It was a cold morning in 1927 when Michele Giocoli arrived at Ellis Island with his mother Maria Modarelli after an eight-day transoceanic journey.

He left Colobraro at the age of seven to reunite with his father Pasquale, who emigrated as a steelworker to Ohio six years earlier after serving on the front lines during World War I.

 

Sailed aboard the Conte Biancamano. From the port of Naples aboard the Conte Biancamano with a ticket in tourist class, Michele meticulously recounts in his memoirs the moments of that journey: from the nighttime departure from Colobraro to reach Naples to the first time he tasted ice cream during the crossing; from the close passage of another ship in the opposite direction and its deafening whistle, which even after years he could still hear with dismay; to that morning when he caught sight in the distance of the Statue of Liberty alongside the bridge crowded with jubilant people.

 

And it was precisely in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, during the border checks, that Michele, registered as Michael Jocola, was painfully separated from his mother and placed in quarantine. Taken to a wing of the hospital crowded with children of different nationalities, he waited for a long time for his mother to return, who was waiting for him with his father in the large waiting room of Ellis Island. He will always remember the first time he met his father and the embarrassment he felt that day towards a man he still didn’t know.

Michael and his family lived in Ohio, at 303 West Federal Street in Niles.

 

In January 1994, he gave an interview to Kate Moore of the federal agency National Park Service for the Ellis Island Oral History project, which aims to collect and preserve the oral testimonies of immigrants who arrived in America.

Among the 2,000 interviews conducted with passengers, families, and officials at the immigration center, the original audio and transcription from January 4, 1994, are preserved. On that day, Michael, opening the doors to his memories, recounted his childhood in Colobraro, life in the neighborhood, religious traditions, especially those related to Christmas, his Italian family, and his home on Via Cristoforo Colombo.

After 96 years, his children Jan and Michael Jocola returned to Colobraro to discover their roots and the birthplace of their family. They returned to that house described in the records of Ellis Island, whose street name reflects the life of the navigator who first landed in America, just like their father.

A big neighborhood party was organized for the Jocolas and their return to Colobraro.

It is possible to listen to the interview on the official Ellis Island website.https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/oral-history-library