We will begin our story in the early 1800s in Recanati, in the Papal State of Marche in the province of Macerata. Recanati is found in the centre of the Italian peninsula, just north east of Rome, and not far from the Adriatic Sea. ( as shown on the map below – note that besides Recanati there is also Porto Recanati right on the Adriatic Sea)
Recanati has a few claims to fame. For one, it is the home of renowned tenor Beniamo Gigli. ( Mildred Stacy referred to Beniamino as her great uncle!) But it is most famous for being the home of Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi. The beautiful piazza below is named in his honour.
Piazza’s are best experienced in the late evenings when they come to life with the arrival of local families for dinner. We hope to see you there some evening for aperativos!
We believe that your 4th great grandfather Cristoforo Setacci was born here in Recanati on April 6, 1823. This is based on family knowledge and the fact that Cristoforo gave Recanati as his birth place in the UK 1891 England Census, as shown below. The source for the specific date of April 6, 1823 is his monument in the London Hendon Cemetery .
Unfortunately, to date we have not been able to learn much about Cristoforo in Recanati. We know his father’s name was Saverio from Cristoforo’s marriage certificate in London, England. But we have no record of birth or baptism for Cristoforo. We have no record of marriage for his father Saverio. As a result we have no idea idea who his mother was. About all we know is that Cristoforo was an artisan cabinet maker, a skill he most likely learned from his family.
Olive and Mildred Stacey made a trip to Recanati to some time ago ( when? ) to try and find out more about their family roots, but as far as we know did not find anything conclusive. At that time none of the Italian records would have been digitized. Even now Italian records prior to the 1860s are much more difficult to find then those after the 1860s when Italy became a unified kingdom. Italy is now digitizing and transcribing records of birth, marriage and death but it is still a work in process. I have made some progress in understanding the Italian Archives ( the Antenati ) and how to search them. A screen shot below shows what I have found for the Setacci family.
The bad news is I can ‘t find any records for the Setacci family in Recanati. The good news is that I can find Setacci’s ! The other good news is that the Setacci family name returns less than 40 results. Therefore Setacci is not a common name in Italy. We aren’t looking for a common Italian family name like Rossi or Ferrari! This should help us zero in on our Italian relatives. Also, the bulk of those Setacci results are found in the province of L’Aquila in the early 1900s. L’Aquila is not at all far from Recanati. (under 200 km)
There is a strong possibility that the Setacci family moved away from Recanati and settled in L’Aquila. It is possible that these L’Aquila Setacci’s are our relatives.. It might be time for someone to make another trip to Recanati and L’Aquila on the Italian peninsula and finally solve the mystery of the roots of the cabinet making Setacci family.
You must have noticed by now that I keep saying the “Italian Peninsula” and not Italy the country. That is because at the time Cristoforo Setacci was born the country of Italy did not exist. I know, we all think of Italy as an old country, much older than Canada. But the fact is that the two countries are almost the same age. When Cristoforo was born “Italy” was made up of a number of separate Kingdoms. Recanati itself was in the Papal State of Marche. That meant that this state was controlled by the Pope and the Catholic Church. .
But all this is about to change. At least some people want it to change. They envision a united Italy, and preferably a constitutional republic.
It is time to meet the two Giuseppes as did, I believe, your fourth great grandfather Cristoforo Setacci.