Familie Lovisa

My roots

Story by an ten year old boy with name Lovisa who immigrated to Germany at the age of four.
Written in the Scool for the integration of the Italian language and culture, Consular district of Saarbrücken, Germany

Cavasso Nuovo, my father’s and my own home town, is located in Friuli.

Cavasso Nuovo, Runcis and the Pre-Albs


	Friuli is a region in the North-East of Italy. It borders in the East with Slovenia, in the North with Austria and in the West with the Italian region called Veneto. Natural borders are the Alps in the North and the Adria sea in the South.		The Meduna

The most important rivers are the Meduna, the Tagliamento which is the longest river of Friuli , the Cellina and the Levenza.Every year, during summer, the beaches on the Adria sea become crowded by tourist. The most important beach resorts are Grado, Lignano Sabbiadoro, Bibione and Trieste . Trieste is also the capital city of Friuli . During winter many people come to the skying resorts of the Carnia alps. Friuli has a population of about 1,5 million and an area of about 8000 km² .

In the immediate vicinity

The main living sources of the region are agriculture, industry and tourism. Agriculture makes much money with wine, corn, fruit and the „prosciutto di San Daniele“. The Friul industry exports many products in all over the world as there are for instance the electric household articles made by Rex in Pordenone and the products made by the knife factories in Maniago.

That’s my uncle and – of course, the best wine


	A huge part of Friul was seriously destroyed by an earthquake in 1976 . My home town Cavasso Nuovo which is located in the center of Friuli and in the Pordenone province got destroyed by 80%. The older people say that Cavasso was destroyed a first time in 1600 or so and that its name was changed into „Cavasso NUOVO“ after it had been reconstructed. „Nuovo“ means „NEW“. The same happened this time, they reconstructed most of the places and made them more attractive.


	La borgata Runcis		A wonderful view


			The small mountain hamlet Runcis where my father was born and where he was raised is the place where the LOVISAs come from. Some hundred years ago the Lovisas were named LUISA and came from Poffabro to Cavasso and especially to Runcis. From that moment on they changed their name to distinguish from the relatives living on the other side of the mountain.


			Some voices are spread saying that the Lovisas originally come from Scandinavia from where they emigrated to the Alp regions at the time of the most important north-south migration.


			In the past most of the land around Cavasso belonged to the family of the Count Polcenigo who lived in a castle. Every year, the people of Cavasso had to pay him the rent for the land with its few products, with sheep, wine and others.


	Many people worked in the woods like my grandfather Giovanni who was one of the lucky ones who later on found a job in one of the knife factories in Maniago and thus was not forced to leave Italy for work. With the progress of the industrialisation a member of almost any family emigrated to work mainly in gastronomy and to make the famous terrazzo. They immigrated first to Northern Europe, to the Americas and also to Australia.

Italian emigration from 1876 - 1976


	My great grandmother from Runcis, my grandmother and her sister in Lebach, Saarland. Luisa Bernardon emigrated from Runcis to Lebach in 1896.		My great-grandfather’s family in Berlin Schöneberg in 1890


	Ellis Island - First view to liberty		Musicians of Italian origin in Argentina

Italian immigrants in Australia in the 19th century

Italian immigrants in Australia in modern times in Fremantle


	The terrazzo work in the White House was made with the help of my father's uncle



	When I go to see my grandparents I always meet people of any nationality who come to see their relatives in Italy. They come there by train, by car and by plane. Who knows, maybe their great –grandparents emigrated to Germany by walking like my mother’s grandfather?