CECCHINI connections Barbara USA
The Cecchini family are steeped in the history of Barga and surrounding villages. BARGA, known of the most Scottish town in Italy is certainly true to her name. Many came to Scotland and equally as many left for the shores of America and the New World.
Barbara Cecchini resides in the USA in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied Law at Harvard. She has been in touch with Helen and I am very happy to share her story in this family website. The Cecchini family are also related to ours through the Donati family from Barga and also through the Brucciani family.
How blessed I have been to have had her for my Mother. I cherish her memory and miss her each and every day. She was a magician; her talents were immense. Highly creative with elegant Italian taste, she was an oil paint artist, a whiz with ceramics (she had her own kiln), a jewelry maker, a singer, a decorator, and a legendary cook! Even today, many remember her creations.
Barbara’s grandfather was Carlo Luigi Biagio Cecchini
Born: February 3, 1866 in Tiglio, Barga, Italy
Died: November 4, 1957, at home, 49 Darling Street, Indian Orchard, MA
He died exactly 30 years and one day after his cherished wife, Antonietta Giannetti. He always kept her picture at his bedside.
Barbara’s grandfather was Carlo Luigi Biagio Cecchini [1866-1957]. His family were amongst the many Tuscan families who found great hardship after the Unification of Italy in 1860s.
Carlo was born on 3rd February 1866 in Barga. His parents were Michelle Cecchini {1834} and Maria Rosa Filomena Tognarelli [1835-1887]. Michelle made his living off the land, he was a farmer as were his forefathers.
Carlo married Antonietta Gianetti [1872-1927] in Glasgow, on 18th October 1892 in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Great Clyde Street.
The roots of her Gianetti family stretches back in Barga to the beginning of when Church Records began there.
Antonietta [named after her maternal grandmother Antonietta Conti] was the daughter of Luigi Gianetti [1831-1895] and Maria Eleanora Tartagli [1851-1930]
(named for her own Grandmother, Antonietta Conti).
Born: May 27, 1872 in Barga, Italy
Died: November 3, 1927, at home, 24 Melha Avenue,
Springfield, MA
Father: Luigi Giannetti
Mother: Maria Tartagli
It seems that there were census entries for the Cecchini and Giannetti family in Scotland in 1881 in the Gorbals area of the City and then in 1891 in Govan. These were two of the toughest areas in the City, as they are today.
CARLO and ANTONIETTE’s children were:-
- ROBERTO ALBERTO CECCHINI [later Channing] was born on 21st July 1893 in Glasgow, Scotland. He emigrated with his parents on 7th May 1910 entering through the port of New York. He married Mary Margaret Berryman and they in turn had two children Robert Louis Cecchini or Channing 1918-1989 and Dorothy M. Cecchini or Channing 1922-2008.
2. Barbara’s Aunt, DINA CECCHINI.
Dina was born in Glasgow on 30th July 1894. She died prematurely in Massachusetts on 22 September 1926.
3. Barbara’s Uncle, Leonetto Francesco Cecchini was born in Glasgow on July 15, 1895, his father, ‘Carlo’, was 29 and his mother, Antonietta, was 23. He emigrated with his parents in the year 1910.
Leo’s first wife was Carmela Sera and she had been born in 1908 in Aquino, Frosinone, Italy, her father, Giuseppe, was 27, and her mother, Domenica, was 26. She married Leonetto Francesco Cecchini in 1933 in Springfield, Massachusetts. She died in 1942 in Springfield, Massachusetts, age 34. No children.
His second marriage was to Mary Margaret Scanlon. She was born on August 4, 1911, in Springfield, Massachusetts, her father, Maurice, was 39, and her mother, Bridget, was 32. They had two children during their marriage. She died on June 19, 1994, in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 82, and was buried there. Leonetto died on July 2, 1987, in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 91.
4. When Barbara’s Aunt, Andreina Vittoria Cecchini was born on January 9 1902 it was not in Glasgow, but in Barga. So the family must have returned home for a while. At this time her father, ‘Carlo’, was 35, and her mother, Antonietta, was 29. She emigrated to USA with the family in 1910. Andreina never married She died on June 15, 1999, in Concord, Massachusetts, at the age of 97.
5. Barbara’s father was Alfredo Roberto Cecchini. He was born on 12th March 1907 in Amble, Alnwick in Northumberland in the North of England. Assuming that from Italy the family made the decision to move down to the North of England. Alfredo was Baptised on 30th April 1907 in St. Cuthbert’s Church in Amble.
The family had settled in the Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts area. It was in the year that 1926 his sister Dina had died prematurely age only 19. The following year saw the death of his mum Antionette.
His genious, dedication, determination, and extremely hard working ethics, have earned him his first choice since he was a young boy. He has amazed me with his deep, forward thinking, well researched opinions on world events, and life in general. And he is so much fun! Ultimately, look out for a politician of the first order.
Valentino connections
Alfredo married Rocchina Mary Valentino, ‘ROCCI’ was her nickname, on 15th January 1934 in Springfield in Massachusetts. The Valentino family came from Cervino, Caserta, Italy as far back as the middle of the 1700s. The small town is situated south of Naples.
Cervino, Caserta, Italy
Quoting from Barbara Cecchini – “My grandfather emigrated to Glasgow where in time he had an ice-cream shop and also a Fish and Chip Shop. He started these businesses with his brother-in-law Pietro Gianetti. Their first three children were born in Glasgow. Then they expanded their business to Northumberland and my father was born in Alnwick. I recently wanted to trace my grandfather’s footsteps and my fist stop was Glasgow. I wanted to see where they lived and the beautiful Church they were married in St. Andrew’s. I can’t say how much I loved Glasgow and Edinburgh and of course the Highlands. I had no idea of the incredible beauty and I hated to leave Scotland.
I also went to Alnwick, where the site of my Grandfather’s ice cream shop still stands, but now a Chinese restaurant. All of my travels left me in constant tears from the overwhelming sense of their hardships and braver. My older brother, who died at age 67. had begun our family genealogy, just months before he died. He was so enthusiastic that I decided to carry on in his honour, and immediately became obsessed. I have such a deep love for my ancestors, not to mention the family secrets uncovered!
I have visited Barga many times now, and truly, it is the only place on earth where I feel at home. My blood warms at the thought of it. I also quickly found the Barga Genealogy Research Group which has been an enormous help.
Mentioning the red phone booth, I have taken manh photographes of it. It was thrilling to see it had been donated by a Cecchini from Edinburgh.
Barbara is related to the Gianetti family who are from Barga. The photograph below is one posted on the wonderful Barga-in-photos webpages by by pier Luigi Tortelli. A great site with so many wonderful memories of the town and photographs of people now gone.
- The Gianetti family are legend in Barga and their roots go back to 1600. There is a street in the centre of the town Via Giannetti just beside the Castle. The first known Gianetti was a Priest Michelle and he allegedly served as a tutor to the Medici children in the 1700s. Michelangelo Giannetti was a physician, scientist, poet and writer in Florence. Students from all over Europe came to learn from him. In Florence Cathedral there is a plaque honouring his birth and referring to his birthplace as Barga. When he died at the tender age of 51 they published a book written in his honour called ‘An Ode to Michelangelo Giannetti. Throughout the centuries in both Barga and Florence the family were looked upon as pillars of their communities and several became Canons in the Church.
THE CECCHINI FAMILY IN SCOTLAND
- It was in 1892 in Blythswood in Glasgow that we find Carlo Cecchini marry Antonietta Giannetti.
1892 also sees the marriage between Angiolina Cecchini and Michelle Gianotti. Different parents. Surely however connected. The same date and the same addresses
1895 Giovanni Bertolini married Dina Cecchini in Blythswood in Glasgow
1901 sees another marriage between Annunziata Cecchini and Ferruchio Tognarelli in Hutchisontown in Glasgow
1914 in Inverness between Zoe Cecchini and Patrizie Lunardi
1926 in Blythswood again Giuseppe Cask I and Dina Cecchini
After WW2 Remo Bertolini married Minarda Cecchini in Newington in Edinburgh
Many of the CECCHINI family came to Scotland. Some landed in Edinburgh in the 1920s and others in Ayrshire in the 1950s. I personally know Silvana who is a POLITI and whose Cecchini ancestors arrived in Edinburgh early in the 20th century. Silvana’s father was Leonardo Ennio Politi. His parents were Ennio Politi and his mother Agatha Equi. Silvana’s mother was Irene Rossi. Her parents Ernesto Antonio Rossi and her mother Maria Colletta. Silvana’s parents and grandparents were all in the cafe trade when married in Edinburgh in 1966. All well known Barga surnames. The Rossi family had settled in Loanhead and the Politi’s in Brighton Place in Portobello.
ADELINO CECCHINI had arrived in Edinburgh shortly after his marriage in Barga on September 16th 1922 to Fortuna Macogni. Their son Sergio was born in 1927. By this time Adelino was already a Restaurant Keeper in Edinburgh. Marna was born in 1929. Maurio was born in Edinburgh on September 16th 1933. Maurio was responsible for the Red Telephone Box which is now in the centre of Barga. He had it transported there a few years ago and it has become an institution in Barga. MAURIO died in 2022.
The Ayrshire and Saltcoats Branch
THE AYRSHIRE AND SALTCOAT BRANCH
It was in 1955 that Ayrshire saw the marriage between Luigi Cecchini and Giuseppina Maria Cecchini. Luigi was born in the year 1917 in Barga, son of Pietro and Assunta Renucci. His new wife was also a Cecchini, probably cousins of some sort. Giuseppina’s parents were Giuseppi Cecchini and Cleminentina Conti
