Visitors from Trentino in 2015 – Spring

Lara Olivetti and Rickard Olseke 

Easter Lunch at Mark & Maria’s Front: Mark & Maria; Middle: Jim, Lara & Michael; Back: David Tureaud, Rickard
Front: Mark & Maria; Middle: Jim, Lara & Michael; David, Rickard

Lara Olivetti and Rickard Olseke recently spent 3 weeks in San Francisco and the North
Coast of California. They were here last year at about the same time. Lara once worked as
an attorney for the Trentini nel Mondo Association imparting free advice on citizenship matters. That remains her specialty. Visit LaraOlivetti.net for more information. She now lives in Sweden with Rickard who handles foreign asylum requests. Club member Maria Mortati and her husband Mark Glusker provided lodging to this delightful couple while in San Francisco, and club members Jim Boin and Michael Job provided their customary warm hospitality.


 

Marco Gabrielli and Michele Sartori

Left: Gabrielli family, Marco, daughters Stefania and Federica, wife Luisa, with Luca Dorigatti in the center Right: Michele Sartori, mayor of Levico Terme, wife Claudia Gabrielli, Rinaldo Cis
Left: Gabrielli family, Marco, daughters Stefania and Federica, wife Luisa, with Luca Dorigatti in the center
Right: Michele Sartori, mayor of Levico Terme, wife Claudia Gabrielli, Rinaldo Cis

For the Easter holidays Marco Gabrielli, bank director at the Cassa Rurale di Ledro, and Michele Sartori, mayor of Levico Terme in the Valsugana, paid a visit to the area with their respective families. Mayor Michele Sartori is married to Marco’s sister Claudia, and so the two families are intertwined. They spent time with son and nephew Matteo Sartori, who is completing a semester of study at the University of California Santa Cruz. Club members Luca Dorigatti and Rinaldo Cis met with the group and took them on a tour of Google and Stanford. In an email they expressed their sincere gratitude to Luca and Rinaldo for having shown a slice of life here in California.


Silvia Bernardi – “There Once Was a Button”

Silvia Bernardi in Scotts Valley with club secretary Dan Aspromonte and daughters Ilaria and Amira
Silvia Bernardi in Scotts Valley with club secretary
Dan Aspromonte and daughters Ilaria and Amira

Silvia Bernardi is spending two months this spring with her Italian-American friend Anna in
Pinole. Silvia is from Storo, in the Valle di Chiese in southwest Trentino. In 1992 she moved to Trento to pursue her studies and has remained there since. Her grandfather Silvio immigrated to the US at the beginning of the 1900s. He married and then moved permanently back to Storo in 1930.
The parents of Anna in Pinole and the grandparents of Silvia were the best of friends, and for years they wrote to each other. Anna discovered these letters after her parents passed, and she sought out Silvia and her family in Trentino. They have remained the best of friends ever since.

Silvia_1In recent years Silvia has begun to make necklaces, bracelets and key rings from buttons. She is especially fond of antique buttons that tell a story. Many families have a box full of old buttons, some of which evoke memories: This one was on a jacket I wore in school; this one is from my mother’s wedding dress, and so on. Silvia has entitled her quest “C’era una volta un bottone. “There once was a button.” Silvia would love buttons from members of our Trentino club.
If you have a collection you don’t mind parting with, contact Silvia at silvia.bernardi@inwind.it.