I had that on my mom’s side, my uncle. No one on the Italian side. i went to sicily and met a bunch of my dad’s cousin and kids, but they really didn’t know much about my grandfather.
I looked up the white pages in messina and other parts of sicily and sent letters. But no response. So beyond my great grand parents names, nothing on that side.
Recently I got a copy of my mom’s ancestors discharge from the revolutionary army. A photo of an engraved metal plate about the size of a large cell phone. Prior to that we couldn’t get earlier than the civil war. My mom was Irish and English and she used to fight with herself.
I have pictures of my great, great grandparents, but never met them. But by great grandmother died when I was 7, so, yes, I knew her then and all about her, from my grandmother and her sister. I also know about my maternal granddfather's family and knew all of his siblings and even some of his aunts & uncles.
My father's side? Not as much.
My mother forbid me from ever going to Hungary ( she said that those STINKING COMMIES should NEVER get any American dollars ), so I didn't go, but now that they are FREE, I'd love to go; however, some of my ancestral places now belong to other nations. :-(
My mother was also Irish, English and French Canadian..her mother was born in Montreal, Quebec and her father was Lewiston, Maine.