Italian Dual Citizenship

I owe to Vincenzo Sicola both my surname and my connection to Italy. Abject poverty drove him, his wife Saveria Marino Sicola, and their children from Bisacquino, Sicily, a tiny town where still today a street bears the Sicola name, and in which town archives trace the Sicolas to The Renaissance period.

Having arrived in the USA through the port of New Orleans, with an occupation listed on the ship's manifest as "peasant," Vincenzo died many years later in Houston, Texas without having obtained U.S. citizenship.

Because my paternal lineage was born to an Italian, not American, citizen, I qualify for Italian dual citizenship. Go figure. Italy considers it a citizenship by birthright.

My dual citizenship journey has been in the works for many months. I'm optimistic that I will finalize dual citizenship when I return to Texas in 2012.

For information on Italian dual citizenship, check out this website and direct questions to Nicola (tell him Mary Sicola says hello). Www.italiandualcitizenship.com