Meet your surnames with Pannese

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Did you ever wonder about your heritage?

If you’re an Italian-American and would like help tracing your family heritage, the ageless Pannese Society of Providence, dating back to 1909, may be able to help.

On Thursday, July25, the Pannese Society will hold a unique cultural event entitled “Meet Your Surnames” at Ciara Restaurant and Lounge, located at 578 Killingly Street in Johnston.

The evening will begin at 6:30 and tickets are only $20 per person. The program will include an Italian buffet, a slide presentation of Panni, Foggi, Italy and several cultural speakers as well as a PowerPoint presentation about the tiny, 580-resident village.

“This will be our first cultural event since we re-organized the Society,” said Joseph Spremulli, the local club president. “There are many, many people living in Rhode Island who have ties to the village where my family is also from.”

Next Thursday’s event is actually an offspring, of sorts, from a visit that Spremulli’s son Louis and wife Carla made to Panni, Foggi, Italy last year.

While the Spremullis were in Italy, they requested a meeting with the mayor of Panni. After their return, a cultural exchange began and continued on July 2 when Amedeo De Cotiis, the assistant mayor of Panni, and his sister came to Johnston.

The Spremullis hosted a Pannese Society Breakfast at their Johnston home in honor of De Cotiis, who visited important Italian-American venues and people in Rhode Island.

“We’re urging everyone – men, women and even children – to attend,” said Joseph, who was a driving force behind the non-profit Italian-American club’s recent re-organization. “You may want to attend and learn about your heritage.”

The Spremulli tandem, and people like De Cotiis, have set some future goals that include keeping the cultural door open, both here and in Italy, and working closely to enhance the Mission Statement of the Pannese Society.

“The mission of the Pannese Society is to promote the cultural, social, spiritual and education heritage from Panni, Italy. We are committed to record and preserve our heritage and culture to our present society. The society will strive to keep our heritage through our patron saint, community and cultural activities for future generations to come.”

“We’ve even talked about student exchange studies both here and in Italy,” Louis said. “It is very, very important to educate our younger people about their Italian-American heritage.”

Louis provided a list of names and said “if your name is listed here, you may want to attend, meet and learn about your heritage next Thursday night.”

Reservations for next Thursday night can be made by calling 231-3678.

The complete list of names includes: Anzivino, Aprile, Bianco, Bocchicchio, Brienza, Calitri, Capobianco, Cacchiotti, Cagliuili, Calabrease, Campanello, Catri, Carchia, Cerese, Cifaldi, Colangelo, Cresce, Ciarciello, Cimino, Ciruolo, Cobuzzi, Cocciardi, Cotoia, Colacone, Croce, D’Amato, D’Angelo, Dattoli, De Cotis, De Luca, De Michel, De Rosa, Destanfano, De Blascio, De Chiaro, De Cristofaro, Del Vicario, DiStefano, Fine, Front, Gestalt, Galliard, Gallo, Gallatin and Grasso.

Also, Iacoviello, Iozzi, Lapolla, Liscio, Longo, Larocca, Ladogana, Larocca, Lerra, Lonardo, Maurizio, Mansolillo, Montecalvo, Mastrangelo, Mauriello, Morena, Morra, Manserra, Mascolo, Melino, Meole, Napolitano, Nigro, Paglia, Parisi, Pscone, Palumbo, Pasnorese, Pasquariello, Pepe, Petronella, Pignataro, Priore, Procaccini, Rainone, Rago, Rauseo, Renella Rizzo, Roberto, Roca, Rotondo, Russo, Rucci, Santomarco, Saurino, Saura, Savano, Savella, Sauro, Schiavone, Scialandrone, Senerchia, Sgaramella, Spinapolice, Stabile, Spada, Spremulli, Sullo, Veggia and Zelano.

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