When the answer "they were your grandparents" is not enough, read Italian Emigrants, Italian Immigrants. Who were our Italian ancestors? Why did they leave Italy? This book focuses on historical information that Italian Americans must have to answer these fundamental questions about their heritage. The quest for ancestral understanding is personalized through the search to learn about one family, cognome Labella. They were émigrés from a mountaintop village--the Comune di Avigliano--in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy.

This book takes us step by step into the history of our Italian ancestors. It highlights the major external forces--geographic, cultural, social, economic, and political--that affected their decisions to leave Italy.

Tina Bochicchio Woetzel believes that her successes are a result of her immersion in a culture of extended family and Old World traditions. This lifestyle was transported to the United States by her grandparents and great--grandparents.

The new millennium provided an impetus to reflect on family. Italian Emigrants, Italian Immigrants, a unique and informative book, developed from The Labella Project, a handout intended for their centennial family reunion. This book proves timely for her family, after 100 years in the United States, and for millions of other southern Italian immigrant families. Italian Americans share a renewed interest in learning about the history of their ancestors who arrived in the United States during the decades around the turn of the twentieth century.

Mrs. Woetzel continues to work on special projects related to Italian immigration. She can be contacted by e-mail at tina@Avigliano.info