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Napoleon's Eagle Prophecy
By Alfred Lenarciak AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2015 Alfred Lenarciak
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5049-2583-9
CHAPTER 1
The Ferri Estate
Ihave mixed feelings about going there, said Barbara when we took off from Montreal Airport on the way to Rome.
I have been dreaming all my life about that moment and now, when we are on our way to Santa Caterina dello Ionio, in Calabria, in the deep south of Italy, I am wondering what kind of life is awaiting us there.
Chérie, I interrupted her.
We are not going to establish our new life there.
We have a life and home in Montreal, Canada, so we are going only to la tua terra (your land) in order to rebuild a part of the estate you just inherited — only as our vacation place.
Chéri, she stopped my intervention,
I love your pragmatic approach, but for my family, and for all of us from Calabria, it is quite a different story.
You saw all the emotions over the last five years, when we tried to explain our intention of rebuilding Borgo Ferri.
It was extremely difficult for my grandparents and for all the members of the family to sign the notarial deed, which practically left them without roots in their beloved Calabria.
Yes, I interrupted her emotional statement.
Please, our plan is clear. We will not go there to spend time and a lot of money and in the end be a partner with 20 or more members of the family, having their own agendas.
We didn't steal anything from anyone by paying the compensation according to independent valuation.
After all, remember your grandfather's Cosmo statement to everyone, after the signature:
You, Barbara, are the sole owner of the Ferri estate.
You are the last Ferri born there, and I give all my blessings to you, Alfredo, and Massimo.
Let's think positively. We didn't inherit a hidden treasure, although sometimes I have the impression that there is something more there than just burned land and the ruins of the ancient buildings.
It feels like the family transferred to us a huge value buried under those ruins.
Well, sooner or later we will find out, but we definitely won't begin by playing treasure hunters.
We have to, in the first place, establish infrastructure and start to rebuild the main part of the ruined house.
You married a businessman with an engineering background, so believe me, we are not going to spend an unlimited amount of money just to show the family and the people from Santa Caterina that we can rebuild the lost glory.
The Ferri House, or dynasty, already ended, and you are the last one who has the possibility to at least keep its presence in history.
Then, smiling, I took her hands, and holding them firmly I added,
Don't worry, we will succeed in rebuilding at least part of the main castle and establish there a pied-a-terre. Please get some sleep now, because we will be landing in Rome in the morning.
* * *
The first few days we stayed in a hotel in Soverato, which is about 12 km from our Borgo, but later, we rented an apartment in order to be more comfortable.
Once we finished with the notary, lawyers, city planners, and permits authorities, the time came for an architect, an engineer, and a contractor.
With my limited Italian, I had to learn fast in order to understand not only the bureaucracy but also the local culture — and one phrase in particular: non ti preoccupare (don't worry), which was constantly repeated. Hearing that all day from everybody somehow worried me a bit; however, the process become clearer, and we achieved substantial progress.
Two months later, Barbara left for Montreal and came back with our son, Max, as well as her father, Gregorio, who immediately began working with us. That was very welcome help, because it gave me the possibility to continue traveling for my mining investment business.
The work progressed very well, so in ten months we moved into our partially renovated new home.
* * *
Christmas of 1992, in Montreal, was very special for all the Ferri family, and everybody was waiting for what we had brought to show them.
Just after the Vigil Dinner, we presented the slide show, giving a glimpse into the work progress.
On the first slide, the rebuilt part of the castle with the north tower crowned by Aragonian style merles looked almost unreal. This almost new construction, painted in pastels, sitting in the middle of newly planted palm trees with an adjacent, not yet completed large pool was not expected by anyone.
Barbara's father gave an explanation of the future project, which will follow once the reconstruction has been achieved.
Observing the reactions, I had the impression that everybody preferred the nostalgic memories of their ruined estate instead of this upcoming new reality.
This new reconstruction looked more like a mansion of the rich and famous than a small, rural defensive castle, which was mainly used for agricultural purposes and called by locals La Liva.
The only person who applauded our presentation, thanking us for the efforts in bringing back the original form of the castle but, for our needs, including a remodeled interior with a pool and tennis court — was Barbara's grandfather, Cosmo.
Despite of his advanced age at 89, he had a clear mind and a very good memory.
At the end of the discussion, he stood up with visible difficulty, lifted his glass of wine, and looked at all present at the table, saying:
From my hearth and from all of us, I thank you sincerely for all your efforts, and I wish you happiness there.
His voice was strong, but there was complete silence around the Christmas table, so I stood up, thanking him for the wishes and added that it will be several years yet until the reconstruction of Borgo Ferri would be complete. I also added that we did not have the intention to return it to its vocation as an agricultural production business but that we would keep the brands for the wine and olive oil and some other selected products.
I explained also that once the reconstruction was completed, we planned to rebuild the part of the property in the old town as well but that that project would have to wait until the city had decided which part of the old town, destroyed by a devastating fire in 1983, could be rebuilt and inhabited.
Cosmo was following my explanation with careful attention, and then he again lifted his glass, asking everybody to do the same, wishing us much success in our new endeavor.
Suddenly, he looked again at everybody, stood up from his chair at the end of the table, and asked me to follow him to the library. Everybody in the family looked surprised when Cosmo took me with him, alone, and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER 2
Cosmo's Story
Caro Alfredo, Cosmo began in Italian, then continued in French. This is my last Christmas and my last New Year.
Oh, no, grandpa, you have many more years to live, I interrupted him, but he lifted his hand asking me to let him continue.
I will be 90 years old in 1993, so as you see I have lived almost the entire 20th century, more than half of it in Italy, and that was the most destructive time in human history.
You see, I remember the earthquake, which in 1908 destroyed Reggio Calabria, bearing over 100,000 victims, World War I, the Russian Revolution, Mussolini's Fascism, World War II, Stalin, Communism, the Red Brigades, and the mafia's kidnappings.
All these events changed Italy, and especially our Calabria, forever.
The impoverished population, unable to survive under the traditional way of living, massively immigrated to America, and even our family followed that trend.
In our city of Santa Caterina, there was almost five thousand inhabitants, and now, in Paese (historic center) and Marina (seaside), there is only half of that. Sadly, the young population left, looking for better life somewhere else.
Our family had a vast agricultural domain with hundreds of employees, but after World War II, we were unable to maintain that level of employment.
Simply nobody wanted to work to cultivate the land, everybody wanted to become an urban employee of the state.
Please accept my apology for all those inconveniences, and I say that with a great sadness, being ashamed for myself.
I lived the last 40 years of my life together with my family in the comfort of North American standards, talking only about Calabria on every Christmas gathering like today. In this country, I created a mediocre life for my family, and all my children received an ordinary education, raised ordinary families, and led an ordinary life, compared to our previous life in Italy.
No one really embraced an Italian culture or language and did not even have the desire to go back there. Every vacation they are going to Florida, Mexico, or somewhere else instead of Calabria.
There is only one bright star in this grey horizon, Barbara, your wife, my granddaughter.
Of all my grandchildren, she's the only one born in Calabria.
The only one true Ferri and married to a man equal to her, giving me my great grandchild, Massimo, whom today spoke to me in Italian.
Your family gave us the light and hope for the future in the darkness of our family story, which is thousand years old or maybe more.
I am very grateful, that without any hesitation you decided to create a new life for your family in Ferri's estate, according to your requirements. I am happy to see how you think to change the destiny of the place in order to make sense for your family's life there.
However, always, if you want to create the future, you have to know the past.
As you have definitely realized, there is no other Ferri family in the area and you have probably heard the story of my father, who allegedly was an abandoned son of some noble family raised by another family in Santa Caterina.
Today I want to tell you a true story.
* * *
My father, Gregorio, was not born in Santa Caterina in 1866, as is written on his stone in the family chapel, but on September 26th, 1865, on the day of Saint Cosmo and Damiano, in Lucca, Tuscany.
On Palm Sunday, April 4th of 1866, the Giannini family brought him to Santa Caterina dello Ionio on the last request of his mother, Yolande Ferri, who died just after giving birth to the child.
You can understand now, why my name is Cosmo, and my brother was Damiano.
I was listening to this old man speaking with a clear voice and looking at me with sparks in his eyes.
He was old but in good physical condition, giving an impression of much younger person, despite his difficulties in walking.
White, thin hair and a mustache and light skin gave him an old, noble style. He did speak with a little sadness in his voice, making typical Italian gestures with his hands.
I didn't interrupt him at any point, trying to understand the message which he wanted to communicate to me.
My father, he continued, taking a little sip of water,
He was baptized Gregorio in Santa Caterina church in Lucca on November 25th, 1865, the day of Santa Caterina d'Alexandria, the same saint patron as in our village in Calabria.
His mother was Yolande Ferri and his father was Jean Laurent Durand Viscount de Villers.
His mother was part of the House of Ferri from Lorraine, which is very old and noble.
In this family, the women had always very prominent roles: there was a queen of France, many princesses, a saint, and even a French prime minister in the late 19th century.
As I just mentioned that my grandmother died in the beginning of 1866, a few months after my father was born. My grandfather was twice her age and probably already married in France when they met in Italy. He was a very high-ranking officer in the French Imperial Army under Napoleon III, protecting Pope Pius IX during the siege of Rome from 1861 to 1870.
Remember that Italy was unified in 1861, but Rome did not become the national capital until 1870. Rome and the adjacent region was the Papal State, and the Pope didn't want to join the Italian Kingdom under Vittorio Emanuele II.
The French army protected the Pope until 1870, when during the Prussian-French war Napoleon III collapsed, and Garibaldi stormed Rome, declaring it the capital of a united Italy.
I don't want to go too much into the details, but let me come back to my father.
My father died during Easter time in 1956; that was a sad day in the village, and everybody attended the funeral except my brother, Damiano, who was in America.
Before his death, he took me once to the family chapel in the cemetery, showing me the place where he wanted to be laid after his death, and then showed me a small coffin bearing a child.
This child was Gregorio Ferri, Damiano's first born, who died at the age of two years old.
On that day, my father told me that in that small coffin, under the bones of the child, there is an envelope with a letter explaining some important facts about the family, which I should open after his death.
He passed away later that year, and in the next year, 1957, also my mother.
My daughter, Antonietta, married Francesco, who was living in Canada, and Tina followed her and married Elio.
Barbara's father Gregorio studied in Salerno, and the youngest, Franca, in Soverato.
My wife, Maria, was missing our daughters, so we decided to go to Canada for only a short time, but the next year also my son, Gregorio, came to Montreal to study Philology and later married Lucette, your mother in law, from a French family from Quebec City.
The situation in Calabria was difficult, so we decided to stay longer in Canada, and, as you see, we are all here today after more than 30 years.
All my grandchildren were born in Canada except one, your wife Barbara, although she never lived in Italy because Lucette and Gregorio came back to Canada when she was only six months old.
Somehow, since she was a very young child, her mind and heart were always there, and she always wanted to hear everything about her birthplace, waiting for the day when she would return.
You were the one who fulfilled her dreams, bringing her to Calabria on your honeymoon in 1985, but that was only two years after the terrifying fire which destroyed the whole old town and also our estate. I had a fear that she would never return to Calabria after seeing only destruction and sadness.
You see, nobody ever returned back there, but you saw the beauty and potential of that land, and Barbara never lost the soul of it.
I saw it then and I see it now that you have a destiny in Borgo Ferri, and that was the reason for me to transfer the whole estate to Barbara.
Today I am the happiest man in the world, but I have one confession to tell you.
I never opened the small coffin and never saw the letter, which is supposed to be there.
I understood that the letter was some kind of the instruction to continue the work which my father had begun but did not accomplish, so my brother and I should continue his mission.
My brother was in America, and I was in Canada.
Today I am ashamed that I did not fulfill my father's will and abandoned my patria.
I pray every day for forgiveness, never telling anyone this story, and today I wish for you to know about it.
Whatever you will decide to do about it is absolutely up to you, but I trust that you have great judgment, which will guide you in the future.
I didn't give you any instruction or advice regarding the Borgo Ferri reconstruction, and you exceeded my expectations.
He paused, looking at me probably trying to see my reaction, and so I asked him,
Grandpa, why you are telling me this story?
He looked at me with tears in his eyes and then turned his head to the window, trying to avoid our eyes meeting, and then slowly began.
Alfredo, I should expect that question from you, and I don't have a clear answer, but let me try.
You see, I was too weak to follow in the footsteps of my father and in this little coffin must be a message to continue his mission.
Please grandpa. My question is different.
Why me and not your son Gregorio or one of your sons-in-law, or even your grandson Francesco?
Well, that message was for my brother or me, but we were not capable, nor even had the courage to do anything, so then my son and his son are also incapable of doing anything in Calabria.
All my daughters married men who want to live here in their air conditioned environment and may never return there; besides, none of them is from our village.
I am sorry to be so frank, but I promised Barbara we would rebuild a part of the estate for our needs, and you can imagine, that is a considerable investment.
For equal money we could buy a mansion in Palm Beach and have a fabulous life closer to home in Montreal, but we don't regret our decision, because Borgo Ferri isn't just a house.
Now, by hearing your story, I can imagine that there is much more underneath those ruins. So what should I do? I asked.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Napoleon's Eagle Prophecy by Alfred Lenarciak. Copyright © 2015 Alfred Lenarciak. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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