Roccamorice lies in the mountains of the Abruzzo region of Italy, 550 meters above sea level (about 1,700 feet). The derivation of the name Roccamorice is unknown. Some say it came from connecting two words: rocca and moricci.
Immigrants to the US often refer to Roccamorice by its shorter nickname “La Rocca” or just “La Rocc.”
Known in the United States as Anthony Petrangelo, the patriarch of the Petrangelo family was born Cesidio Antonio Pietrangelo in 1879 in Roccamorice. He married Maria Dinardo, also of Roccamorice, and supported the family as a subsistence farmer in the local hills.
Land owned by the Catholic Church and parceled out to local peasants for use in subsistence farming. This is where Cesidio grew vegetables for his family in the foothills of the mountain about three miles outside of town.
With their first child, Maria, already born, Cesidio left Roccamorice with other men from the village to seek a way to make a living in the new world. He came to the United States and returned to Italy more than once. One of those arrivals was in 1902 as a passenger on the La Touraine, which departed from Naples and arrived in New York. Maria arrived in New York in 1905 via the Cretic, with two small children in tow.
For more about the family history go to: www.petrangelo.com
