Comune di Grisolia Provincia di Cosenza

Grisolia is in the Province of Cosenza in northern Calabria , perched over 1400 ft. high overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. Early inhabitants of the area took refuge on the hill during the many invasions that took place over the centuries. The material I got from there is all in Italian, and not translated yet. As that occurs, I'll be putting more information here. There were many postcards and other photos, below is a scanned image of the comune from one of the postcards.

A new bit of information as of April, '99, the web site, "Le Tracce del Tempo" currently only in Italian, has a lot of historical and other information about the comune . The author has plans for a future English language version. You will find a link to this site on the our links page.

Strange as it might seem, my father and all four grandparents as well as many other relatives came to the U.S. from Celico, also in Cosenza. None of them knew there was a comune called Grisolia just eighty km. from Celico.

Two experts in Calabrian surnames, Rohlfs and De Felice, agree that the Grisolia name is most likely derived from the comune. Rohlfs adds that the name is Greek in origin meaning "Elia d' oro". I have also been told that "Elia" is the Italian version of the name "Elias".

 

Thanks to Grace Olivo for the great satellite image at the top of this page. Grace publishes a wonderfull magazine on Italian genealogy, you can contact her at, lgfm@bellatlantic.net .

All material on this website is copyrighted © Anthony Grisolia all rights reserved.

Page revised March 7, 2004.

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