November 2014 Meeting Program:
Carol Barbieri
Carol Barbieri
Carol Barbieri was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1956, to Marie "Penny" (née.
Cutrone) Barbieri and Edward Barbieri, both first generation Italian Americans.
Her paternal grandmother, Irene "Zira" Barbieri (née. Garbarino),was born in the ligurian region, in a small franzione north of Genoa, known as Pensa, and immigrated to the US with her mother and a few of her siblings as a young girl. Her maternal grandfather, Alexander "Beau" Cutrone , immigrated from Bari in the Pulio region as an infant with his family. Both settled in Brooklyn, NY.
Carol attended St. Agnes Seminary in Brooklyn, before transferring to St. Joseph Hill Academy, when her family relocated to Staten Island in 1971. She graduated in 1973 and went on to study in Wagner college and SUNY Plattsburgh. After leaving college, she studied drama for 2 years at the Lee Strasbourg Theater Institue in Manhattan, and was heavily involved with regional theatre as an actress, set designer, set dresser and assistant director.
Some of her acting credits involve Goneril in Shakespeare's "King Lear", Jean Brodie in the "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ", and Josie in "The Moon for the Misbegotten" by Eugene O'Niel, just to name a few. Her romance with all things Italian began with her role as Serafina, in the play "The Rose Tatoo".
In 1989, she purchased her first home in Flemington , where shortly after she gave birth to her son Zachary in 1990. She and her son live here at the present time.
For many years she worked in the restaurant industry, as a chef, bartender, server and manager, before returning to
school to peruse her "dream career" as an Interior Designer, which she has been ever since.
In 1997, on a vacation to a small village in Italy, Ceriana in the ligurian region, accompanied by a friend, they took off on an adventurous day trip, and had the emotional experience of tracking down her maternal grandmothers home.
After spending 45 minutes with the local priest in Torriellia, scanning the hand written ledgers of baptisms from the late 1800's, she was able to find the records of her ancestors, locate the home that her grandmother was born and lived in until she immigrated. Which today is a working "agritourismo" in the mountains of Pensa, about an hour north of Genoa.
While driving back and forth between the little villages and towns in this mountainous region, she was flagged down by a local gentleman, who ran a bed and breakfast in the town of Santa Maria de Porto, who had seen the car going by countless times throughout the day. He asked if she was lost, and could he help her. When she told him that she was trying to track down her ancestors, and gave him the name of her grandmother and grandfather, he told her to park the car on the side of the road and follow him.
Cutrone) Barbieri and Edward Barbieri, both first generation Italian Americans.
Her paternal grandmother, Irene "Zira" Barbieri (née. Garbarino),was born in the ligurian region, in a small franzione north of Genoa, known as Pensa, and immigrated to the US with her mother and a few of her siblings as a young girl. Her maternal grandfather, Alexander "Beau" Cutrone , immigrated from Bari in the Pulio region as an infant with his family. Both settled in Brooklyn, NY.
Carol attended St. Agnes Seminary in Brooklyn, before transferring to St. Joseph Hill Academy, when her family relocated to Staten Island in 1971. She graduated in 1973 and went on to study in Wagner college and SUNY Plattsburgh. After leaving college, she studied drama for 2 years at the Lee Strasbourg Theater Institue in Manhattan, and was heavily involved with regional theatre as an actress, set designer, set dresser and assistant director.
Some of her acting credits involve Goneril in Shakespeare's "King Lear", Jean Brodie in the "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ", and Josie in "The Moon for the Misbegotten" by Eugene O'Niel, just to name a few. Her romance with all things Italian began with her role as Serafina, in the play "The Rose Tatoo".
In 1989, she purchased her first home in Flemington , where shortly after she gave birth to her son Zachary in 1990. She and her son live here at the present time.
For many years she worked in the restaurant industry, as a chef, bartender, server and manager, before returning to
school to peruse her "dream career" as an Interior Designer, which she has been ever since.
In 1997, on a vacation to a small village in Italy, Ceriana in the ligurian region, accompanied by a friend, they took off on an adventurous day trip, and had the emotional experience of tracking down her maternal grandmothers home.
After spending 45 minutes with the local priest in Torriellia, scanning the hand written ledgers of baptisms from the late 1800's, she was able to find the records of her ancestors, locate the home that her grandmother was born and lived in until she immigrated. Which today is a working "agritourismo" in the mountains of Pensa, about an hour north of Genoa.
While driving back and forth between the little villages and towns in this mountainous region, she was flagged down by a local gentleman, who ran a bed and breakfast in the town of Santa Maria de Porto, who had seen the car going by countless times throughout the day. He asked if she was lost, and could he help her. When she told him that she was trying to track down her ancestors, and gave him the name of her grandmother and grandfather, he told her to park the car on the side of the road and follow him.
Trustingly she did, and after walking a short distance through the woods, he brought her to the cemetery, in which many of her family had been buried. It is here that she found the grave of her great grandfather.
After returning to Ceriana, every year for vacation, she began to fall in love with the village and the people there. In 2013, she made the decision to spend six months of the year in this piccolo paise, in the Valley Armea, along the riviera Del Fiore, not far from the French border.
Through photos and her presentation, She will be sharing with us, not only the history and flavor of this beautiful little village, but also some of the places that she has visited while making her life there.
She will be taking us to some of the small villages and towns that dot the coast as well as the little villages tucked away, high in the mountains. Each with it own speci al "flavor", history and traditions. It is a first hand look into the lesser known places, along the less traveled roads ands mule paths hidden deep in this spectacular region, as well as some of the more familiar cities that make up this beautiful country.
Come along and share her journey,to experience through her eyes, as we discover,"la dolce vita" in Bella Italia!
