Ustica is a tiny Island 40 miles off the north west coast of Sicily.

This 125 yr "connection" impresses me, as it did the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
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ITALIANS VISIT DESCENDANTS OF ISLAND EMIGRANTS

Usticesi organized locally in 1879

New Orleans Times Picayune
By Elizabeth Moore
Contributing writer
Thursday, May 06, 2004

A delegation from Ustica, Italy, arrived in New Orleans recently to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the San Bartolomeo Society, officially the "Congregazione e Fratellanza Italiana di San Bartolomeo Apostolo."

St. Bartholomew, one of the 12 apostles, is the patron saint of Ustica, a small volcanic island off the northern coast of Sicily.

The organization was incorporated in New Orleans on July 17, 1879, by a group of men from Ustica. The society welcomed new arrivals into the community and offered them a safe haven in life and death through medical care and use of the society tomb in Metairie Cemetery.

Along with celebrating the anniversary, Vito Ailara, secretary of the Study and Documentation for the Island of Ustica and former mayor, and the Rev. Alessandro Manzone and Costantino Tranchina honored Peter Bertucci for his dedication to the San Bartolomeo Society for 54 years, and for serving as president for the past 41 years.

Manzone, the pastor of San Ferdinando Re Church in Ustica, concelebrated a Mass at St. Clement of Rome Church on April 23 in honor of the Usticesi descendants in this area. The group from Ustica were shown some Southern hospitality at the society's annual crawfish boil April 25 at Mike Miley Playground Hall in Metairie. They were treated to a day at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, where they quickly learned to second-line with decorated umbrellas. They toured downtown New Orleans and viewed homes and businesses of some of the immigrants from Ustica.

Maria Compagno, second vice president of the society and Bertucci's sister, hosted a coffee party at her home in Mandeville. The men from Ustica gave her a "cassata Siciliano," a glazed custard cake topped with candied fruit made only in southern Italy.

After their visit to New Orleans, Ailara, Tranchina and Manzone visited Los Angeles, where many Usticesi descendants live.

For more information on Ustica and on the San Bartolomeo Society, visit the Web site at www.ustica.org.

PHOTO: Maria Compagno, who hosted the delegation, was presented with a cassata Siciliano, by visitors, from left, Vito Ailara, Costantino Tranchina and the Rev. Alessandro Manzone.

Italians visit descendants of island emigrants
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