Tracing my Great Great Grandfather back to Italy [Castagnari

[stublad]

Hi all,

I've just started to research my family history. I've always known that theres been Italian heritage in my family on my fathers side for some time but I only just signed up for ancestry.co.uk today and discovered more about it.

From what I can gather my Great Great Grandfather was called Oreste Castagnari and he was born somewhere in Italy. Around 1885-ish he came overseas to London where he became a waiter, settled down, married (in 1895) and had several children.

I've been able to find the year he was born due to his marriage certificate being available on ancestry.co.uk and it also mentions his fathers name (Joseph Castagnari.. not to be confused with Oreste's son known as Joseph Oreste Castagnari). I'm having a lot of trouble finding whereabouts in Italy Oreste is from.

It seems two distant relatives of mine have already posted about this before here but appeared not to have any luck. I'll link you to their posts anyway so you can see the details they have to offer:

http://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/topic21633.html
http://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/topic4992.html

So from what I can gather there is a possibility Oreste Castagnari MAY have originated from Florence but I do not know how to check for sure. Does anyone have any advice? I would really love to find out where he is from so I can trace my Italian heritage back even further! I remember there being some rumours about him or someone on that side potentially being a Count/Ambassador if that helps.. not sure how accurate that is though.

[Italysearcher]

The UK 1911 census often gives the town of birth if he was still alive then. You HAVE to know the town of origin to search in Italy.

[gianfranco444]

I would like to find information about my grandfather Bruno Amendola , specifically his Military record.
He was born January 8, 1891 in Fiumefreddo Bruzio Cosenza. His parents names were Filippo Amendola and Giovanna Naccarato. He was a soldier in WW1, I know he was wounded.
I would like to find out what part of the world he served , his rank , where he was wounded and any other details. I know he received a medal a Bronze Cross.
Any help would ne appreciated.
Gianfranco