If anybody wants information about the Orecchia and Pene family send me an email. Most of us are buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto, Calif.
We visit there all the time and bring flowers.

Grandfather Giuseppe Orecchia is buried at Italian Cemetery in Colma, Calif.

I've also been listing my Calcagno, Gullo and Zerbo family in Calif. Jamestown,NY and Sicily/Italy.

All of these memorials are a work in progress and I will update and add to them as my research finds more data.

I welcome any changes from family or friends that can correct anything that I might have written wrong. And send me any additional dates, times, history or places that I can add to these memorials.


Most Italians who came to the USA changed their first names to American ones. I've tried to list their correct Italian names and the names they used here in the USA.

Also in the small towns of Sicily, a family would be known by their family "nick-name". These nick-names would be used by the towns people more than the family surname. I remember hearing my mother's family being called "Mangia Creata" in Bronte. And the Zerbo family being called "Spagnolo"

Also poor Sicilians would bury their family members and "rent" the plot to save costs. Most of these plots would be rented for 20 years. If nobody paid to renew and extend the rental period the family member's remains would be removed and the plot would be rented to someone else.

If anybody wants information about the Orecchia and Pene family send me an email. Most of us are buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto, Calif.
We visit there all the time and bring flowers.

Grandfather Giuseppe Orecchia is buried at Italian Cemetery in Colma, Calif.

I've also been listing my Calcagno, Gullo and Zerbo family in Calif. Jamestown,NY and Sicily/Italy.

All of these memorials are a work in progress and I will update and add to them as my research finds more data.

I welcome any changes from family or friends that can correct anything that I might have written wrong. And send me any additional dates, times, history or places that I can add to these memorials.


Most Italians who came to the USA changed their first names to American ones. I've tried to list their correct Italian names and the names they used here in the USA.

Also in the small towns of Sicily, a family would be known by their family "nick-name". These nick-names would be used by the towns people more than the family surname. I remember hearing my mother's family being called "Mangia Creata" in Bronte. And the Zerbo family being called "Spagnolo"

Also poor Sicilians would bury their family members and "rent" the plot to save costs. Most of these plots would be rented for 20 years. If nobody paid to renew and extend the rental period the family member's remains would be removed and the plot would be rented to someone else.