The Collorafi Family of San Piero Patti are descendants of Carmelo Collorafi, brother of the Domenico who married Anna Pizzino. He married Catena Corica on April 14, 1873 in Librizzi. She was the daughter of Don Corica and Donna Anna (can't read the surname). Catena was born in San Piero Patti in 1854. Carmelo is a descendant of Basilio Collorafi who married into the Collura family. There is more information about this in the chapter about our family from Vallone Vina and Librizzi. This was a landed family with the titles of minor nobility of "Don" and "Donna."

We have information about them from several sources including General Joseph Collorafi, Jennifer Collorafi Sheridan, Rose Mondello Collorafi, Jackie Collorafi Mondello, Michael Collorafi, family records and the civil records of San Piero Patti from 1820 until 1910 and the census of 1681 & 1714, as well as Ellis Island records.

Furthermore, we were contacted by Daniel Frontino-Elash of California, who visited San Piero Patti in 2000, and provided pictures for us, and information about his ancestors. He is descended from the Mondello and the Frontino families of S.P.P. who have married into our family. We also received information from another genealogist, David Damiko, whose Leonte famiglia also married into our Collorafi branch. We are very thankful for their interest in our project and help with it. Daniel, know as Deke, even has a web page at: http://www.sfo.com/~deke/frontino. Be sure to take the "virtual tour" of San Piero Patti!

He has kindly consented to allow us to share some of his photographs of San Piero Patti, taken on his trip back to one of his roots in June, 2000.

San Piero Patti is in the center of the Northern Nebraodi Mountains. It originated before the Arab conquest, around the year 900 A.D. From 1320 until the middle of the 18th century, it was a "fiefdom". It was under the rule of an Ioannes Collura, Archbishop from at least 1700 - 1715, as we find his name as ruler in the census and town records. The official name of the town was San Pietro Sopra Patti until 1912. The church of Santa Maria pictured above was erected in 1581, but latter modified. It is note worthy because of a monumental baroque portal and a beautiful wooden ceiling, and also contains some beautiful and old statues.
The primary activies of this town are associated with small commercial enterprises such as food production and building materials.

The Collorafi family branch that lived in San Piero Patti were land owners for over 300 years. The brothers who did not inherit land tended to move into the larger trade center of Patti. Family members from San Piero Patti have a great deal of interchange with those of Vallone Di Vina, Librizzi and Patti. We often find a birth record from one town, marriage or death record from another of these closely spaced communities.

The Collorafi Family in San Piero Patti, seemed to have owned land there, as early as 1681 and we can read about these members of our family in the chapter on our earliest ancestors and also in the section on the history of our family.

By tracing the descendants of Basilio and his wife, Carmelo Colora, who is probably related in some way to the ruler of "the land of Sant Peter", Archbishop Collura - who ruled the area of Patti in the early 1700's, we see an example of good marriages made, and land passed down in the family. The titles of Don and Donna, as they are found in the records, have been included in this family history in the Family Tree section of our book.

Descendents of Basilio and his wife, Carmela Colora, owned land in Vallone Di Vina and San Piero Patti. The Collorafi name is prominent in early civil records and the census of 1681 and 1714. It is interesting that the name Carmela/Carmelo has passed through many generations of this branch of our family in the past three hundred years, most likely from the ancestor, Carmela, wife of Basilio. The name Pietro is also a prominent one in this part of our family and stems from this North East area of Sicilia, which was known as the "land of Sant Peter" probably from Norman times. Piero is the Sicilian version of the French Pierre. As mentioned earlier, there was a Pietro Collorafi, who was mayor of S.P.P. in the 1860's.

The record of this family can be found in the family tree section of this book. However, we have also learned a lot about this family through family records of the children of Angelo and Maria Casella Collorafi, who came from San Piero Patti to New York. While my father was still alive, I wrote to the 11 Collorafi/Colloraffi families in the USA. I received a wonderful letter back from the now GENERAL JOSEPH COLLORAFI. This pleased my father so much, to know that the family name would be continued, that it added much to the rest of his life.

In March of 1994, Joe Collorafi wrote to me to introduce his family, "...Our family comes from San Piero Patti, Sicilia, Italia...My father, Angelo, was born in San Piero Patti, but my mother, Maria Casella, was born in West New York, New Jersey. Her family moved back to Sicily when she was a little girl. She came back to the US in 1953 and brought my father, my two brothers (Mario and Tindaro) and my sister (Rose) over in April of 1955. We settled in West Haverstraw, New York. My sister, Maria Gioconda, was born in Sufferon, New York in 1961." Joe then went on to include a four generation family tree, which was very helpful in starting the Colloraffi Quest!

This family has more accurate and complete family records than any other branch of our Colloraffi famiglia, to date, which is a good thing because the civil records of San Piero Patti are in very poor condition. There is a great deal of water damage, torn pages, missing pages and missing records, especially in the early years of record keeping.

Joe then went on to tell us a little about himself and his family. He joined the Navy in 1964. When he wrote to us in 1994, he was 47 year old "have been married for almost 28 years and I am a Colonel on active duty. (As of this writing, in June, 2001, he is a retired General). I have been in the military for over 30 years and I am currently serving as the Chief of Staff of the 42nd Infantry Division. " He goes on to tell us that his wife is Pamela Hand and he has two children, a son, Joseph, and a daughter, Christina Marie. Joe explains that he has an associates and bachelors degrees from the University of the State of New York and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He explains that his brothers are also officers in the military.

Over the years, we have communicated with this part of our Colloraffi Famiglia through e-mails, letters, and phone calls. Rose Mondello Collorafi, married to Tindaro (Timmy) was kind enough to call us and tell us a little about the Collorafi family of the Librizzi area. She said that they are a well respected family and, at one time, owned a great deal of land. We know that Angelo Collorafi's father, Giuseppe, inherited the family farm. His parents, Carmelo Collorafi and Maria Caterina Corica, willed most of the land to him. Giuseppe was crippled and was able to get around the farm and house by wheeling himself on a board with wheels. Over the many years, most of this land has been sold.

An example of the intermarriage and connection with the Collorafis of Vallone Di Vina and Librizzi is the marriage of the daughter of Carmelo and Maria Caterina Corica - Angela - to the son of Domenico Collorafi and Anna Pizzino, land owners in Vallone Di Vina. It is interesting that on her marriage record, Angela's surname is spelled with 2 f's.

We also know that Angelo, like my father, who is from another branch of this family, was a great story teller, as was Rosario Collorafi, from the Patti branch of our small Famiglia Collorafi. Rosario's daughter, Rita, told us that every evening, her father would sit outside of their home and children would gather at his feet as he told them stories. Angelo had this same talent. I have written down one of the stories that he would tell to his children and grandchildren.

You would think that growing up in the quite village of San Piero Patti, Sicilia, would be a safe place for a child - but not if the moon were full. Angelo Collorafi knew this only to well. The townspeople said that there were werewolves about, usually hidden by their parents; locked in a shed or back room with chains and bolts on the door. Once in a while a villager would catch a glimpse of the dark, dank fur in the back of a locked shed, or sense a quick movement and smell a dank odor as a bedroom door closed quickly. And, at the full moon, their howling would be heard among the quiet night noises of insects and frogs.

Children in the village, and even the old people, would cross themselves, hold their rosaries close to them as they fingered the beads, and glance nervously at the windows to make sure that the shutters were closed and the thick wooden doors were shut tight. There was no denying that such beasts existed, products of the mistaken words a careless priest might utter while baptizing an innocent child. It could happen in any family. Soon the baby would start to take the appearance of a beast, the hair would grow, and the eyes would become a cold stone gray, and the family would look for a place to hide the creature, away from the eyes of the curious and fearful.

Angelo knew this only too well. As young men will do, he had passed a pleasant summer evening with friends…and didn't heed the rising of the full moon until it was nearly too late. Heading for home in the quiet countryside, he sensed that he was being watched. He hurried along, his heart pounding. Looking back, he saw the looping shape of a lean, swift, hairy animal, and it was stalking him. Angelo started to run, and with that so did the beast. His legs pumped hard on the dirt road as he headed for the safety of home. His heart was pumping even harder than his legs…He could hear the heavy breathing of the beast behind him, and felt the putrid breath at the back of his knee. And then, there was his house, with a light shinning through the cracks in the closed shutter of the window. He made one final leap inside, slammed and bolted the heavy, solid planks of the door behind him. And, as he stood in front of it, heaving and catching his breath, frantic scratching was heard on the other side.

"What is that, Angelo?" his mother, Maria, said in a clear, calm voice, for she too had forgotten that the moon was glowing white and round that night…Angelo paused, caught his breath, and said, with his head bent down…"Oh nothing, mother, a dog must have followed me home." But, he told the truth and this story to his children and grandchildren, lest they not be so foolish to frolic with friends in San Piero Patti when the moon was full, and neither should you or I.

One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that we have to remember that Angelo lived in the mountains. We know from reading about life in Sicily that there were wolves in the mountains, and that they would come into the villages at night, when game was scarse, and eat cats, dogs, goats, chickens, or other animals. Also, the werewolf was an established "fact" in Sicily at the time, as was the "evil eye", and other horrible things that could happen to the innocent or unaware.
We hope to have other stories of Angelo, but in the meantime are content with this

We welcome more stories, pictures, corrections and input from this branch of our family. We are very thankful for the help that we have received, so far.