Locana Italy is a small comune (City) in the north part of the country.  Locana is located in the moutains.  This sign shows distances to nearby towns as well as you can see a Welcome to Locana sign in the background.  The second picture is a picture of the town of Locana.  There is a group on facebook dedicated to ancestors of families from Locana.  I was pretty excited when I found it!

My grandmother didn’t remember many stories about Locana but my Aunt Kate told a couple… of course it was many years ago and I wasn’t even a teenager yet.  My g-grandfather passed away when my grandmother was three so my g-grandmother had no one to share stories with and reminisce about Locana.  Life was tough and my mother thought my g-grandmother was always afraid she would be made to go back to Italy if she was found out.  My g-grandfather was in the process of applying for citizenship when he died of the flu in 1918.  My g-grandmother didn’t go on to get citizenship until the early 60s I think.

My Aunt Kate always said that my g-grandmother’s family lived above a cow barn.  The cows were used to keep the home warm as heat rises.  I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to grow up above a herd of cows, but I assume you get used to it over time.

Another story I remember is about a beggar that showed up to their door each day.  My Aunt said that my G-g- grandmother would give scraps to the beggar each day when he would come begging at the door.  One day a dog came to the door instead of the beggar and my ancestor through leftover hot coffee instead out and burnt the face of the dog.  The next day the beggar was back but with a burn on his face.

Finally there was a story about a chick in the cemetery next to their home.  The chick was on a grave, and when they returned there were several chicks (that story I’m much more hazy on.)  I wish at the time I had used a tape recorder to capture the stories.  Now I’m relying on my faulty memory.