Buon Natale!

Ciao and Merry Christmas!

Buon Natale!  Feliz Natal! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël!

Un Natale pieno di amore, pace e felicità -- a Christmas filled with love, peace and happiness!

Si prega di considerare l'invio di me la tua famiglia foto di Natale per questo intervento!

This has been a wonderful year of meeting many more Simionis on Facebook, AND, getting to meet many of you in person when Rick and I visited in May.

Questo è stato un anno meraviglioso di incontrare molti Simionis più su Facebook, e, sempre di incontrare molti di voi di persona con Rick e ho visitato a maggio.

It is fun to share so many Christmas greetings too!

This morning Rick and I have been chatting with Guido Simioni from Treviso.  Ciao Guido! Family #70 on my spreadsheet!

Maybe I can use a translator to add to this posting.  It's how I keep in touch with so many of you!

Nancy Simioni (and Rick & Julian Simioni)

Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA

If you would like to add your Simioni family Christmas photo to this posting, send it to me by email: usanancy@gmail.com

Be sure to identify everyone in the photo. Maybe we can get a "Simioni around the World" post here!

 

Nancy, Laura (friend), Julian, & Rick Simioni, in San Diego, California USA

 

The origin of the Simioni name / L'origine del nome di Simioni

This information is from a wall plaque my husband Rick's sister, Annette, bought us many years ago.  Now I see the company has a website so maybe info is there too. At this moment the website will not open.

The plaque reads:

The Italian surname Simioni is of patronymic origin, derived from the name of the father of the progenitor of this family. In this instance Simioni comes from the Hebrew name "Shimeon", probably derived from the word "shama", with the meaning of "listening", in the sense of "God has listened", referring to those parents whose prayers to God to grant them a baby were listened to. The Greeks and Romans adopted this name with the spelling Symeone. With the spread of Christianity in the Western world this name became very popular, since there are several biblical figures so called.

Patronymics are the most common type of surnames, so in the case of the first name Simone we also have a surname form with the same spelling which can be found all over Italy, because it originated in several places at the same time.

Variants of Simone are Simioni, Simeone, Simon, Simo, Simeo, Simonella, Simonetto, Simonino, etc, and the compound form Simon Pietro.

Records like "Rietstap's Armarial General" mention only one family called Simioni from the city of Florence but we have no name of any bearers from this house.

Family crest: three ostrich plumes proper.

From: The Historical Research Center

www.historicalresearchcenter.net

Simioni del Mondo/Italia! Lucas & Sergio and families

Lago Maggiore Area Simionis

Our last "Giro di Simioni" stop was in the northern lakes district.  We stayed at a B&B in Ispra.

Many Simionis are Facebook friends with Lucas Simioni. After Stephan & Tania Simioni in Montreal Canada, (who started "Simionis of the World" group on Facebook), and Cris Simioni from Brazil, Lucas has been our longest "Simioni del Mondo" friend, and our most frequent communicator. ;)

Lucas and his wife, Elena Contini, drove us to beautiful locations around the lakes and in spite of continued rain, we found pockets of daylight, allowing us to enjoy the sites. It's so fun to meet people we've only known online! Such warm welcomes we received.

We met Lucas' parents and brothers, aunts & uncles, and nieces & a nephew.  And boy did we get to eat!  Lucky us!  Silvano is a pasty chef!  They all kept cooking for us!  It was amazing! Grazie Lucas, Elena, Silvano & Mery -- I gained 5 pounds!  ;)

Above: Elena & Lucas, and a Simioni torte!
Monvalle, Italy

Below, All Simionis:

Cristian (also a chef) with his daughter Iris, and son Alessandro in front of father/nonno Silvano, then Lucas & Rick.  Sorry Massimiliano, we didn't get your family photo. 

Above. The Simioni wives: me/Nancy, Lucas mother Mery Barcella,
Cristian's wife Monica Porotti with Iris, and Lucas' wife Elena Contini. 

We also were able to spend a little time in Cavona with Lucas' cousin, Sergio, his family and friends.  We didn't go hungry there either! Grazie Franca!  Sergio and I agreed it felt like we had "jumped into our computer" -- standing there with our "virtual friends" we have made on Facebook.

Simionis:
Sergio, his father Giancarlo, Rick, and Primo.

Giancarlo & Primo are brothers of Lucas' father Silvano.

Father to Primo, Giancarlo, & Silvano is ALFONSO SIMIONI (b:1905,d:1962).

Alfonso had 4 brothers/sister: Augusto(m), Gelindo(m), Clara (f), Marinda(f) 

 

I believe Silvano says he has some relatives in Bassano del Grappa, that we'll have to meet next time!  Who knows who we'll be able to connect!

This "Giro di Simioni Italia" was truly an awesome experience after spending a lifetime not knowing there were any other Simionis! Even though we did not find relatives, we  had a fantastic time. We could not have imagined how wonderful all everyone would treat us!  It's been my pleasure to  meet, and maybe introduce you to, some of our Simioni del Mondo! Rick's father, Desiderio Simioni (1895 - 1965) born in Castelfranco Veneto, would be so pleased.

Mille Grazie a tutti!

Nancy (& Rick) Simioni
California, USA

ps: if anyone would like to translate any of these postings into Italian, please do so and I'll add the info.

Finding Desiderio - in Salvatronda

We did it! We found records of Rick's father, Desiderio Simioni, in very old local  church ledgers.

Today in Salvatronda (Castelfranco Veneto) Italy, we went to the local church, Santa Maria Assunta di Salvatronda, and found records of Desiderio's  baptism.  They match information from the city hall for his birth.  It was emotional for everyone there as we carefully searched through the ledgers together.  To think Rick's father was baptized here 115 years ago, walked these streets, and maybe tried to imagine his future.  Now we try to imagine his past.

With the help of Alice and her father, Emanuele Simioni, we met Sergio Simioni (above, left. Priest in center) who's father was also a Desiderio Simioni, and who also had a brother Fortunato Simioni, same as Rick's father and uncle. It's possible their grandparents were related.  If so, we are related to the Simionis in Montreal: Lisa and family. We'll be following up when we return.

There are so many things we learned, like family nicknames (because there are so many Simionis here).  Rick's family is part of the Cecconato branch.  (translates to "born thin".)

Meanwhile, the Simioni families in the Castelfranco area have adopted us!  We been treated to family dinners, shown us around, picked us up when it was pouring rain (Often!!), and just have been fun to meet.  They are family group #12. They even through me a birthday party down one of their basements! And they have family in California near us!  We have not been able to connect with them as direct relatives, wouldn't it have been wild to find out in Italy that the relatives we were searching for were just an hour or two away from our home?*

Mattia Simioni was my first Facebook contact in Castelfranco, and he led me to Alice and her family.  Unfortunately, Mattia was in Greece when we visited.

Mattia's family:

(me, Elisa, Emanuela Zampieri, 

Rick, & Germano)

Below: Lucky Alice, she's the only one in the 3 families who spoke fluent English and Italian!  We kept her busy!  A job that was often repeated on our trip by my other English speaking Facebook Simioni friends!

Here we are with Alice's family: 

Emanuele, (me), Alice, Renata Zampieri, 

Gianluca, and Rick

Brothers Emanuele & Germano Simioni married sisters Renata & Emanuala Zampieri!


Barbara, Silvia, & Jennifer are also Facebook friends and cousins of Mattia & Alice. Silvia was in New Zealand while we visited.

Gabriele, me again, Jennifer, & mom Ilde,

Barbara, & Rick.

Simionis:
Giuseppe Simioni had 5 sons.  
Gabriele, Emanuele, & Germano, plus Mario and Franco.
I need to check to see if it was Mario or Franco who moved to the USA. Olga and Lynda are two of the Simionis in California...  update please!  Alice?  ;)




*Update Summer 2010: Alice Simioni came to California to visit her Simioni relatives and us.  We had a wonderful time showing her around San Diego, sharing classic American movies, food, and customs.  And we met her Simioni relatives who live just an hour north of us.  We plan to do some additional research, and fully expect to find we are related.  Here's a picture of the California Simionis.

 Lynda Greene (Olga's daughter), Olga Simioni, Alice Simioni

 Craig Acerboni (Olga's son) and Rick Simioni 

becoming fast friends/relatives

It was just like meeting Simionis in Italy! Everyone so friendly and fun to meet.

---

Giro di Simioni - Cartigliano and Cittadella

Oscar, Annalisa, Silvia,  Federica Simioni: Cartigliano

Now here's a Simioni family we have met before!  Last year they drove down to meet us in Rome!  Time they took us to Venice for lunch and showed us around their hometown of Cartigliano -- although the rain began to fall (and we ended up with 17 days of rain!)  With Silvia as our translator again, we managed an afternoon in Venice and an unbelievable lunch. Silvia and I have been very active Facebook friends for over a year, and we have Skyped with her family so we felt like old friends by this trip!

_________________________

Rick and I have been on our personal "Giro di Simioni" for a week now and it has been fascinating! 

Milan to Thiene to Cartigliano to Castelfranco to Cittadella so far.  I'll update here more later but want to capture some of today's events while my brain still has some details.

With the help of Gabriele Simioni of Castelfranco Veneto, we made a little trip to Cittadella today.  We wanted to see Stradella Simioni and meet Carlo Alberto Simioni.  

Carlo met us for caffe and with our limited knowledge of each others language, we still managed.  Carlo told us some background on the Simioni name and showed us the family history book, which dates back to the 15th century! He also showed us a local phone book as Simioni is the 2nd most popular name in Cittadella!  Rick gets a good laugh when he explains that for the first 55 years of his life he thought he might be the last remaining Simioni in the world!

After posting these photos on Facebook,  Cherie Simioni (Chicago, USA) and Sandra Simioni (Argentnia/FloridaUSA) found out they are related to each other, and Carlo!  ...and now Marco (Paris) also!

Marco Simioni (in Paris) tells me this Simioni history book is the one he has been telling me about.  He and his father have both contributed to it, and his father was working on  a 2nd one when he passed away just a few months ago. So, now I'm waiting to see if Marco is also related to Carlo.  I don't think we are, but we'll see!  Tomorrow we visit Salvatronda to look for records of Rick's father, Desiderio Simioni, son of Giovanni Simioni.  All these Simionis, but so far, no relatives for Rick....

 Rick (California USA) & Gabriele (Castelfranco Italy) Simioni

Nancy, Carlo (Cittadella Italy), Rick

If you expand this photo of the Cittadella map, you'll see Stradella Simioni!

Simioni d'Italia! And the wedding of Diego Simioni & Elisa Lorenzin

Rick, Roberto, groom Diego, Elisa, Nancy, Francesco and grand-daughter.
(Roberto & Francesco are brothers)

At Francesco's home (father of the groom, Diego)

My husband Rick and I are in Veneto for the marriage of Diego Simioni & Elisa Lorenzin.

Molto Simioni Cugini!

Rick with Roberto Simioni in Thiene

I will update later.
- - - - - - - - - - -
July 12, 2010
I did not think it would be THIS much later, but here I am finally.

Thiene!  
Giulia Simioni was one of my earliest Simioni del Mondo Facebook friends.  I remember being disappointed when I found out she had attended the University of Michigan while we lived there.
She had me become "friends" with her father, Roberto, also.  
And then she introduced me to Elisa Lorenzin who was planning to marry cousin Diego Simioni, and now here we were meeting this large family of Simionis. (Except Giulia, who was working in New York City!)

We met so many in the family in such a short time, we wish we could have stayed a few days longer and got to know more of them. Unfortunately we had to leave the morning after the wedding.

Giro dei Simioni e Italia 2010! Family in Gorla Minore and Belluna, Italy?

We are so excited!  We just booked our long awaited trip to northern Italy to visit Rick's father's hometown of Castelfranco, Veneto! 

All our research for Simioni del Mondo started in effort to find relatives of Desiderio Simioni, Rick's father, born in 1895.  When we started we had never met another Simioni, other than Rick's uncles who are now all deceased.   We had no idea there were so many in Italy, and around the world!  

We plan to spend time in Castelfranco/Salvatronda to go through church records and hopefully re-find Desiderio's sister's family, or any other relatives.  Her name was Amabile Simioni.  Their parents:  Giovanni Simioni and Anna Cecchetto*.  More family details:  simionis.blogspot.com/-usa-california

Today we also connected with cousins in the mid-west USA, in the State of Michigan, where we are from and were told we have Italian cousins in Gorla Minore, north of Milan.  We are trying to get more details, but for now, their names may be: Luigina, Renata, Ricardo, and Cesare Simioni. And, we found we may have cousins in  Belluna, Italy! Unfortunately, we don't have enough information to confirm.

If we don't find them it will still be fun. We have many Simionis to see -- We have met (online) many nice and fun Simionis! It will still be an awesome experience for Rick to walk the streets of his father.

Thanks also to our new Castelfranco Facebook friends who are already helping us in our records search.  Thanks Signor Emanuele Simioni!  <3  also known as: "Alice Simioni's Dad".  

 So many details to work out now!

Ciao and piu tradi!

Rick's father, Desiderio Simioni circa 1960's

*new spelling from Castelfranco records:
  Anna Cecchetto
- - -

#65 BRAZIL - Siane

Hello Siane!

Thanks for contacting me on Facebook!  

Would you like to add your family to our blog?

All I know so far is your age (I won't tell unless YOU do!) and that you live in Porto Alegre, Brazil.  I'm wondering if you are related to any of our other Brazilian Simioni friends...especially Cris or Bruno.  Do you have family in Italy?

We all look forward to hearing from you! 

 - - -

#64 ITALY Simioni Cristian

Ciao Cristian!

I found your "Comment" on a posting below, and welcome you to our "Simioni del Mondo!"
Nancy

- - -

Ciao Nancy,

appena ho visto il sito mi ha incuriosito tantissimo.

Non parlo inglese purtroppo.

La mia famiglia é originaria di LEGNARO - PADOVA - italy

Otto fratelli, 4 maschi e 4 femmine.

Mio papà é l'ultimo degli 8 fratelli.

Io sono suo figlio, unico ma con il sigillo SIMIONI.

Oggi viviamo a VARESE, Sumirago per l'esattezza.

I miei zii abitano invece a SAONARA/LEGNARO - padova, un altro zio sempre dove

abitiamo noi a SUMIRAGO - varese, una zia a BORGOTICINO - novara,

una zia a ROMA e uno zio a VALENCIA - spagna.

Spero di sentirti presto per sapere qualche cosa in più sulla nostra / tua famiglia

cugino

Cristian

Ciaaaaooooo

- - -

#63 BRAZIL Juliano Campos Simioni

Oi Juliano of Brazil!


This space is for you and your family.


Where is your family from? Do you have relatives in Italy?


- - -

#62 - Boris Simioni

Ciao Boris!


This space is for you.


Tell us at least which country you reside in, and what Italian town your ancestors are from if you can.

 - -

Family #61 CANADA - Penny Simioni-Shipley

Penny, we await your family history!

Rick & I have recently found paperwork showing his father, Desiderio Simioni, and his brothers, came to the USA through Canada (as did my Sicilian grandparents).  We may have one relative who stayed, or returned to Canada....   So we will be interested in seeing your ancestors!



- - - 

Benvenuto Castelfranco Simionis! Barbara, Silvia, Jennifer & Gabriele. And Alice too!

Ciao and Benvenuto to the latest Simioni family I've met via Facebook. Piacere! 
I look forward to sharing a pizza with you in May!

If I have this correct, sisters Jennifer, Barbara, and Silvia, are daughters of Gabriele, and from San Marco di Resana which is just 5 km from Castelfranco Veneto.


Then there is Alice, also a cousin of this family, daughter of Emanuel.  Alice and I have been corresponding, and Emanuel is going to help us try to find connections through his priest and church records! Alice, do you have siblings?

They are relatives of Mattia & Elisa, Gabriele being a brother of their father.  So, I'll combine them as part of Simioni Family #12. 

As always, I look forward to learning grandparents, aunts & uncles.   Nonni, zie, e zii --  (I'm practicing my beginners Italian!) 

For selfish reasons I hope to find out more of all Castelfranco area Simioni families as we plan to come to the area in May, and search for relatives of  my husband's father, Desiderio  and his sister & Amablie, and their parents Anna (or Angela), and Giovanni.   Desiderio came to the Canada/USA in 1920's.  His sister Amabile did not, so there may be cugini still in the area!


Once I get some additional grandparent/nonni background I'll add more to this:

 1. Great-grandparents:  (how do you say that in Italian?)

      _________ Simioni, married to ___________.

-- 2. Nonni: ____________ Simioni, married ___________

and they had at least these 3 sons:

---3.  _____________ Simioni, married to _____________

                 4a. Elisa, May 1, 1983

                 4b. Mattia, February 7, 1990

---3. Gabriele Simioni, January 3, 1958, married ____________

                 4a. Silvia, (currently in Australia)

                 4b. Barbara, February 25, 1988

                 4c. Jennifer

---3. Emanuele Simioni, married ____________

                 4a. Alice

Let's add other brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles.

----

Our Loss

This week Marco Simioni, living in Paris, informed me his father passed away in Vicenza.  He has traveled there to be with his mother and brothers.

If you would like to send him a card, email me at USANancy@gmail.com

Marco's father was working on a Simioni family history book. Hopefully we will be able to share that some day.

Marco, Offriamo le nostre sincere condoglianze.

Nancy Simioni

Canadian Simionis, Chicago, Brazil...

While doing more searching for our ancestors, I have found information on Canadian Simionis.  Rick's father, Desiderio, and uncle, Fortunato, and maybe other relatives of ours, came through Canada.  We have found another Fortunato whom we do not think is Rick's uncle.  Maybe he stayed in Canada?

We found a Francesco Simioni (I think -- the small, old, print is hard to read), born November 5, 1936, who married  Sidonio Horvath (again, I think) born in Austria.  Married in Ottawa, Canada, 1965.

Another marriage in Ottowa 1968:

Linda Carol Simioni, born November 17, 1946 in Montreal. (Occupation: Spinster!!!! LOL!)

to Luciano Giovanni Sperotto, born December 14, 1934, in Treviso.  (Occupation: Bachelor - that sounds better!)

A 3rd marriage in Ottowa 1968:

Mario Simioni, born January 1, 1941.  

to Anna Marie Gerometta, born January 18, 1942, in Corona (?) Italy.

[Could this be Mario the hockey player? Sister Lisa?]

Other documents:

A Simioni in 1921 came into Canada on a ship and was shown as going to stay with a friend, Angelo Minelloi (or Menelloi...) in Halifax, NC. but I think it means NS for Nova Scotia.  

Another ship, inbound from Genoa, Italy, December 10, 1952, heading to New York City:

John Simioni going to Moody Avenue in Chicago.

and

Zelmie Simioni, born in Brazil, but also with John going to Chicago.
March 2010:  Through Facebook found Tamara & Cherie Simioni that this is their family.

Baptism records:

Claudio Romano Simioni, son of Ramono Simioni, baptized on July 14, 1964, somewhere in Ottawa.

Death Notice:

Carl Simioni, 2009.  Husband of Marnie, father of Kathyn Gilmour, Sara Hercus, and Scott (Janitra) of Burlington, Canada.  [I believe this is the Janitra* who has contacted me but I want to confirm.]

* Janitra confirmed it's her.

More documents to follow.....

Family #55 - ARGENTINA Claudia

Claudia,

It was very nice chatting with you on Facebook.  I hope you can add some family history to this Blog.

Parents, grandparents, great-granparents in Italy?

It is OK to post in Spanish or Italian if you want.

..

Simionis meet Simionis! Rome December 2009

My family flew from California, USA, to Rome last month and were able to meet some Simionis!

While we looked forward to meeting Daniela and Riccardo who both live and work in Rome, that was not able to happen.

Meanwhile, Silvia was somehow able to convince her parents to make the 7 hour trip from Veneto to meet us just for a day!  Oscar & Annalisa, drove down with Silvia and her sister Federica and we met for a favoloso lunch in Trastevere.  In addition to a great meal, we shared stories and some family background, then took an evening stroll around Rome. Although Rick and I have been learning Italian, we all kept Silvia busy as she was the only one fluent in both Italian and English.  We talked for hours! We had fun!  It was such a pleasure to spend the time with them.

Oscar, Julian, Nancy, Rick, Silvia, Annalisa, Federica:

Strolling Trastevere

The Cartigliano Simionis live about 30 minutes from where Rick's father grew up (Castelfranco) and we are planning to visit them as we continue to pursue finding relatives of Desiderio Simioni. Whether or not we find actual family members in Italy, we have already enhanced our lives with Simionis!

Thank you Stephen and Tania Simioni for starting this "Simionis of the World" project!!!