Five years ago
Today is the fifth anniversary of the start of a life-changing family vacation. On this day in 2003, with headlines blaring code-red alerts about airport threats of terrorism, we boarded a US Airways flight from Newark to Rome with our three daughters for the start of a two-week vacation in Italy. Rome, Florence, Venice and a magical, memorable weekend in Reggio Calabria, where we were embraced by Catanoso relatives we never knew we had. I kept a detailed journal about the entire trip. I’m a journalist. I take notes. I had no idea, of course, that those journal entries, a few years later, would become of the first draft of two chapters for my first book.
The photo here, taken on Dec. 27, 2003, feels somehow historic. It was taken at the train station in Reggio Calabrian when the American and Italian branches of the Catanoso family were reunited for the first time in decades. My girls and me gleefully stand between Daniela on the far left and Giovanna and Pina on the far right. All of us Catanosos. All together. Five years ago.
Tags: Florence, Italian family, Italy, Justin Catanoso, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Venice
