Three towns on a strait

Part I · 🇮🇹

Four Sicilian comuni lie close together around Etna (Piedimonte Etneo, Giarre, Mascali and Riposto), and on the other side of the strait are the Calabrian towns of Briatico and Scilla. The last chapter asks what the surnames mean, and how much it tells you that two people share one.

Start reading: The Atlas →

1. I.1The AtlasEvery place this archive can put a person in.
2. I.2Piedimonte EtneoThe town on the north-east flank of Etna that gave this family its surname.
3. I.3GiarreA town named by a document, contradicted by eleven of its own years: the largest comune in this archive.
4. I.4MascaliThe town Etna swallowed whole in 1928.
5. I.5RipostoThe lower town, separate from Giarre since 1821.
6. I.6BriaticoA small comune on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria that sent its people to three different continents.
7. I.7ScillaThe rock at the northern gate of the Strait of Messina, and the fishing quarter beneath it.
8. I.8The NameWhat the surnames mean, roughly how common they are, and how much sharing one tells you.

The whole book: Contents