In 1927, Carol Sicbaldi’s grandfather, a man named Pietro Sicbaldi, was born in a tiny village called Villaromagnano (AL) in Piedmont, Italy. One of seventeen siblings, he immigrated to America with his cousin. The Land of Golden Dreams and Opportunity.
They worked the fields for years until Pietro saved up enough money to buy a large piece of property and start a fruit tree farm. This is what he knew best. Little did he know that this was the beginning of a family business that would thrive on through three generations.
Pietro met Cesarina, in the mid 1920s at a social club dance for immigrants. They fell in love, married and had three children – all of whom worked on the family fruit farm.
Today, Carol’s eldest brother Michael continues to carry the farm forward, managing a garden center and floral shop.
Carol is one of 14 grandchildren. Her insatiable curiosity for travel and discovering the world and languages brought her across the globe and finally to Italy to perfect her ancestor’s mother tongue and to meet Pietro’s remaining relatives; her first, second and third cousins. Her first casa away from casa remains in that very same village, Villaromagnano, where Nonno Pietro was born.
Carol’s combined love of sport, food, wine and Italy lead to her guiding walking and bicycle tours up and down the Italian peninsula from 1993-2000, when she moved permanently to Italy. For almost two decades now, Carol has created, designed, and guided active foodie trips working closely with a range of professional Italian chefs, wine producers, farmers, sommeliers and other industry experts.