US First Lady Jill Biden Searches For Her Italian Roots

ROME, Dec 5 (Bernama-dpa) -- During a visit to Sicily, US First Lady Jill Biden searched for her Italian roots, the German news agency dpa reported.

Together with her daughter Ashley, the first lady visited the small hometown of her great-grandparents, Gesso, in the north-east of the island of Sicily.

"More than a hundred years ago, my great-grandparents, Gaetano and Conchetta Giacoppa, walked the narrow streets of Gesso. They talked with their neighbours and watched the stars wander out at night," said Jill at a ceremony hosted by Messina Mayor Federico Basile on Wednesday.

"My great-grandparents said goodbye to Gesso and set sail with hope in their hearts. But they never could have predicted that within three generations, their great-granddaughter would be back in Gesso, standing before you, as the first Italian American First Lady of the United States."

In the community of 600 near Messina, the first lady visited the village church where her great-grandmother was baptised in 1865.

As young people, Jill’s great-grandparents decided to emigrate to the United States. "Step by step, my great-grandparents built a life. Their last name, 'Giacoppa', became Jacobs," she told attendees.

But they never forgot the values of their childhood and youth in Sicily, she said.

"As first lady, I've brought the vibrant Italian American community together to celebrate our culture and sustain our traditions. I've even had the opportunity to serve gnocchi and braciole in the White House!"

Being in the hometown of her great-grandparents fills her with warmth, Jill said. At the end of her visit, she presented the Gesso community with an American holly, the symbolic tree of the US state of Delaware, where she will return with her husband, US President Joe Biden, once his term ends on January 20.

-- BERNAMA-dpa