Pietraperzia, Sicily → New York City
Five generations from a Sicilian hilltop
to the streets of Brooklyn
Our surname was originally Arcadipane, shortened to Arcadi somewhere along the way in America. The family came from Pietraperzia, a small hilltop town in the Province of Enna, in the interior of Sicily.
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). And Anthony Cosmo carries his grandfather Cosimo's name as his middle name.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Phillip Salvatore lived his final years in Brooklyn, ZIP 11236 (Canarsie/Mill Basin area), and died December 29, 2001.
Phillip Salvatore was not the only child of Cosimo and Maria Calogera. Records confirm at least four siblings, though the full household likely included more.
Phillip likely had additional siblings. Social Security records show several Arcadipanes born in New York between 1917 and 1923. The 1920, 1930, and 1940 federal census records for the Arcadipane household would confirm the complete sibling set, but these images remain behind the Ancestry.com paywall.
Tony’s mother, Saveria “Vera” Passalia, was born December 3, 1941 in Santa Caterina dello Ionio, Calabria — but the family was not from there. Her father Alberto Passalia was a railroad worker (ferroviere) posted to Santa Caterina. The Passalia family traces to Catona and Gallico, fishing villages on the Strait of Messina in Reggio Calabria province — the toe of the Italian boot.
Alberto was a “replacement child” — the second son given that name after the first Alberto died on February 10, 1911 in Gallico. He was born sometime between 1912 and 1918 to Giuseppe Passalia Sr. and Maria Carmela Crisalli (see “The Crisalli Connection” below).
Alberto’s first wife was Carmela Lugarà, Vera’s mother. After Carmela died, Alberto remarried and had another daughter, Silvana (who married Giusto and has a daughter Elisa). Alberto eventually moved to Varazze, in Liguria, on the Italian Riviera.
Vera emigrated to America alone at nine years old, around 1950. She sailed to Brooklyn and was taken in by her aunt and uncle — Eleanor and Anthony Penna — who became her surrogate parents and, later, Tony’s surrogate grandparents.
Lina Passalia (married Navarria) — Vera’s full sister (same mother, Carmela Lugarà). Son: Maurizio.
Silvana Passalia (married Giusto) — Vera’s half-sister from Alberto’s second marriage. Daughter: Elisa.
When Vera arrived in Brooklyn as a child, she went to live with her father’s sister Eleanor (Elenora) Passalia and Eleanor’s husband Antonino “Anthony” Penna. They lived on East 23rd Street in Midwood, Brooklyn, near Foster Avenue and Farragut Road. The Pennas raised Vera and later became the grandparents Tony knew growing up.
Antonino Penna: born ~1903, died January 3, 1979 in White Plains, NY at age 76.
Eleanor Penna (née Passalia): died ~June 12, 1998, buried June 15, 1998.
Both are buried together at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn — Lot 41086, Section 121.
Vera Passalia arrived in Brooklyn alone at nine years old. The Pennas — her aunt Eleanor and uncle Anthony — raised her as their own. They became the only grandparents Tony would know.
The Passalia surname is essentially a Catona surname — of only 48 Passalia records in all of Italy’s Antenati civil archives, 23 are from Catona and 19 more from nearby towns. Families the Passalias intermarried with in Catona include the Trapani, Crisalli, Gangemi, Cannizzaro, De Caridi, Puntorieri, Bova, Bueti, Cilea, and Fiumano families. The Marra family — also connected to the Passalias — is deeply rooted in Catona as well, with 140 death records and even a street (Via Marra) bearing their name. The family of Don Matteo Marra, parish priest at San Dionigi church in the mid-1800s, was described as “benestante e dignitoso” (well-off and dignified). Forty-seven members of the Marra family died in the catastrophic Messina Strait earthquake of December 28, 1908.
One of the most remarkable discoveries in this research is a family named Crisalli — from Gallico, a fishing village on the Strait of Messina in Reggio Calabria, the toe of the Italian boot. The Crisallis connect to the Arcadi family on both sides: through Tony's paternal grandmother's in-laws (the DelMastros) and through his maternal great-grandmother (the Passalias). And the link traces back to a single couple: Giuseppe Crisalli and Giuseppa Postorino.
Tony's grandfather Phillip Salvatore married Carmela DelMastro. Carmela had a brother, Giovanni "John" Del Mastro, who married Josephine Crisalli — the daughter of Rocco Crisalli (1886–1945), a Calabrese immigrant who settled in Brooklyn.1
Rocco Crisalli died in February 1945. His obituary in the Brooklyn Eagle lists among his surviving family his daughter "Josephine Del Mastro" — confirming the marriage.2
John and Josephine’s son, Rick A. Del Mastro (March 15, 1945, Brooklyn – April 15, 2020, Wainscott), was a towering figure in outdoor advertising and a beloved civic leader on Long Island’s East End. A St. John’s University graduate (class of ’66), Rick rose to President and CEO of Gannett Outdoor and later founded OOH Impact, a consultancy that shaped the modern out-of-home advertising industry. In 2019 he was inducted into the OAAA Hall of Fame.31112 Rick died of COVID-19 at seventy-five. His East Hampton Star obituary confirms his parentage: “Born in Brooklyn on March 15, 1945, to John Del Mastro and the former Josephine Crisalli.” He is survived by his wife Cynthia (née Ciaburri) and daughters Jennifer and Dawn Chruma. In December 2020, Wainscott Green was renamed Rick Del Mastro Memorial Park in his honor.4
A personal footnote: Tony’s wife Mary formerly worked at OOH Impact — Rick’s company — making the Crisalli-DelMastro connection a professional as well as a blood tie.
Tony’s mother, Saveria “Vera” Passalia, came from a Calabrese family. Her father was Alberto Passalia — but Alberto was not the firstborn of that name. The original Alberto, born to Giuseppe Passalia Sr. and Maria Carmela Crisalli in Gallico, Reggio Calabria, died on February 10, 1911 (Antenati record #23655257).5 Under Calabrese naming custom, the next son born after Alberto’s death was given the same name — a “replacement child,” born sometime between 1912 and 1918. That second Alberto became Tony’s maternal grandfather.
Carmela Crisalli's parents, recorded on her death certificate in the Italian state archives, were Giuseppe Crisalli and Giuseppa Postorino.6
The Antenati records reveal a devastating sequence of deaths in the Passalia household during the Spanish Flu pandemic:
30 September 1918 — Giuseppe Passalia Jr., a previously unknown child, dies in Gallico.7
1 January 1919 — Maria Carmela Crisalli, the mother, dies in Gallico (Antenati #23657648). Her death record lists her spouse as Giuseppe Passalia and her parents as Giuseppe Crisalli & Giuseppa Postorino.8
3 January 1919 — Pasquale Giuseppe Paolo Passalia (full name recovered from the record, Antenati #23657652) dies two days after his mother.9
In four months, Giuseppe Passalia Sr. lost son Giuseppe, wife Carmela, and son Pasquale. Only the replacement Alberto — born after the first Alberto’s death in 1911 and named for him per Calabrese tradition — survived. He became Tony’s maternal grandfather.
Here is where the threads converge. Rocco Crisalli’s parents are listed on his Geni.com profile as “Joseph Crisalli and Josephine.”10 Maria Carmela Crisalli’s parents, recorded on her 1919 death certificate, are Giuseppe Crisalli and Giuseppa Postorino.6 Joseph is Giuseppe. Josephine is Giuseppa. Same couple. Rocco and Carmela were siblings.
The Crisalli blood therefore reaches the Arcadi family by two distinct paths:
Through DelMastro: Josephine Crisalli (Rocco’s daughter) married Giovanni “John” Del Mastro — brother of Carmela DelMastro, Tony’s paternal grandmother.
Through Passalia: Maria Carmela Crisalli (Rocco’s sister) married Giuseppe Passalia Sr. — making her the mother of Alberto Passalia, Tony’s maternal grandfather.
This means Vera Passalia (Tony’s mother, Alberto’s daughter) and Josephine Crisalli Del Mastro (Rocco’s daughter, Rick’s mother) were first cousins once removed — a relationship neither side of the family appears to have known.
1 Rocco Crisalli obituary, Brooklyn Eagle, February 1945 (via Newspapers.com). Lists daughter as "Josephine Del Mastro."
2 Rocco Crisalli obituary, Brooklyn Eagle, February 1945 (via Newspapers.com). Confirms Josephine Crisalli married into the Del Mastro family.
3 Rick A. Del Mastro obituary, East Hampton Star, April 23, 2020. Link. “Born in Brooklyn on March 15, 1945, to John Del Mastro and the former Josephine Crisalli.”
4 "Park Plan Becomes Tribute to Late Civic Activist in Wainscott," East Hampton Star, July 2020. Link.
5 Alberto Passalia death record, 10 Feb 1911 (Antenati record #23655257). Italian State Archives, Reggio di Calabria. Search results, page 1.
6 Maria Carmela Crisalli death record, 1 Jan 1919 (Antenati record #23657648). Italian State Archives, Reggio di Calabria. Spouse: Giuseppe Passalia. Parents: Giuseppe Crisalli & Giuseppa Postorino. Search results, page 2.
7 Giuseppe Passalia Jr. death record, 30 Sept 1918. Antenati, Reggio di Calabria. Search results, page 1.
8 Maria Carmela Crisalli death record, 1 Jan 1919 (Antenati record #23657648). Italian State Archives, Reggio di Calabria. Search results, page 2.
9 Pasquale Giuseppe Paolo Passalia death record (full name recovered), 3 Jan 1919 (Antenati record #23657652). Italian State Archives, Reggio di Calabria. Search results, page 2.
10 Rocco Crisalli profile, Geni.com. Parents listed as “Joseph Crisalli and Josephine.” Profile link.
11 “In Memory of Rick Del Mastro,” OOH Today. Link.
12 “A Tribute to Rick Del Mastro,” OAAA Special Reports. Link.
13 Sarina Giarnieri obituary, Newsday via Legacy.com. Died August 13, 2015, Valley Stream, NY. Lists husband Alfonso, children, grandchildren, and funeral arrangements.
14 Alfonso J. Giarnieri, FindAGrave Memorial #160090414. Saint Charles Cemetery, East Farmingdale, NY — Section 49, Row H, Grave 90.
15 Joseph Arcadipane Giarnieri, Facebook profile. Full name confirms the Arcadipane–Giarnieri connection.
16 Property records, 30 Spruce Lane, Valley Stream, NY 11581.
This page is a work in progress. Research is ongoing using free federal databases (NARA, Ellis Island, FindAGrave, Social Security records), Italian civil records obtained from the State Archive of Enna through genealogist Marcello D'Aleo, and the Antenati portal of the Italian Ministry of Culture.
The Passalia maternal line — Vera’s journey from Calabria to Brooklyn, the Penna surrogate grandparents, and the Passalia roots in Catona. Four of Phillip’s siblings have been identified: Anthony, Fannie, Phyllis Puccio, and — now fully documented — Sarina “Sally” Giarnieri (née Arcadipane), whose obituary, husband’s grave, property records, and descendants have all been confirmed.1314
Phillip Salvatore married Carmela DelMastro — confirmed through federal SS-5 records listing her as Anthony Cosmo’s mother. The DelMastro family origin is not yet researched. Likely Italian.
The complete sibling set from 1920/1930/1940 census records (behind Ancestry.com paywall). NYC death certificates for Cosimo and Mary. Rosaria Carieri’s immigration record. Carmela Lugarà’s birth and death dates. When and why the name changed from Arcadipane to Arcadi.