The Castrilli Family - Introduction

This brief initial history of the Castrilli family is our millennium project. It is intended as a gift to ourselves and our children. To discover who we are and where we come from and to pass this knowledge on to future generations. We have been fortunate to document 7 generations of our family and, while the research may not always be complete, it is as accurate as possible at the present time.

This has been a labour of love. It has taken much time, energy and research. It has meant studying ancient Church records, municipal instruments and letters and speaking to many, many people. This would not have been possible without a great deal of assistance. I wish to thank first my Italian relatives. It was my cousins, Mariarosaria Castrilli and Michele Castrilli in Carpinone that found a gifted researcher, Franca Valente, the cultural officer of Carpinone, who pored over endless records for me. She provided data backed up by birth, marriage and death certificates and I am indebted to her scholarship. Next I want to thank my cousin Maria De Silvio of Taranto who was instrumental in obtaining the family crest and many of the postcards. Her mother, Angela Castrilli, was an endless source of information and I am fortunate that, in her eighties, she possesses one of the clearest and strongest minds I have ever encountered. May we all have half her strength and wisdom at her age. While not exactly a relative (although I cannot be sure since there is at least one recorded marriage between a Castrilli and a Malerba), I also want to thank Adriano Malerba who provided me with the magnificent recent shots of Carpinone.

The family in North America is equally responsible for this work. Mike Castrilli of Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.A. has been an ongoing source of information and an enthusiastic supporter. His brother, Nick Castrilli of London, Ontario, Canada and I have spent many hours verifying Canadian information on the Castrilli family and I thank him and his wonderful wife, Mary. I also thank Michael Castrilli of Bernardsville, New Jersey, U.S.A. who did so much early research on the family. I wish to mention my parents, Adolfo and Rosa Castrilli who have provided so much additional data.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to my own family: my husband, David Carmichael, who has always been my greatest friend and fan and our children, Evan, Stefanie, Alexandra and her husband Danny, who have supported this work and helped in its realization. Particular thanks to Stefanie and especially Alexandra whose technical expertise has been invaluable.

This is largely a story of those Castrilli that hail from Carpinone: a jewel of a town, rich in history and tradition, in the hills of Molise. To all the members of our extended Castrilli family, this work represents our debt to the past and our gift to the future. To the younger members of the family, our family crest contains the helmet of a knight to spur us to always take action and a golden crown to inspire us to great deeds. You are heirs to a proud legacy. Take what is here and build on it knowing that your roots are deep and your possibilities endless.

Un abbraccio a tutti,

Annamarie P. Castrilli

June 25, 2000

We shall not cease from our exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

- T.S. Eliot

Ru vine buone se vende senza frasca.

- Carpinonese saying