Six generations from a Sicilian hilltop to the streets of Brooklyn
The Family Line
Our surname was originally Arcadipane. In 1969, Tony's father — Antony Cosmo Arcadipane — legally changed the family name to Arcadi, and dropped the H from his own first name (Anthony became Antony). His sister Marianne kept the original Arcadipane surname. The family came from Pietraperzia, a small hilltop town in the Province of Enna, in the interior of Sicily.
Pietraperzia, Province of Enna — the hilltop town where the Arcadipane family originated.
“Gabi” | BS Ecology, Rider; MS Wildlife Mgmt, Unity
+ Mary Helen Marengo (wife)
Toni Cecilia Arcadi
“CC” | dual enrolled HS & Ocean County College
Marianne Arcadipane-Todar
b. Dec 30, 1945, Brooklyn | Art teacher, FDR HS | Port St. Lucie, FL
Tony’s Mother’s Side — The Passalia Family
Saveria “Vera” Passalia was born December 3, 1941 in Santa Caterina dello Ionio, a small town on the Ionian coast of Calabria — but the family was not originally from there. Her father Alberto Passalia, a railroad worker, had been posted to Santa Caterina for work. The Passalia family is believed to be originally from the Reggio Calabria area, at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula, though the exact town has not yet been confirmed.
Vera’s mother was Carmela Lugarà, Alberto’s first wife. Carmela died (date unknown), and Alberto later remarried. Vera was baptized at the Parrocchia di S. Giovanni Battista in Acconia, a frazione in the Comune di Curinga, Catanzaro province.
At just nine years old, around 1950, Vera emigrated to the United States by herself — a nine-year-old girl traveling alone from post-war Calabria to America. After Vera left, Alberto relocated from Calabria to Varazze, a coastal town in Liguria on the Italian Riviera.
Saveria “Vera” Passalia
b. Dec 3, 1941, Santa Caterina dello Ionio Married Antony Cosmo Arcadi Tony’s mother
Lina Passalia
Married Navarria Vera’s full sister Mother: Carmela Lugarà
Silvana Passalia
Married Giusto Vera’s half-sister Alberto’s second marriage
Parents: Alberto Passalia (railroad worker, Ferrovie dello Stato) married first to Carmela Lugarà, who bore Vera and Lina before her death. Alberto remarried, and his second wife was the mother of Silvana. Alberto’s posting to Santa Caterina dello Ionio is why Vera was born there — it was a work assignment, not the family’s home (likely Reggio Calabria area). After Vera emigrated alone at age 9, Alberto relocated to Varazze on the Ligurian coast.
Every firstborn son's name follows strict Sicilian tradition: named for the paternal grandfather. Filippo named his son Cosimo (after his own father). Cosimo named his son Phillip (Filippo, after his father). Anthony Cosmo carries his grandfather Cosimo's name as his middle name. And Tony — Antony Philip — carries his grandfather Phillip's name.
The Penna Family — Tony’s Grandma & Grandpa
When nine-year-old Vera arrived in America alone around 1950, it was Eleanora and Antonino Penna who took her in and raised her. They were functionally Tony’s grandmother and grandfather — the grandparents he knew.
Eleanora Penna (née Passalia) was Alberto Passalia’s sister. Born June 16, 1900, she married Antonino Penna (born December 24, 1902). The Penna family was from Catona, Calabria — a coastal town at the very tip of the Italian peninsula, now part of the municipality of Reggio Calabria. Since Eleanora was a Passalia before marriage, the Catona connection helps place the Passalia family’s origins in the Reggio Calabria area.
Eleanora and Antonino lived on East 23rd Street in Midwood, Brooklyn, near Foster Avenue and Farragut Road. This is where Vera stayed when she came over from Italy — a child walking into an unfamiliar country, taken in by her aunt and uncle and raised as their own.
Eleanora Penna
née Passalia · b. Jun 16, 1900 d. Jun 13, 1998 Alberto Passalia’s sister
Antonino Penna
b. Dec 24, 1902 d. Jan 3, 1979 · White Plains, NY Age 76
Antonino died on January 3, 1979 in White Plains, New York, at age 76. After his death, Eleanora moved to the Westchester area — Mt. Kisco and Bedford Hills — where she lived until her own death on June 13, 1998, just three days before her 98th birthday.
The older Antonino Penna Sr. (born ~1868) — likely the father — made three trips from Catona to the United States: in 1904, 1912, and 1923. Family understanding is that they were deported twice and kept coming back. Angela (or Angelina) Penna (born ~1882), who arrived in 1909 with infant daughter Francesca, is believed to be the mother. The family’s persistence — crossing the Atlantic three times despite being sent back — is its own kind of immigrant story.
The Trades
In Pietraperzia, trades passed through families. Filippo Arcadipane became a shoemaker and passed the trade to his son Cosimo — though Filippo's own father (also named Cosimo) had been a farmer. On the Di Dio side, Antonino was a barber. These were artisan trades — a step above the landless laborers who worked the wheat estates, but not wealthy. You had a shop, tools, and customers. It was enough to live on in Sicily, but not enough to build on — which is why they left.
A tenement sweatshop on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, c. 1889 — the kind of cramped workshop immigrant tradesmen knew well.
Photo: Jacob Riis / Library of Congress (Public domain)
Calzolaio
Shoemaker Filippo & Cosimo Jr. Two generations
Barbiere
Barber Antonino Di Dio Maria's father
Contadino
Farmer Vincenzo Di Dio Maria's grandfather
Cucitrice
Seamstress Maria Calogera Trevigne Maria's grandmother
The Crossing
Ellis Island immigration station, New York Harbor — gateway for millions of immigrants including Cosimo and Maria.
National Photo Company Collection / Library of Congress (Public domain)
A crowded tenement room, c. 1890 — life in the neighborhoods where Cosimo and Maria settled.
Jacob Riis / Museum of the City of New York (Public domain)
Cosimo, 1907
Cosimo Arcadipane left Pietraperzia at 23 years old. He sailed aboard the SS Algeria from Palermo, arriving at Ellis Island on June 3, 1907. He settled in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan — 413 West 40th Street — and continued his trade as a shoemaker.
Maria, 1911
Maria Calogera Di Dio crossed alone at thirteen years old. She sailed on the SS Sant'Anna from Naples, arriving November 28, 1911. Her father Antonino had died when she was an infant. The ship manifest listed her destination as her mother, Rosaria Carieri, at 229 Elizabeth Street — the heart of Manhattan's Sicilian enclave.
The SS Sant’Anna, the Fabre Line steamship that carried thirteen-year-old Maria Calogera from Naples to New York in 1911.
George Grantham Bain Collection / Library of Congress (Public domain)
One year after arriving alone at 13, Maria married Cosimo at NYC City Hall. She was 14. He was 28. It was December 18, 1912. Civil ceremony, Certificate #30838.
Rosaria, before 1911
Maria's mother Rosaria Carieri must have emigrated before November 1911 — she was already living at 229 Elizabeth Street when Maria arrived. Her ship and exact date are unknown, but she made the journey first and then sent for her daughter.
Immigrants at Ellis Island, c. 1907 — Cosimo would have been among crowds like these, waiting to enter America.
George Grantham Bain Collection / Library of Congress (Public domain)
Timeline
1849
Filippo Arcadipane born in Pietraperzia. His father Cosimo is a farmer.
1871
Antonino Di Dio born. His father Vincenzo is a farmer.
1881
Filippo marries Maria Filippa Maimone at Santa Maria Maggiore parish.
1884
Cosimo Arcadipane born — named for his grandfather, following tradition.
1896
Antonino Di Dio marries Rosaria Carieri. He's a barber, age 25.
1898
Maria Calogera Di Dio born. Her father Antonino dies the same year, at 27.
1907
Cosimo arrives at Ellis Island aboard the SS Algeria. Age 23, single, shoemaker.
1911
Maria arrives at Ellis Island aboard the SS Sant'Anna. Age 13, alone.
1912
Cosimo and Maria marry at NYC City Hall. He's 28, she's 14.
1914
Phillip Salvatore Arcadipane born in New York City.
1917
Carmela DelMastro born February 22 in Brooklyn. Daughter of Gaetano Delmastro (NYC Parks Dept.) and Emilia Festa, a family from the Naples area.
1941
Saveria “Vera” Passalia born December 3 in Santa Caterina dello Ionio, Calabria — where her father Alberto was posted for railroad work. Baptized at Parrocchia di S. Giovanni Battista, Acconia.
1942
Anthony Cosmo Arcadipane born in Brooklyn (Kings County).
c. 1945
Marianne Arcadipane born December 30 in Brooklyn — daughter of Phillip Salvatore and Carmela. She will keep the original Arcadipane surname and later marry Todar. She taught art at FDR High School in Brooklyn.
c. 1950
Vera Passalia emigrates to the United States by herself at age nine — a child traveling alone from post-war Calabria to America. She is taken in by her aunt and uncle, Eleanora and Antonino Penna, at their home on East 23rd Street in Midwood, Brooklyn. They become her family — and later, Tony’s grandma and grandpa. After Vera’s departure, Alberto relocates from Calabria to Varazze, Liguria.
1962
Cosimo dies. Buried at Saint Charles Cemetery, East Farmingdale, Long Island.
1969
Antony Cosmo Arcadipane legally changes the family surname to Arcadi, and his first name from Anthony to Antony.
1979
Antonino Penna dies January 3 in White Plains, NY, at age 76. Buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
1980
Maria dies at 82. Buried in the same plot as Cosimo — together again after 18 years.
2001
Phillip Salvatore dies in Brooklyn on December 29, at age 87.
2002
Antony Cosmo Arcadi dies on March 2, at age 59 — just over two months after his father.
2006
Carmela DelMastro Arcadipane dies on March 25, at age 89. Buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park, East Farmingdale.
1998
Eleanora Penna dies June 13, three days before her 98th birthday, in the Mt. Kisco/Bedford Hills area. Buried at Green-Wood Cemetery alongside Antonino.
The Arcadipane Siblings
Cosimo and Maria had a large family. Besides Phillip Salvatore, who continues the direct line above, they had at least four other confirmed children — and possibly more. These are Phillip's brothers and sisters, Tony's great-aunts and great-uncles.
Confirmed by family
Anthony
b. Feb 2, 1920, d. Apr 13, 2002 Armed forces · Billings, MT Estranged from family
Serafina “Sally” Gianeri
née Arcadipane · married Al Gianeri Valley Stream, Long Island
Fannie
Possibly “Emma Arcadipane” b. Mar 10, 1907 in records
Phyllis Puccio
née Arcadipane · married Philip Puccio Bensonhurst → Staten Island · Deceased
In Social Security records, not yet confirmed
Carmela
b. Feb 1917, NYC
Ralph
b. Jul 1922, Brooklyn
Beatrice
b. Mar 1923, NYC
Serafina (“Sally”) married Al Gianeri and lived in Valley Stream, Long Island. Phyllis married Philip Puccio and lived in Bensonhurst (1468 West 8th Street) before moving to Staten Island (436 Atlantic Avenue); her relatives include Dennis Puccio and Annette Frevola. Anthony served in the armed forces and spent his later years in Billings, Montana, estranged from the family. Fannie may correspond to “Emma Arcadipane” (b. March 10, 1907) found in public records.
Neither Serafina nor Phyllis appears in the Social Security records search — they likely filed under their married names. A woman named Sadie Arcadipane (b. 1918, d. 1979) also appears in the NUMIDENT death files; her relationship to the family is unclear.
The DelMastro & Festa Families
Tony’s paternal grandmother, Carmela DelMastro, was born February 22, 1917 in Brooklyn. She married Phillip Salvatore Arcadipane and raised their children — Antony Cosmo and Marianne — in Brooklyn.
Carmela’s parents were Gaetano Delmastro, who worked for the NYC Parks Department, and Emilia Festa. The Delmastro and Festa families came from the Naples area of Campania.
According to the 1920 U.S. Census, the Delmastro household in Brooklyn included several children. The family had six children in total — two brothers, three sisters, and Carmela — though not all names have been confirmed. The children identified so far:
Filomena Delmastro
b. ~1913
Giovanni Delmastro
b. ~1915
Carmela Delmastro
b. Feb 22, 1917, Brooklyn Married Phillip Arcadipane
Angelina “Angie” Delmastro
b. ~1920 Married Nick Covotsos
Two additional siblings
Names not yet confirmed (6 children total per family knowledge)
Carmela died on March 25, 2006 and is buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park in East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York — not far from Saint Charles Cemetery, where her in-laws Cosimo and Maria rest.
Where They Rest
Cosimo and Maria are buried together at Saint Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York — Section 32, Row W, Grave 108. Cosimo was interred on June 12, 1962. Mary joined him on April 30, 1980.
Carmela DelMastro Arcadipane (Feb 22, 1917 – Mar 25, 2006) is buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park, also in East Farmingdale, Suffolk County. Two generations of the family rest within a few miles of each other on Long Island.
Phillip Salvatore lived his final years in Brooklyn, ZIP 11236 (Canarsie/Mill Basin area), and died December 29, 2001.
Antony Cosmo Arcadi died March 2, 2002, at age 59 — just over two months after his father Phillip.
Eleanora and Antonino Penna — the aunt and uncle who raised Vera, and functionally Tony’s grandparents — are buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, Lot 41086, Section 121. Antonino was interred in 1979; Eleanora joined him in 1998. Green-Wood, founded in 1838, is a National Historic Landmark.
The Places
From a hilltop in central Sicily and the Calabrian coast — Catona at the Strait of Messina, Santa Caterina on the Ionian Sea — to the Ligurian Riviera, to the tenements of lower Manhattan and the streets of Brooklyn — these are the places that shaped the family story. Click any marker on the map for details, or explore each location in Google Street View below.
This page is a work in progress. Research is ongoing using free federal databases (NARA, Ellis Island, FindAGrave, Social Security records) and Italian civil records obtained from the State Archive of Enna through genealogist Marcello D'Aleo.
Open questions
NYC death certificates for Cosimo and Mary — these would provide exact addresses and causes of death. Census records from 1920 and 1930 are linked on FindAGrave but behind the Ancestry.com paywall. Rosaria Carieri’s immigration record — her ship and exact date are still unknown.
The Passalia family (Tony’s maternal line) is taking shape: Vera’s mother Carmela Lugarà died (date unknown), and Alberto remarried — making Silvana a half-sister while Lina is Vera’s full sister. Vera emigrated alone at age nine (~1950) and was raised by her aunt and uncle, Eleanora (née Passalia) and Antonino Penna, in Midwood, Brooklyn. Alberto later relocated to Varazze, Liguria. The Penna family is from Catona, Calabria (now part of Reggio Calabria), which helps confirm the Passalia family’s connection to the Reggio Calabria area. Immigration details for Vera’s solo crossing — the ship and exact date — remain unknown. The Delmastro/Festa families (Tony’s paternal grandmother’s side) came from the Naples area — more specific origins and two of Carmela Delmastro’s six siblings remain unidentified.
Carmela, Ralph, and Beatrice appear in SSA records with the Arcadipane surname but have not been confirmed by family. Sadie Arcadipane’s relationship to the family is unclear. Anthony’s NUMIDENT record (SSN 098-09-6075, b. Jul 18, 1918, d. March 1970) may be a different person from the Anthony validated via public records (b. Feb 2, 1920, d. Apr 13, 2002, Billings, MT).
Antony Cosmo’s death date of March 2, 2002 is from family knowledge and has not yet been verified against public records.
Source Documents
Original civil records from the State Archive of Enna, obtained through genealogist Marcello D’Aleo, plus ship manifests from NARA and the NYC marriage certificate. Click any thumbnail to view the full document.
