The story of our great search for Gioviano (commune di Borgo a Mozzano). The village where Eric’s great grandparents grew up. Once finding the village on the map the next question was how we were going to get there. Our first attempt early in the morning was to bicycle the 27 kilometers….. 21.6 miles, going through the beautiful Tuscan hills. We got just about half way and the roads were main roads with big trucks, and not bicycle friendly. So we decided to bike back to Lucca and take the bus up to Gioviano. We got dropped off at the bottom of the hill in which Gioviano was on the top, and hiked up the 1.6 miles getting a chance to see the beautiful mountains Lucca and the other near by villages were surrounded by. It was beautiful!!! We got there during the lunch siesta so it was pretty empty but we could hear laughter inside the cute homes as we walked by. It did give us a chance to have Gioviano all to ourselves!!!

We were looking for remenants of Eric's great grandparents - whose last name is "Barsotti" and "Domenici". Roberto's sister only knew of a Domenici and told us the last one passed away just a few years ago. They lived right next door to her. My father has told me since - my great grandparents were artists who moved from Gioviano to New York city, and somehow are responsible for a sculpture at Columbus Circle in New York City...