Passages 2021, Remembering those we lost.

Max Peter Cologna

Longtime club member Max Peter Cologna passed away in Roseville, California on June 20, 2021 at the age of 88. Max’s parents were from Castelfondo in the Val di Non. They immigrated to Rock Springs, Wyoming, the destination of a multitude of Trentini. There Max was born. When Max was 10 the family settled in Ogden, Utah, the site of another large Trentina community. To this day both Rock Springs and Ogden have active Trentino clubs. Max was named after his father, Massimino Pietro Cologna (1892-1977), son of Giuseppe Cologna and Maria Marchetti. His mother, Pierina Casilda Ianes (1905-1999), was the daughter of Pietro Ianes and Carolina Lorenzetti. Max entered the army and was stationed at Ford Ord Military Base in Monterey. He fell in love with California and a woman of Calabrese origin, Jackie D’Andrea. They married and had 3 boys, Paul, Tom and Matt. Max ran a liquor store in San Francisco. The couple lived in San Mateo for 37 years and then moved to Roseville to be closer to family. Jackie passed away in 2019. They had been married over 60 years. Max was particularly close to Olga Disney and Rena (Prevedel) Rossotti, two others of Trentina origin, that had journeyed from Ogden to California. He loved to sprinkle conversations with a few phrases of Nones, the language of the Val di Non.

John Wood

John Wood (1941-2017) passed away at the age of 76. John was an active club member and very proud of his Trentino roots. His maternal grandparents were Giovanni Avanzini and Maria Zuech, both from Brez in the Val di Non. They immigrated to Rock Springs, Wyoming, the destination of many Trentini. They named their first child Americo, honoring the country of his birth. The family then moved to Goldfield, Nevada. Amerigo perished just before the age of 2 from cholera and is buried in the historic town cemetery. Four children followed, Mary, Elmo, Ruby and Juanita. Ruby was John’s mother. John’s Trentini grandparents owned the Lucky Strike Winery in Goldfield. This business was primarily a bar and liquor distributorship. The winery also hosted poker games and other types of gaming. They gained the right to distribute liquor from the outskirts of Reno all the way to Las Vegas. It was a very profitable business until Goldfield went into demise. The mines were producing less gold and silver. That was followed by a devasting flood in 1913, a fire a decade later and finally prohibition. The family then moved to Reno where they opened a small grocery store and hotel. John received an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Reno and an MBA from JFK University. He was active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. After years with PGE, he retired in 2007. John was also a member of the Air Force Reserve. John loved a good polenta or canederli supper accompanied by red wine and capped off by a bit of grappa. He affectionally recalled how his grandmother Maria used the polenta stick as a threatening disciplinary tool. John leaves his loving wife of 54 years, Pat, plus three children, Michelle (Keith), Renee (Richard) and John Norman (Jeanette) and 3 grandchildren, Christopher and Nicholas Lam and John Austin Wood.

New Representatives Province of Trento & the Trentini nel Mondo Association

For several years board member Luca Dorigatti has served as both the US Consultant to the Province of Trento as well as the Western US Coordinator to the Trentini nel Mondo Association. He has decided to step down from both positions. Luca, thank you for your dedicated service to the Trentina community in the US!
The Province selected 15 new consultants to represent those countries that have a large concentration of Trentini. Amy Antoniolli of Chicago and Francesca Gottardi of Houston were selected for the US.
The Trentino nel Mondo Association selected 16 new coordinators worldwide. Michael Pancheri of New York was the Eastern US coordinator. He will now be the sole representative for the entire US.

Amy Antoniolli


Amy Antoniolli – New US Consultant

Amy is an environmental attorney and a consultant on renewable energy at Shiff Hardin. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two children.
In 1998 Amy participated in the first Trentino Youth World Congress. In 2000 she won a scholarship to study at the University of Trento where she received a Certificate in Italian and European Community Law. In 2016 she participated in a Trentino youth gathering in Rock Springs, Wyoming entitled Blueprint – Together Trentini. Amy’s grandparents, Agosto Antoniolli and Adelina Ferrari, were born in the Val Rendena.


Francesca Gottardi

Francesca Gottardi – New Us Consultant
Francesca Gottardi, one of two new US consultants to the Province of Trento. Francesca is originally from Pergine Valsugana. She now lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband. Francesca is an attorney and PhD candidate at the University of Cincinnati in political science. She attained JD (Juris Doctor) and LLM (Master of Laws) degrees at the University of Cincinnati, where she is currently teaching international law. Francesca also has a Masters in Law at the University of Trento. In 2020 the University of Trento honored her as the “Alumna of the Year”, and she was invited to speak at the university’s commencement ceremony. Francesca speaks multiple languages. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, camping and marathon running.

Nuovo Console

The Italian Consulate of San Francisco has a new consul general, Sergio Strozzi. He got right into action throwing a pitch during the Giants Italian Heritage Night at AT&T Park. He also invited Bay Area Italian clubs to a meet-and-greet at the Consulate. Board member Luca Dorigatti gave a short presentation on behalf of the Circolo Trentino di San Francisco.

In the picture the new consul general Sergio Strozzi and Luca Dorigatti.

Happy Birthday Josephine

Longtime club member Josephine (Agostini) Costa celebrated her 95th on March 12th of this year. Josephine was born in 1926 in Escalon, California to Giuseppe Agostini and Maria Franceschetti. They were both from Cologna, a village in the municipality of Pieve di Bono-Prezzo, which in turn is in the Val del Chiese.
Giuseppe arrived in San Francisco in 1906, where he worked as a cigar dealer with his father. In 1916 Josephine’s mother Maria immigrated to the US after getting married. The couple moved to Escalon where Maria was a homemaker and Giuseppe planted figs and a vineyard. They had two other daughters besides Josephine, Annie Agostini (1924-1964) and Louise
(Agostini) Rampoldi (1931-2015).
In 1952 Josephine married Leo Costa, born and raised in California to a family of Italian origin. Josephine and Leo had three children, LeRoy (Melinda), Maryanne and Don (Palma). Leo first farmed tomatoes, watermelons, spinach, pumpkins and peaches. Then, sons Leroy and Don joined their father in farming peaches, wine grapes and walnuts. In 1993 they also installed a walnut huller. By the time Leo passed away in 2000, they had transitioned to growing only walnuts. They currently do commercial hulling and drying for 70 Central Valley walnut growers.
Josephine now has four granddaughters and three great-grandchildren. She celebrated her 95th with her family at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe.
We send our very best wishes to Josephine.

Tanti auguri! Buon compleanno!

In the picture: Josephine celebrating 95th surrounded by her loving family at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe: Tim & Ashley Enserink with daughters Ashley & Claire in front; the Costas – Amy, LeRoy, Melinda, Josephine, Maryanne, Don & Palma; Brittany & Stephen Oldfather

Trentino Genealogy

For those interested in pursuing their family roots, we encourage you to visit TrentinoGenealogy.com. Many of our members have also joined the corresponding Facebook page. Lynn Serafinn is a master of Trentino genealogy. On her website she also hosts the Filò magazine, with each issue dedicated to a different area of Trentino. Click here to receive a free subscription of the paper version of the magazine.