pensione” with a chorus of over 800.  An emigration law was passed in Italy limiting immigration from Italy,  specifically  from Naples, Genoa, and Palermo. The purpose was to protect exploitation by shipping agents and prevent the loss of a work force to support the early industrialization of Italy. People were a resource to be managed and there was competition among the many emerging countries.

Canio shared his birth year with a few famous Italians: Vittorio De Sica, film director; and Enrico Fermi, physicist and Nobel prize winner. Canio Nannariello joined each of them in making a difference in their lifetimes but with varying magnitudes of difference. Canio was born on the cusp of this brand-new 20^th Century.

A new century, that opened the world to much change and offered numerous people from many countries around the world an opportunity to explore a new life and opportunities in America. Many of those emigrants were from Europe and many were from Italy.

One  tradition in Italy was to name the first son after a  grandfather and the first daughter after a grandmother.  Another naming tradition was to name sons after the patron saint of the village or city, which in the case of Calitri was San Canio. Canio Nannariello was named after his maternal grandfather, Canio Martiniello, and both  were named after the Patron Saint of Calitri. The immigrating Nannariello’s brought the naming tradition to the United States. Among the six Nannariello siblings, four sons were named Louis after their grandfather Luigi Nannariello.  Three  daughters were named Frances after their  grandmother, Francesca Martiniello Nannariello.

Canio Nannariello, later to be given the Americanized name of Charlie, was had a twin sister, Vincenza. They were the eighth and ninth children of Luigi and Francesca Nannariello.  Vincenza lived about twenty months and died unidentified circumstances. In oral history a half a century after leaving Calitri in 1921, Canio spoke once briefly to his two sons,  Louis and Richard, about the fact he was a twin. Charlie would have no memory of Vincenza because of her early passing.  Also, he never mentioned that the twin was a girl or boy or the name.  Within the Nannariello family in the United States, all references to the Nannariello family were of the “six” Nannariello siblings. Except for reference from Canio, there was never a reference to his twin and the fact that there were three other births that resulted in early childhood deaths.

The Nannariello family lived in a home on a pedestrian street just below a cul-de-sac near a piazza  by the top of the town. The house was on Via Immaculata Concessione 48. We can imagine donkeys carrying goods up and down these gently descending stairs which followed the descending grade into the lower parts of the village. We can imagine the early morning tradition and  someone in the home  appearing outside of the house with a bucket of water and a straw broom to properly clean the area in front.   There is no documented information when the house was built and how many of the Nannariello siblings were born in this house. There is some dated oral history from the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, the house was still owned by the Nannariello’s and needed to be sold. The speculation is the six Nannariello’s in the United States agreed to sell the home. Their  parents, Luigi and Maria Francesca Nannariello had both passed in 1931 and 1935 respectively.

The house is a short walk up to the piazza and the Chiesa D’Annuniciata, where  Canio and some of his siblings were baptized. To confirm this, it would be necessary to investigate baptismal records in the Chiesa San Canio, which hopefully has the baptismal information from Chiesa D’Annunciata. Chiesa D’Annunciata was destroyed in an earthquake in 1910, following  other significant earthquake damage many decades before.  From the piazza and the Chiesa D‘Annunciata the vista frames the beautiful rolling hills looking across the valley where sheep once generously roamed. In the distance fields one can see  a small chapel or cappella,  where the sheep herders and farmers would  stop,  genuflect and say a prayer. Many of the streets that existed in 1901 and  were built centuries before.

The Nannariello name was on the tax roles in Calitri in the 1500’s.  Further research is required to determine from how  much further back the Nannariello name evolved  and to confirm  the name originally started in Calitri.  There is a history and tradition in Italy  that some names originated in a particular town. Also, there is history and travel realities in past centuries that limited the migration of people and their surnames to other Italian villages. We can speculate the Nannariello name was created and given birth in Calitri before the 1500’s.

The first known photo of Canio shows his mother, Maria Francesca Martiniello Nannariello, and his father, Luigi Nannariello sitting;  Canio is standing to the left; his sister Rosa in the middle; and his brother Leonardo on the right. The three missing siblings, Mariantoinia, Grazia, and Lorenzo, had already immigrated to the United States. This photo was taken in Calitri circa 1919. Canio is 18 years old; Rosa is 20 years old; Leonard is 16 years old. Luigi Nannariello is 55 and Francesca is 53. When this photo was taken the immigration to the United States had already occurred for Grace (1907), Lorenzo (1910), Mariantoinia (1913). Leonard immigrated in 1920. Rosa was the last to immigrate in 1924 with her husband Giuseppe (Joe) DeCosmo.

In the time frame that Canio was growing up, the education available in Calitri was very limited. Young people without resources or professional parents, would receive about a third or fourth grade education. In Calitri many men ended up working in agriculture and raising sheep and processing food. They would cultivate grapes growing on the slopes to produce the fine red wine of the region. They would make the local  pecorino cheese from the many herds of sheep.  If a youth was fortunate,  he would be beneficiary of his father’s profession or  craft or owned a retail shop. Canio’s father was a calzalaio or shoemaker and was trained as a shoemaker.  It is not known, why he was chosen for his father’s  craft rather than his other two brothers, Leonard and Lorenzo.

Canio immigrated to the United States  at 20 years of age.  He departed from Naples on the SS Patria and arrived May 9, 1921 at Ellis Island in New York City. Ellis Island operated from 1892 to 1992 for millions of arriving immigrants. New York City and the Statue of Liberty literally received and greeted millions of these emigrants.  When arriving in New York Harbor, Canio saw the Statue of Liberty, as did four  siblings before him.  We can  imagine the mixture of joy and trepidation and wonder Canio felt, now that he was joining his siblings. In August of 1989, Canio’s name joined thousands from around the world on the island that hosts the Statue of Liberty. On “The American Immigrant Wall of Honor” his name appears on a plaque along with many others from Italy.  The simple statement on the plaque is “Canio Nannariello Italy.”

Canio became “Charlie” in the United States. There is no oral history about  how he got that name, and the name Canio does not translate from Italian.   His sons were older before they knew his given name was Canio, not Charlie  In later years, some  of his nephews and nieces often referred to him as “Zi’Caniuccio” an affectionate reference to Uncle Canio,  the “uccio” being a suffix of endearment and respect. When Canio was a young man in Calitri he had a nickname or in Italian “storto nome,” which literally translated means “crooked name.” This nickname was “Paglia Lungo” or literally “Long Straw.”  This  nickname was revealed to Charlie’s son,  Richard Nannariello,  during his 1978 trip to Calitri, in which Giuseppe Stanco was guide and friend and historian.  This anecdotal naming in his youth was revealed at that time or otherwise  lost for all time. We never thought of Charlie  as being particularly tall, but in the few photos we have of him as a young man, he was rather slim and apparently tall relative to the typical Calitrani young men of the time.

After his processing at Ellis Island, Charlie was released to the streets of New York City. We can imagine his wonderment at viewing this city. Canio traveled to Grand Central Station in uptown Manhattan.  This was the 1913 version of Grand Central Station that replaced the 1900 version which in turn replaced the original 1871 version. Grand Central Station  was then,  and is  now,  the largest train station in the world in terms of platforms and tracks and possibly acreage. We can only imagine Canio’s response to this great railroad station in an electrified city after taking the subway from lower Manhattan to uptown. He boarded the train in New York City and  got  off  at the last stop in White Plains, New York in Westchester County. Over the ,  the New York Central would extend the railroad to many stops north of White Plains and eventually ending in Dover Plains and Wassaic in Putnam County.

Canio was greeted by his Aunt Vincenza Nannariello and would walk less than a block from the White Plains train station to  the  multi-purpose home and hotel at 21 Main Street. Charlie was not greeted by Donato Nannariello, who arranged for his immigration to the United States, because Donato had died one year before in 1920. We can assume some days later, Aunt Vincenza took Canio to pay respects to Donato at the White Plains Rural Center.  Donato’s  three-story tenement home was the home for his eleven children, a number of immigrants and hotel customers.  When Charlie was older, he shared oral history with his sons that he was initially rather discouraged after being in White Plains for a while and considered returning to Calitri. Possibly the factors included learning a new language, finding work that he liked, and the vast change of moving from a pastoral town to a city environment in a new country. Again, this is a man reminiscing about his arrival and introduction   to the United States, fifty years later. There is no way to know the seriousness of his aging thoughts.

Canio (Charlie) Nannariello Poem: The Photograph

This poem is a tribute to Canio (Charlie) Nannariello by his son Richard Nannariello

There he stands in the black and white photograph
Beside a sister and a brother  standing to the side
Mother and father sitting and unsmiling
Innocent of the journey he would take two  years later
The family photograph is faded
With stern and not smiling faces
He is slim and his glance slightly avoids the camera
Seeming to stare into the distance
Avoiding the camera’s searching eye
Possibly he is reflecting or searching for a new dream
Or remorseful about an old dream lost
Or a new dream not properly conceived  
He seems comfortable in his double-breasted suit
Round collar and thin tie
He was hardly nineteen
As the world completed the second decade of the Twentieth Century.

He left the Italian hills of Campania a year or so later
Walking down the steep dusty dirt road of Calitri
The town sitting on the mountain top 
Entwined by a twisting road
And foot paths traveled for centuries
By sheepherders and sheep and donkeys
With alacrity and toughened legs
How certain were his steps traveling alone
To the railway station hugging the lower hill
He would never stride up that mountain again
Or feel the warm embrace of his mother and father.

He was a cobbler
A calzalaio
The maker and fixer of shoes
Shoes lathered by the dust and fields of Calitri
Shoes worn out by the sometimes erratic village cobblestoned streets
Shoes compromised by the smell and stain of sheep droppings
He descended that mountain for the last time
At the beginning of the third decade of the twentieth century
Traveling through Benevento and Avellino to Napoli
The home of kings and pizza and opera and Caruso.

In Napoli ships gathered desperate and hopeful men and women
And unknowing children
Searching for dreams not completely formulated
Their pockets lined with more hope than money
Often following and trudging the paths laid by relatives
Who sent encouraging letters from across the ocean
Professing various versions of the roads and dreams paved in gold
For those hungering for useful work and higher expectations
They would sit silent deep in the bowels
Of nameless ships crossing the black Atlantic waters
No one at the Naples dock to acknowledge or anoint their pilgrimage
|Or bless their journey.

During his sweaty and fitful dreams
Did he regret leaving his mountain retreat
Did he taste fear on his tongue and in his heart
Did the past words  of a brother or sister
Who traveled before him reassure him at the disembarkation
Did the new language unknown and not understood
Isolate him from expressing any anxiety or failed hopes
Many thousands made the journey and few returned.

Living in a boarding house
That ignored privacy or cleanliness
He traveled so far and only to live so harshly
He worked slavishly every day
For endless weeks with no definition
And no weekends
Mastering and learning this new language
Without the soft consistent vowel pronunciations of Italian
His words came from his lips for his life time
Guttural and deeply accented
Like so many before him and after him
He came and he saw and did not conquer But he survived.

In his photograph he is forever young
And he will  be forever ageless
In the hearts and memories of his Mother and Father
The hopes of his unknown journey still lingering
In his distant stare
He embraced a new country and a new life
Never to see the hills of Calitri again
Never to see his parents again
But indelibly marked in his heart and soul
He is Calitrani.

Canio (Charlie) Nannariello: America at His Arrival

When Charlie Nannariello arrived in the United States in 1921, it was a country going through great change, creating new urban infrastructures, and re-defining normal life styles. Electrification changed the way people lived and worked and traveled and entertained. The First World War ended in November 1918. Many tens of thousands of young Americans had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and seen Europe for the first time. Silent movies were a phenomenon that informed and entertained the public and generated huge numbers of movie theaters. Weekly movie attendance was a way of life for many Americans. Movies created a visual awareness of the world that Americans and the world had never seen before. Fashions and the way of speaking evolved from what was seen  on the silent screen and eventually on the “talkie” screens which evolved. In 1927 Al Jolson, a great performer and vaudevillian, appeared in the first “talkie” movie, “The Jazz Singer.” It was part talking and part silent movie  for the man who famously was  identified with his performance challenge,  “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”

Warren Harding became the 29^th President in 1921, replacing Woodrow Wilson, an ailing President that had failed to get the United States to join the League of Nations. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was established at Arlington National Cemetery and dedicated by President  Harding. The Roaring Twenties, defined as lasting from 1920 to 1929, would create unimaginable changes for social, music, entertainment, working, and gender.  The Tulsa Race Riot of June 1921, caused whites  killed blacks and destroyed part of a city and continued a cycle of racism that preceded the Civil War and continued to that day and beyond in various forms. 

The Spanish Flu devasted much of the world from 1918 to 1920 and had tremendous after effects. It killed about 676,000 people of the approximately one hundred million people in the United States at the time. It is estimated that about fifty million people died of the flu worldwide. Along with the Roaring Twenties came assembly lines  producing cars that were affordable to the masses. Henry Ford paid his workers five dollars a day, so they could afford to buy the cars they were manufacturing. Modernization of building  made indoor plumbing available. Also, now available were  the electrification of homes and factories and the availability of a myriad  electric appliances. All of this produced mass consumerism because of the availability of products previously unknown to consumers. Art Deco in design and architecture were becoming dominate. Jazz continued its migration from New Orleans and the South by Blacks migrating to the North, and in particular to Chicago. Their migration of Blacks to the North was more challenging than Italians migrating to the United States from Italy. The third decade of the Twentieth Century was described by the economic historian Gene Smiley as “the first truly modern decade.”

Again, we can only imagine Canio’s view of the world at this arrival in White Plains and his exposure to the United States over the next few years.

The Emergency Quota Act established quotas on immigration with a significant impact on Eastern Europe in the early 1920’s.. Many future Italians were limited by the immigration opportunities that Canio and his siblings had enjoyed earlier.  Radio was broadcasting for the first-time religious programs and baseball and music. Listeners heard the voices of people previously only known in photos and the written word. White Castle hamburger restaurant set the stage for the world’s first and eventually ubiquitous fast-food restaurants. Prohibition was in its second year and illegal drinking helped define and welcome the Roaring Twenties with new styles in music, dress, speech, and types of work. Prohibition had fostered the battle between the “wets” and the “dry’s” and begat organized crime. Prohibition was the portal by which organized crime found numerous ways to intervene in business and consumer needs and the greed of government officials.   In 1920,  the final ratification of the 19^th Amendment rewarded the women suffrage movement with the vote and provided working and social freedoms for women that went beyond the vote. In Italy, it was not until provided 1924 that women could vote only in local elections, and finally in 1945  Italian women were granted full suffrage.

Twenty year old Canio, left a village of about five thousand people that would wait for many years for these changes to arrive in cities of Italy, and more years before arriving  rural and mountainous and impoverished Calitri, which was deep in the Mezzogiorno. Calitri had survived many centuries with slow and deliberate changes in the social order. The vestiges of feudalism still existed in Europe and many parts of the world. Canio and his siblings had escaped, prior to their immigration, many of the evolving changes in the world. Canio would initially walk the streets of White Plains with hand-made shoes crafted by he and his father, as he apprenticed to become a shoemaker in Calitri. We can imagine physical and emotional the changes were overwhelming for this young emigrant.

The White Plains railroad station was a majestic building when completed in 1915. The inside of the building had a  feel and architecture of a very small version of New York’s Grand Central Station. This new station was built in conjunction with the New York Central Railroad line being redirected from the east  side of White Plains to the west side. This change of location in White Plains, dramatically impacted the development of White Plains. The grade and track were raised so the train would cross a bridge over Main Street rather than intersect with the local streets. Part of this realignment of the track included the building of the new station. Abutting the New York Central bridge that straddled Main Street, was the three story tenement at 21 Main Street that Donato and Vincenza Nannariello lived in, and where Canio Nannariello slept his first night in the United States.

When Canio awoke the first day after his arrival, he truly awoke to a new world.  

See  Visits to Calitri Personal Perspectives 1953 Joseph DeCosmo

See Visits to Calitri 1976 Personal Perspectives Richard Nannariello II

See Visits to Calitri 1978 Personal Perspectives Richard Nannariello

See Visits to Calitri 1981 Personal Perspectives Robert Nannariello

Canio (Charlie) and Angelina (Angie) Nannariello Children

Charlie met Angelina (Angie) Passarella in White Plains sometime around 1925.  In 1916, Angie’s mother Filomena Farinacci Nardolillo Passarella had relocated the family to White Plains from Brewster Heights in Putnam County, just north of Westchester County. This relocation was prompted by her becoming a widow for the second time in 1916 and several months after her sixth child, Frank Passarella,  was born. The circumstances of Charlie meeting Angie are not known. Charlie lived on Main Street and Angie lived five or six blocks away on the hillside area of  Ferris Avenue, the Italian section of White Plains. Canio and Angelina (Angie) Nannariello had two children:

Louis (Lou) Stephan Nannariello (6/19/1928- 2/16/1998) was born in White Plains, NY; he attended White Plains High School; and served in the Army for two years in Germany after World War II. Lou eventually partnered in a liquor store that his father, Charlie,  initially established with his nephew Stanley Fusco after the World War II.  Louis married Nancy Guardino Nannariello (6/1/1928-12/5/2012) in White Plains, New York.

• Nancy’s father was Joseph Guardino (9/12/1981-1977) born in Sciacca, Sicily, Italy. Joe’s  parents were Giuseppe Guardino born in Sciacca and Francesca Graffeo (1860-) born in Sciacca, Sicily. Joe Guardino operated a Fish Market on lower Main Street in White Plains for many years. The business was eventually taken over by his son Carl Guardino. Joe was an enterprising and entrepreneurial business man that purchased properties on lower Main Street near his place of business.
• Nancy’s  mother was Accursia Cecelia Sutera Guardino (1896-12/2/1966) and was  born in Sciacca, Sicily. Celia’s parents were Carlo Sutera (5/25/1865-1937) who was born in Sciacca and died in Brooklyn, New York; and Maria Santangelo (1874-1941)  born in Sciacca and died in Brooklyn.
• Nancy Guardino Nannariello’s siblings were Joseph, Carl, Mary and Francis.  

Louis and Nancy had three children.

• Lynn Nannariello,   (1953) was born in St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains, New York in Westchester County. The family lived at 27 Odell Avenue in an apartment building owned by her uncle. At about seven she moved into the upstairs apartment of her maternal grandparents’ home on Greenridge Avenue. At abut age 14, her family moved to Spring Valley, New York in Rockland County. She received a BA degree and a Master’s degree in English and has worked in publishing for over 40 years. She currently lives in Nanuet, NY.
• Stephen Nannariello (9/301956) was born in White Plains. NY. He graduated from Spring Valley High School and attended Rockland Community College. He owned and operated a liquor store in Spring Valley with his partner Mike Birnbaum and worked for many years as a sales representative. He married Barbara Thomas in1983. They have two children, James (Jimmy) Nannariello and Stephanie Nannariello. They have three grandchildren, Olivia and twins  Christian and Gabriel. Steve and Barbara retired and relocated to Saratoga, New York.
• Gary Nannariello  (4/28/1960) was born in White Plains, New York. He graduated from Spring Valley High School and has worked for Shoprite supermarkets for many years and retired in 2022. He married Virginia in March 1998 and they have a daughter Kayla.  They currently live in New City, NY.

Canio had established a Liquor store with his nephew Stanley Fusco around 1950. At that time the number of licenses for liquor stores was limited in  New York State. Veterans of the Second World War received a preference for getting licenses.  Canio and Stanley jointly started the business with Charlie being the silent partner and not actively  being part of the business. Charlie worked with a lawyer from New Rochelle who supported the  effort to get the license.  In later years, Louis Nannariello joined the family business and became a partner with Stanley Fusco. They moved the business from White Plains to Spring Valley, NY and operated for many years until the  business was sold.  Lou worked part time for a newspaper in semi-retirement.  Lou died in 1998 and is buried in Frederick Loescher Veterans Memorial Cemetery in New Hempstead, Rockland County, NY.  Nancy was a busy and a very participating Grandmother with her grandchildren for many years both before and after Lou died. Nancy died in 2012 and is interred in the same cemetery as her husband.

Richard Robert (Rich) Nannariello (3/20/1933) was born in White Plains; graduated from Stepinac High School in 1951; attended St. John University in Brooklyn on a four year academic scholarship; served in the Army (1953-1954) including a year and a half in South Korea; worked more than  forty years in Information Technology,  including 32 years at the Reader’s Digest in Pleasantville, New York. He married Antoinette (Toni) Mercatante in 1955 and they had three children.

• Richard (Richie) Nannariello (6/20/1956) was born in White Plains, NY. He graduated from Hunter College in 1983 with a major in language courses. He started at the United Nations as intern in 1980 and spent 35 years in Human Resources at both the international headquarters in New York City and in the last six years in various international posts in the Middle East and Africa.  The international assignments included posts in  Burundi, Sudan, Uganda and Iraq.  Richard retired from the United Nations in 2016 and lives in White Plains, NY.

• Robert (Bobby) Nannariello (10/22/1957-4/10/1992) was born in White Plains, NY. He attended Rider College in New Jersey for two years. He transferred to Pace College in Westchester County and completed his major in English and Communications. Bobby worked at various jobs while relentlessly developing his skills as a writer. His writing include poetry, plays, children’s stories, short stories and he was a prolific journalist.  He lived in Munich, Germany for four years and completed courses in German and became  fluent in German. He also spoke some French. He returned to the United States and lived in New York City for several years and eventually moved to San Francisco. He died on April 10, 1992 in San Francisco with his father by his side. He is buried in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York, only a mile from the house where his mother, Antoinette was born and raised in Valhalla. Bobby has a website (robertnannariello.com) with a collection of many of his writings.  

• John Nannariello (8/22/1962) was born in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Pace College in 1985;  started working at the Town of Greenwich Connecticut in Purchasing as an intern while still in college;  stayed 18 years at the Town of Greenwich; and returned to college to change to a profession in Information Technology, specifically in Communications. He worked as Communications Manager with NBC for twenty years mostly in New York City and four years in Miami.  He lived in Rowayton, CT  and Wilton,  CT and currently lives in Stratford CT. In 2021 he was employed by Avangrid in Orange, CT as an IT Manager. He married Kristin Richardson November 1996 and they had two children.
  • Jake Thomas Nannariello (6/30/1999) was born in Rowayton, CT.
  • Juliet Rose Nannariello (1/22/2002) was born in Rowayton, CT.

Richard and Antoinette Nannariello divorced in 1985. He married Jean Hayes Nannariello in August 8, 1993 and they lived in Mt. Kiso, New York. After retiring from the Reader’s Digest in 1995, they moved to Ormond Beach, FL in 1999. In retirement, Richard is an active writer in various genres including songwriting, full length and one act stage plays, short stories, screenplays, musicals. His website TheSilentForces has some of his collected poetry.

Lorenzo (Larry) Nannariello

Lorenzo (Larry) Nannariello (1/6/1894-3/21/69), later to be called Larry and Lawrence, immigrated at seventeen years of age from Naples on the SS Roma and arrived in New York on December 6, 1910. He initially arrived in White Plains and was sponsored by his Uncle Donato Nannariello and Aunt Vincenza Nannariello. Larry  had his first residence in the Hotel Harlem operated by Donato at 21 Main Street in White Plains, New York. This same building was also the Nannariello home where Donato raised his eleven children. Larry enlisted in the Army in Bridgeport, Connecticut and was assigned to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. The year of his enlistment  was 1917 and he was not shipped to Europe and the war.

Larry married Maria Felicia (Flossie) Ruggiero (3/23/1903-8/5/1995) on September 25, 1920 in Trinity Church in Brooklyn, Connecticut.  Flossie was born in Wakefield, The Bronx, New York to Antonio Ruggiero and Angelina Passarella Ruggiero.  Larry  became an American citizen in October 29, 1918.  Larry and Flossie lived in a home on Wyanoke Street in White Plains for many years and raised their three children there. He spent his career both  working and operating bars in various locations. Larry died in White Plains in 1995 and is interred in Ferncliff Cemetery, 280 Secor Road, Hartsdale, New York. Flossie died in Boynton Beach Florida and is also buried in Ferncliff Cemetery.

Flossie Ruggiero’s father was Antonio Ruggiero  and her mother was Angelina Nannariello Ruggerio. Angelina Nannariello was the daughter of Giuseppe Nannariello, who is the brother of Luigi Nannariello, who is Larry Nannariello’s father. Giuseppe was in fact Larry Nannariello’s uncle. Angelina Nannariello was Larry’s first cousin.  Calitri is a small village that had at most a few thousand inhabitants for many centuries. Like many isolated Italian villages, we can imagine there was not much migration to and from Calitri to other villages until the late 1800’s and into the 1900’s.  It is documented that there were about three hundred documented known  surnames in Calitri around the 1500’s and this list is included in this Ancestry document. It may have been common to find marriages among cousins.   Larry and Flossie Nannariello had three children who were all born in White Plains.

Flossie Nannariello was one of the following  eleven Ruggiero children

• Lucia Ruggiero DellaBadia
• Jenny Ruggiero DiMartino
• Maria Felicia (Flossie) Ruggiero Nannariello
• Nancy Ruggiero Vitale
• Antoinette Ruggiero DeLeno
• Nicholas Ruggiero
• Jerry Ruggiero
• John Ruggiero
• Larry Ruggiero
• Lena Ruggiero
• Josephine Ruggiero Salvo

Following are the three children of Larry and Flossie Nannariello, namely Louis and Francis and Angelina.

Louis Nannariello (Nanarello) (11/2/1921-6/19/2005) was born in White Plains. He changed his name later in life to spell it phonetically with less letters.  Mary Beth was a boarder in the home of Canio and Angie  Nannariello, Louis’s uncle and aunt,  for a few years when they lived on Lester Place in the Battle Hill Section of White Plains.  Louis met and married Mary Beth and they were married for many years. Louis and Mary Beth operated a luncheonette in White Plains on Main Street for many years called “Mary Lou.” They had no children.

Louis served in the US Army during World War II and served in Italy. There is some oral history that while he served in the Infantry in Italy, he was either in sight of Calitri or was in Calitri. There is no way to verify the extent of his being in Calitri.  Ironically, a World War provided an opportunity for a Nannariello to get back to the Calitri location. There is oral history that he traveled through Compania and possibly was near Calitri during his military service. Louis married for the second time to Nancy Butler Nannariello (1/3/1945). Nancy had a sister, Diane Butler.  They had two children and lived in Stamford for many years.

• David Nold Nanarello (3/28/59)
• Cynthia Nanarello Morano (6/19/1996)

Louis  was in the restaurant business for many years in White Plains and later was the manager at Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. Louis died in 2005.

Frances Nannariello (7/5/1923-8/15/2002) was born in The Bronx, New York. She married Charles (Bud) Gormley (9/23/1915-11/13/2008) in December 6, 1942 in White Plains. This was about the time that Bud entered the Second World War in the Navy. Bud served in the Pacific Theater as a Machinist Mate 3^rd Class.  Bud was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Francis and Bud lived their final years in Boynton Beach, Florida.  Frances predeceased Bud by several years in 2002.  Bud spent his last years near his daughter in an assisted living facility in Port Charlotte, Florida and passed in 2008.  They are interred together in Venice Memorial Gardens, Venice Florida.

Frances and Bud had one daughter Veronica (Ronnie) Gormley Lombardi (1/6/1944) who was born in White Plains. She married Vincent Lombardi (12/28/1943) in Hartsdale, NY in December 6, 1964. They married on the same date as Ronnie’s parent’s marriage date and exactly twenty-two years later.   They had two children who were both born in Danbury Connecticut.

• Gina Lombardi Gleason (1/1/1970)
• James Lombardi (4/11/1972)

Angelina (Ann) Nannariello (2/27/1925-3/17/2017) was married to Joseph Severino and had a later marriage to Anthony DeFeo.  Ann and Joseph had one son Joseph (Jody) DeFeo (11/2/1957-7/13/2001). Ann lived for many years and her final years in Boynton Beach, Florida.  At one time, Ann and her sister Frances and brother Louis and their families all lived in Boynton Beach.

Grazia (Grace) Nannariello Trotta

Grazia (Grace) Nannariello (10/1/1891-11/26/1960), later to be called Grace, was born in Calitri in  1891.  She was the oldest of the surviving children. She immigrated from Calitri to New York at sixteen years of age on the SS Roma and arrived in New York on May 6, 1907. She was the first among the six Nannariello children of Luigi Nannariello, to immigrate. Luigi Nannariello and his brother Donato Nannariello, who had immigrated many years before, had organized the opportunity for Luigi’s  children to immigrate under the sponsorship of Donato. This was a courageous act on the part of Grace at such a young age.

Grace, like other Nannariello siblings, lived in White Plains for many years, and also lived in New Rochelle at one time.  Grace married Dominic Trotta (1884-) on June 22, 1911 and they had four children.

• Lucy Trotta (1911-) married and had a daughter Claudia.
• Vito Trotta (1911-)
• Frances Trotta (1913-)
• Canio Trotta (1915-)

During some of the Great Depression years Grace and her daughter Lucy lived with Charlie and Angie Nannariello at their home on  Lester Place in the Battle Hill section of White Plains.

See Personal Perspectives: Grace Nannariello Trotta Saturday at the Movies

Mariantonia (Antoinette) Nannariello Locatelli Pecor

Mariantonia (Antoinette) Nannariello Locatelli Pecor (4/8/1894-8/29/1989) later to be called Antoinette, was born in 1894. She immigrated at 17 years of age on the SS Venezia and arrived in New York City on November 2, 1913 or August 8, 1912.. She was the second of the six Nannariello siblings to immigrate. Considering her age and the times, it was a very courageous decision on the part of both her parents and Antoinette to make this change. Antoinette benefited by the generosity of Donato and Vincenza Nannariello to immigrate to the United States, and specifically to White Plains, New York.  Antoinette married  Pasquale Locatelli and they had two daughters.

• Adelaide Locatelli Pamco  (3/10/1926-1/22/2001)
• Frances Locatelli Capozi (3/101926-1/22/2001)

Antoinette was divorced from Pasquale Locatelli and  married for a second time to Timothy (Tim) Pecor (12/27/1909-7/24/1986). Tim was born in Lancaster , New Hampshire and later lived in Philadelphia for many years. He was in the US Army during the  World War II. Antoinette and Tim owned and operated a restaurant in New Rochelle. Eventually they moved to Miami where they opened a restaurant on 81Street at 8133 Biscayne Boulevard. The restaurant advertised the fact the restaurant was operated by owners who were originally from New Rochelle. This made the restaurant very popular with Westchester County vacationers. Tim died in 1986 in Miami. Antoinette died in 1989 and was the longest living of the Nannariello siblings at 93 years of age. Also, she was the last surviving of the Nannariello siblings.

Leonardo (Leonard) Nannariello

Leonardo (Leonard) Nannariello (1/6/1904-1971), later to be called Leonard, was born in 1904. He immigrated at 16 years of age on the SS Niagara and arrived in New York on December 23, 1920. Leonard married Rosa (Rose) Passarelli Nannariello (9/27/1907-11/16/2003) in New Rochelle in St, Joseph Catholic Church. They lived in New Rochelle for most of their lives until Leonard died in 1971 in the New Rochelle hospital.  Leonard worked in Lindy’s Diner in Mamaroneck, New York a good part of his life and always worked the night shift.  He would arrive home each morning  to both end and start his day with  dinner which always included pasta.  He worked in Lindy’s for probably more than forty-five years. Rose moved to Stamford after Leonard passed to live with her daughter Frances Nannariello Ventura.

Rose and Leonard are interred in Ferncliff Cemetery, Secor Road, White Plains, New York. Rose was born in New York City at 21 Elm Street.  The Passarelli family was from Cosensa in the region of Calabria Italy. Rose was one of five sisters who all lived in New Rochelle, New York. 

• Carmella Passarelli Bonelli
• Vera Passarelli Ciliberti
• Millie Passarelli Teti
• Josephine Passarelli Mustacato

Leonard and Rose had one daughter Frances (Fran) Nannariello (1935) Fran married Joe Ventura and had two children. Fran was later divorced and  married Richard (Dick) Stitzel. Fran grew up in New Rochelle and spent significant time with her Aunts on her mother’s side.  Fran and Joe Ventura had two children.

• Leonard (Lennie) Ventura married Elizabeth Nina and they have a daughter Nina (3/23/2021). They live in Stamford.
• Ronald (Ronnie) Ventura married Josephine Rini and they have twin daughters Jordan and Sidney (10/2/2/1995) They live in South Salem.

Rosa (Rose) Nannariello DeCosmo

Rosa (Rose) Nannariello DeCosmo (4/23/1899-1966) was the last of the six Nannariello siblings to leave Calitri. Rose immigrated at 25 years of age from Calitri, with her husband Giuseppe DiCosmo (12/13/1897-1949), later to be called Joe.  They arrived together on the SS Columbo in New York City on March 2, 1924. They were married in Calitri and lost a young daughter Maria Michella, after her short life, before leaving Italy for the United States.

Giuseppe (Joe) DiCosmo was  the son of Pietro DiCosmo and Maria Michela Papa DiCosmo. Pietro DiCosmo (1/10/1865-) was the son of Vito DiCosmo. Maria Michela Papa DiCosmo was the daughter of Giuseppe Papa and Amelia Papa. They were all born and lived in Calitri.

The DiCosmo surname in Calitri became  “DeCosmo” in the United States. It is not known how and when  the spelling was changed.  Any ancestry research in Italy requires considering the two spellings. The DiCosmo name goes back to the 1500’s in Calitri and was one of several hundred surnames that  originated in Calitri. It was originally spelled DiCosmo.

Rose and Joe lived in New Rochelle for many years and raised their six children there. However, there were times when they lived in both White Plains and Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. This assumption is based on the fact that two of their children were born in those towns. Joe owned and operated a bar and restaurant in New Rochelle for a number of years. Joe died very young in 1949 at  52 years of age. Rose was left to raise six children and support the home they owned in New Rochelle at 138 Webster Avenue.  Rose worked in factories and was a seamstress. She worked during the Second World War to support the national military effort. Rosa and Joe had seven children:

Michella DeCosmo (1922-1923) was born in Calitri, the first child of Rosa and Giuseppe. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Maria Michella Papa DiCosmo. She died about twenty-months after her birth  and the circumstances of her death are not known. Shortly after the death of Michella, Rosa and Giuseppe immigrated to the United States.

Peter DeCosmo (1925-) was probably born in White Plains.  He was names after his paternal grandfather,  Pietro. He first married Mary Summa.  He married two more times after that marriage. He lived in Texas with his third wife, who was a school principal, and h Pietroe died there.  Their children were:

• Joseph DeCosmo who lives in Seattle, Washington
• Roseann DeCosmo who lives in Seattle, Washington.

Kathryn DeCosmo Solis  (9/1/1926-9/21/2018) had a baptismal name of Maria Michella, but from her birth  she was called Kate or Katherine by the family. Michella is the female version of the male name Michelle or Michael. Kathryn or Kate in fact became her name.   Kate’s parents honored Maria Michella, their first child who died in Italy, naming their next daughter after her. Their first daughter was named Michella after her maternal Grandmother Maria Michella Papa.

It was not until adulthood that Kate learned her birth name was Maria Michella and that she in  fact was named after her deceased first born sister.  She made this discovery when needing a  birth certificate to get married and discovered the discrepancies in the names. However, she was always Kate and Katherine to the family and it is now part of the family folklore about her name change. Kate  married Roland Solis of Spanish heritage, who was in the Air Force. They had many military moves and lived in several places that the military position required. The Solis Family eventually ended up living in Schertz, Texas for their retirement. They had the following children:

• Michelle Solis was adopted

• Joseph Solis lives in Seattle, Washington
• Antonio Solis  
• Riccardo Solis lives in Schertz, Texas            
• Elena Solis lives in Seattle ,Washington
• Trina Solis lives in Texas

Louis DeCosmo (12/13/1927-11/26/1981) was born in Tarrytown, New York.  He married Barbara Collins. He was in both the Army and the Navy. Louis died in a Veterans Administration hospital dealing with various medical issues. They had two children:

• Bernadette DeCosmo
• Not known

Vito DeCosmo (8/14/1929-1/9-2018) was born in Sleepy Hollow, New York which is adjacent to Tarrytown. Vito never married and lived and worked in New Rochelle most of his life. He served in the Air Force for four years and was stationed in Korea during the Korean War. He worked as a short order cook for years. Then he began a thirty-one-year career as a United States Postal Service mailman. He died in New Rochelle in 2018.

Joseph Anthony DeCosmo (2/2/1932) was born in New Rochelle.  He married to Violette Davis; divorced in 1975in Palm Beach, Florida; Violette died in the1970’s. They had two children.

• Jaime Francesco DeCosmo (1961-1/30/2013)  died in 2013 at 52 years old in West Palm Beach, Florida. Florida. 
• Lisette Jacinta DeCosmo Longarzo

Joe served in the Army in 1952 to 1954 and was stationed in Germany. He was the first child  of the six Luigi Nannariello siblings to return to Calitri. This was in 1953 during Joe’s  military service in the Army in Kaiserslautern Germany.  Joe lived in both the Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach areas of Florida for many years. He worked in a variety of construction jobs and had his own construction business.  He was on the Police Force in Lake Worth, Florida from  1963 to 1969.  He graduated from Palm Beach State College with an Associate Degree as a paralegal. Joe traveled to the western states with a trailer and eventually returned to Florida. Initially he lived near Tallahassee and then relocated to Satsuma, Florida.

Rosemary DeCosmo Baker (3/24/1934-2022) was born in New Rochelle. She married  John Baker (10/8/1932-8/16/2009) who was a career Air Force officer. They spent a lifetime as a military family living in the United States and overseas in various military stations. Since the time her husband John died in 2009, Rosemary lived in Summerville, South Carolina near Charleston.  Her three daughters live in the same area in or around Summerville.

• Roseann Baker Bishop (6/29/1955) married to Phil Bishop
• Mary Baker Allen  (7/14/1957)  married to Allen
• Debra Baker   (2/13/1961)  

See Visits to Calitri Personal 1953  Joseph DeCosmo

Luigi and Francesca  Nannariello Children Died Young

Prior to beginning this Ancestry and the related research,  it was not known  there were four other children born to Luigi and Francesca Nannariello. There had been some minimal oral history about Canio being a twin, but no information was available about this topic and other children.

Francesca Nannariello gave birth to four children that did not live long lives. She gave birth to three sons, all  baptized as Lorenzo. The first Lorenzo was born and died in 1890 and the second Lorenzo in 1894. We have no research as to the cause of their deaths, and whether they died in childbirth or some months later.  When Francesca  had her first  surviving son  in 1894,  he was also named Lorenzo.  The parents were determined to have a child named Lorenzo. This third  Lorenzo, was Lorenzo (Lawrence) who  immigrated to the United States and lived a long life.

Francesca’s first child was a girl  born in 1888 and died the same year and was named Mariantonia. In April 8, 1894 a daughter was born and was given the same Mariantonia name. This second Mariantonia was Antoinette Nannariello who lived ninety three years, the longest life span among the six Nannariello siblings. She was the second of the siblings to immigrate to the United States.

Vincenza Nannariello was born May 31, 1901 and was Canio Nannariello’s twin sister. She died about twenty months after her birth. The cause of her death and exact date of death is not known.  There was some minimal oral history provided by Canio Nannariello much later in his life, that initially informed his sons, Louis and Richard,  that he had been a twin, without identifying whether it was a girl or boy and how long she had lived. Recent research provided this more detailed information.

Leonardo (Leonard) Nannariello Visits to Calitri

Leonard Nannariello returned to Calitri in 1931 to visit his mother and father. There was a concerted effort among the Nannariello siblings, all of who now lived in the United States  to

encourage Luigi and Francesca to immigrate to the United States. Leonard traveled from New York City on the SS Roma to Naples.  Leonard stayed a few weeks visiting  his Mother and Father and friends and family. His parents listened to his proposition, and did not want to go to the United States. His mother and father at the time were both about sixty eight years old and had spent their entire lives in Calitri. Their children had immigrated at very young ages, which was a much different experience than the one they were offered. They would remain in Calitri.

Leonard returned to the United States from Naples on the ship SS Augustus and arrived in New York on March 13, 1931. Shortly after Leonard’s trip to Italy, Luigi Nannariello died on October 6, 1931 a short six months after the visit from his son, Leonard. Francesca  died in 1935, probably in Naples, after dealing with some mental issues.

The home they lived in and in which all of their children were born, remained in the family for several years. It was later sold by mutual agreement of the Nannariello children.

White Plains and New Rochelle

New Rochelle and White Plains were the two cities that became home for the six Nannariello siblings that immigrated to the United States.   There were a significant number of Calitrani that immigrated and settled in White Plains and New Rochelle, either initially or eventually. With the Nannariello’s it was because other family members had immigrated earlier  and made it possible to provide sponsorship and housing. Both cities have a significant number of Calitrani that were interred at local cemeteries. These cemeteries often had areas that were set aside for the Calitrani. Also, both cities had Calitrani clubs that provided social opportunities and festive activities  providing the opportunity to hold on to Calitrani traditions.

This is a summary of where each of the Nannariello’s lived.

Rose DeCosmo and Joseph DeCosmo  lived and raised their six children in New Rochelle.

Antoinette Nannariello Panico Pecor lived in New Rochelle and operated a restaurant. She eventually moved to Miami, opened another restaurant  and spent the latter part of her life  there.

Grace Nannariello Trotta raised her children in New Rochelle and lived at times in both White Plains and  New Rochelle.

Charlie Nannariello lived his entire life in White Plains living in several rented homes and buying the last three homes he lived in.

Larry Nannariello  lived in White Plains most of his life except for  living in Hartsdale in his later years after selling their White Plains home on Wyanoke Street.

Leonard Nannariello lived in New Rochelle for all of his life