My name is Giovanni Romanelli. I grew up as Jonathan Korte in an adopted family. I was adopted into a family when I was very young in the United States of America. I was raised in a good family in the mid-west. It wasn’t until I was eleven though that I found out I was adopted. When I found this out it made me stop and think. Even at the age of eleven I was curious as to who I really was. Don’t get me wrong…I love my adopted family like they were my own blood. They have always been good to me, but part of me felt like I wasn’t complete. I was told growing up that I was Norwegian and Swedish. I was told my parents were from this background. It was apparent though as I got older that this wasn’t the case. I had other friends with that background and I looked nothing like any of them. I am not sure if it was my birth mother not telling the agency, the agency not telling my adopted parents, or my adopted parents not telling me….but it took until I was about eighteen to learn that I was full blooded Italian. In a lot of ways…I think I already knew. When I would see pictures of Italy on T.V. as a kid…or when we would go to cultural festivals….or when my parents had Italian friends stop over….I knew. I felt deep in my heart that these were my people. I felt every time I saw pictures of Italy….a deep sense of loyalty to that place. A feeling inside me…in my blood… carried into my heart. It always felt like home even though I remembered nothing of it. I have always had a strange connection with that country and the people. Now that I have learned more of my origins…it is not so strange. I have learned over the last few years that I am from the city of Bari in the Puglia region. I have also found a partial family tree. I have embraced my culture and feel more complete in who I am. I am a member of the Italian-American Club in Green Bay, WI. I am also a member of the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee, WI. There are still a lot of unanswered questions I have though. I was told I was born in Bari and brought here as a baby. I was told my father died a few months before I was born and my mother was only about eighteen. I am working with the Consul General in Chicago to try to recover any records. I would like more than anything to gain my citizenship in Italy. My only fear is that there may be no solid records left. There seems to be a lot of missing information that was either kept secret or just lost. I have found much more than I had anticipated so far though and I will continue to search.

 See Giovanni's Family Tree

It is my dream to live there someday. Most of my friends here in America…they dream of fancy cars, mansions, yachts, all the finer luxuries of life. My dream is to sit on a hill in Bari over looking the water with a jug of wine and some fruit. This would make my life complete. I do not ask much other than to be able to walk in my home town. I am in the process of trying to purchase a small Italian restaurant in Milwaukee. If I can come up the initial investing capital…which I have a little…it will be a very profitable purchase. This has been one of my dreams as well. It is in an Italian neighborhood near Lake Michigan. My wife and I plan to move there soon from Green Bay. I am hoping more so that this will give me a little financial freedom to save up for a trip to Bari. In the end I hope to meet some of my family there. I hope to reconnect and learn about the place where I am from. I want to learn the history from the people there. I want to breathe the air my family breathed for centuries and walk the streets they walked through life. I was recently married about a year ago. My wife is mostly from Italian heritage as well and we both share the dream of going to Italy. We don’t have children yet, but when we do we want our children to grow up with a strong connection to where they come from. If anyone knows of my family there…or has any information or stories they would like to share in general about our region in Italy, please share. I promise you will never have a more attentive audience than you will have with me. There are not too many people now days….especially in my generation…that take such pride in where they are from. I have a deep sense of loyalty and honor and I am very proud to be Italian. I am 26 years old, but my friends and family say I am more around 60 in my years. I’m very old school in my way of thinking and I think part of that was not knowing what I know now growing up. It has made me appreciate who I am more. Thank you for reading some of my story and I look forward to hearing from you. Please reference my family tree. I have also included some pictures of my wife Karmyn, my Uncle Antonio Balistrieri, his girlfriend Anni Rossi, and myself. Grazie mille!!

Giovanni Romanelli

If you wish to contact Giovanni, please e-mail: giovanniromanelli@hotmail.com