Yay, I finally got the info I need to start researching this family name. It is for the aunt of a friend who is in South Africa. Long story short, they have an offer of work in Italy if they can sort their paperwork out, and as the husband of said aunt is of Italian extraction, we are hoping we can sort citizenship out for him. The only snag being that his mother was born AFTER her father had returned to Italy, and her parents were never married.

Anyhow, to the detail - this is the email I received:

Mario's grandfather was Vittorio Zazzaretta, his father was also Vittorio Zazzaretta. His mother was Colomba (Bornelli) (her Maiden name) which the women in Italy get to keep when they marry, they would then say its her family name.

Vittorio Zazzaretta was born on 5 May 1917 in Rome, he was captured in Bardia in Libya on 4 Jan 1941, he was a lance corporal and was repatriated on 26 Feb 1946. A year after Marios mother, Louise was born. Makes him 28 when she was 47 and gave birth for the first and last time.

Guess he didnt want to marry an older woman, hence his decision not to return to South Africa?

I am unclear as to whether Louise was born a year after Vittorio returned to Italy, or if he returned to Italy a year after she was born.

I am also trying to clarify whether the father is named on the birth certificate - from a legal point of view this is essential but I think that in fact he was, given the wealth of information the family has on him.

That aside, there is a lot of useful information here and I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to proceed. My usual tactic would be to visit the FHL and also the reading library in Collindale, but given that they never married it is unlikely that the papers will turn up anything on them.

If Lousie was born in Rome and you have her birthdate you can request her birth certificate from
Comune di Roma
VIA PETROSELLI 50
Roma, RM 00186
You might want to request Vittorio's at the same time. You never know what notation may be on it.
Be sure to request 'fotocopie delle originale'

Many thanks Italysearcher. Louise was born somewhere in South Africa, but as you can see, there is good detail on her father and grandparents so can request those from Rome and see how we get on.

I accessed the FHL website last night, along with 14 other genealogy sites, and not a one of them turned up the surname Zazzaretta. So it looks like this is going to be an interesting project...

Italysearcher wrote:

If Lousie was born in Rome and you have her birthdate you can request her birth certificate from Comune di Roma VIA PETROSELLI 50 Roma, RM 00186 You might want to request Vittorio's at the same time. You never know what notation may be on it. Be sure to request 'fotocopie delle originale'

Hello,
"Fotocopie dall'originale" can be requested for genealogy purpose.
"Estratto per riassunto dell'atto di nascita (con paternità e maternità)" can be requested for italian dual citizenship application
Fotocopie dall'oroginale is not accepted to apply for citizenship
Regards
Riccardo

Hi Riccardo,

Thanks for clarifying that. When I did the dual citizenship application for myself I engaged an agency in Italy to get the certificates I needed so never knew exactly what it was that they asked for.

Not being in Italy at the time I found it very difficult to get records, or even a reply, from the comunes myself, so the agency route was a good choice at the time.

Hello again,

A quick update - I have not been able to trace any information on this person, or even find anything useful on the family name. I was wondering if anyone knows where I can access Italian draft records for WWII? It might be the best starting point. I have also emailed the South African Defence Force Archives division regarding POW records and am hoping they will reply.

Any other advice would be much appreciated.

Hello,
his military record is kept in Distretto militare di Roma

Via Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, n.2 00192 Roma Tel 06324841
cedoc_roma @ esercito.difesa.it

if he fought for italian forces and was a POW you can write, in order to have infos about his imprisonment, to

MINISTERO DELLA DIFESA
DIREZIONE GENERALE DELLE PENSIONI MILITARI,
DEL COLLOCAMENTEO AL LAVORO DEI VOLONTARI CONGEDATI E DELLA LEVA
7^ Divisione - Stato Civile e Albo d'Oro
Via Sforza, 4/b
00184, ROMA

I hope it helps
bye Riccardo

With our new information on Vittorio Zazzaretta (now 91 years), we are hopeful to unite Vittoria or any of his family with his daughter born 23 Feb 1945 in South Africa.

Vittorio Zazzaretta was born 5 May 1917 in Rome, captured in "Bardia" in LIBIA in 1941 and sent to S A, BUCHU CAMP in the Western Cape. Served as Lance Corporal in the Italian Army. He was repatriated to Italy on 26 February 1946.

He lived in Viale di tor di Quinto no. 43, ROME in 1941.

Vittorio's father's name was also Vittorio zzaretta and his mother Colomba BORNELLI.

Hi Robert
Vittorio Zazzaretta the person you are looking for is my father
he was born in Rome 5 May 1917 and was POW in South Africa
1964 immigrate with his family to Canada he die few years ago

frank

WOW Oh WOW.....
How about that Frank, Robert and italians.. that 'needle in a haystack' actually found YOU! This is wonderful.

Wouldn't it be nice if all our searches ended in finding some 'family'!

Wow! This is so much more than I was expecting! Thanks for taking the time to register and let me know. I will contact the tomorrow - who can speak with the aunt in South Africa and hopefully we can get an exchange of contact details as a starting point. I don't know where their research has taken them so will get an update as well.

Hi again,

I just wanted to provide a brief update for everyone here. I made contact with the Zazzaretta family in South Africa, and with Frank, and both parties were happy to liaise directly with each other, so I have exchanged contact details for both groups and they are now (going on a PM I got this morning) speaking. So for now my part in this is over - the two parts of this family need to get to know each other, and I am sure there are many questions to be answered from both sides. When they reach the point that they wish to pursue the formal part of reestablishing their Italian citizenship (for the South African Zazzaretta's) I hope to be able to assist them.

I would like to thank everyone here who offered help and advice and an especial thank you to Carole for her excellent detective work and support. There is much in this case that went on off forum and Carole was a great support and source of information and there is no way that I would have been able to sort his without her assistance.

Carole - sorry for pestering you with PM's but thank you again for all your help.

Congratulations too all and I hope this turns out to be a very happy family reunion. Keep us updated on the progress.

Robert Thank you for the update and we are all so glad that everything turned out as well as it did. I also hope you continue to keep us posted on any new progress!

Hi Nuccia,

The family is very kindly keeping me updated on progress and it seems to be going very well - they have exchanged emails and photographs and have also spoken via the telephone.

As far as family reunions go, I don't think it could go any better than this. I am very happy for them as a family as I believe from both sides this reunion is helping to answer so many unasked questions. The experience of finding long lost siblings can be either extremely positive or quite disappointing and for them it has been the former which is brilliant (for my mom it was the latter - that is a whole other story though).