Falconara
A Family Odyssey
Description:... Rose Musacchio Higdon, the daughter of Giuseppe "Joe" Musacchio and Angela "Ledda" Tocci Musacchio, was raised in the south side of Chicago. Her father emigrated from Italy and settled in Chicago just before World War I. Her mother followed later, with her brother Tony. She and her two sisters were born in the United States. The family, different from other Italo-Americans, spoke Arberesh, the strange dialect used in Falconara-Albanese, the village where the parents were born. Rose grew up on a family legend that many generations ago, seven royal families fled Albania to escape a Turkish invasion. They sailed around the boot of Italy and up the west coast to a point near the village of San Lucido. One day, they spotted Turkish sails and fearing discovery, the seven families moved futher into the hills until they came to a large rock. Circling over the rock was a falcon, so they named their town Falconara and built their church upon the rock. This book reports on an odessey to find the truth of the family legend, and find more about her Musacchio and Tocci families.
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