American Destiny is a heartfelt family memoir about cultural roots, generational bonds, and the experiences that connect us to home. What inspired you to preserve the story of your family’s 1948 journey to Italy?

Marcella was inspired to preserve the story of her family’s journey in 1948 to Italy as an homage to her family and the many ancestral generations that came before them. The story is especially a love story to Marcella’s sister, Lilly, my mother. They were extremely close their entire lives until Lilly passed away in 2020.

My aunt, Marcella Luiso Flanagan, is a historically conscious person, but also a visionary for the future. Many tease her and call her “the talking history book.” Yet she is also a visionary in how she sees the story, which she hopes could one day become a movie seen worldwide! Even at 92, she still has this vision and believes that it is important for the family history to be preserved.

The main reasons for writing the story were to bring awareness and honor to southern Italians, who are often portrayed in a stereotypical way as poor and uneducated. Marcella became extremely proud of her great-grandfather Giacomo, who was educated by Jesuits. Her grandfather Andre was an educated lawyer and a landowner.

Another reason to write the story was to bring economic prosperity to the region of Apulia. Marcella felt that many people visit Rome, Venice, and Florence but are not well aware of the beautiful and historically rich region of Bari, Apulia. Marcella believes that people will love learning about the history of the region of Apulia, seeing the endless roads of almond and olive trees, and especially the Trulli, the conical-shaped round stone huts that are seen throughout the region.

It was in 2003 when Marcella first wrote the story as a short story. One night, she read it to her sister Lilly during a daily phone call. Lilly was the one who planted the seed when she said, “It sounds like a movie!”

With the seed planted for the idea of a movie, Marcella signed up for adult classes at New York University in Manhattan for screenwriters, and she wrote the entire script for a movie. Marcella was then about 70 years old.

But after that, Marcella took on the role of caretaker for her aging parents, my grandparents, Angela and Felipo, until they both passed. A few more years passed, and the project was left abandoned, however, not forgotten!

It wasn’t until 2012 that Marcie asked me to paint a movie poster for the script. She described the painting that she wanted. It would feature a fashionably dressed young woman walking through the streets of Manhattan with great energy, the Empire State Building in the background, and many American flags. The woman symbolizes young Marcella as a fashion designer.

I was an absolutely broke single mother, raising three sons single-handedly and teaching in a high school, and would do almost anything for a few bucks. I gladly took on the job of painting the movie poster for her. It is a very large painting done in acrylics, about four feet high by three feet wide.

Fast-forward another 10 years or so. After Marcella’s husband Edward, Lilly, and her husband Eugene had passed away, and I had retired from teaching, my Aunt Marcie reminded me that we must turn her script into a movie.

We didn’t know where to begin, so we copyrighted the movie script. Then our lawyer suggested that we write the book. The movie poster that I had painted in 2012 became the cover of the book.

I became extremely engaged in learning about the family history that Aunt Marcie wanted to preserve. And so I became her proud partner in this endeavor.

How did visiting your family’s ancestral homeland influence your understanding of what it meant to be Italian American?

Marcella became extremely proud of her Italian heritage after visiting Italy in 1948 for five months and meeting her grandparents and seeing the towns where her great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents had lived. This history meant so much to her.

She honors the rulers and ancestors who came before her as well. She often speaks of Charlemagne and how he united much of western and central Europe, promoting Christian reform in the 800s.

And then there’s the Castel del Monte, built in the year 1240 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Frederick Hohenstaufen was also known as Stupor Mundi. Hardly a day goes by when Marcella does not speak of him, as if he still lives in her soul!

How did preparing and sharing meals help strengthen relationships between different generations of your family?

In terms of meal preparation in Italy, harvesting the food or buying it at a local market, then preparing the meals together and eating as a family, this was everything for the families from Apulia!

We chose seven recipes to be featured in the book that are still eaten today in Apulia: focaccia, limoncello, almond biscotti, taralli, amaretti, orecchiette, and carteddate with vin cotto.

All of these recipes are staples in our family and were important for holding on to the traditions, smells, and tastes of the old world in Italy.

By eating the foods and enjoying them together as a family, the Italian pride would really shine through! And through the foods, the memories of the ancestors who prepared them, and all that they did to pave the way for future generations, are remembered when eating the foods.

Looking back, how did the journey influence the choices you made and the person you eventually became?

Marcella also felt so honored to have such an incredible career as a fashion designer and manufacturer, and especially her role in helping promote women through her advocacy for women in business in the 1970s.

By writing this book, we are able to remind people of the work that Marcella had done to pave the way for future women. And we are extremely proud of her and her efforts.

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