The Falco Archive
Where this family went, and who went with them

The Lines

Seven generations never left Arienzo. Then, inside a single lifetime, the line moved four times and crossed the world. This is that movement — and, beneath it, the other Falco of the same parish and the same street whom no record joins to it.

Where this family lived, in the order they lived there — and which other families joined them, and which never did Families that married in, and brought a new town with them San Felice a Cancello — Morgillo, joins the line at generation 4 San Felice a Cancello Morgillo Angela Rosa Morgillo joins at gen 4 · 7 km west Forchia — Annecchino, joins the line at generation 7 Forchia Annecchino Filomena Annecchino joins at gen 7 · 5 km north-east Arpaia — Zampiello, joins the line at generation 8 Arpaia Zampiello Francesca Zampiello joins at gen 8 · 4 km north, across into Benevento The Annecchino tributary and the Forchia stop are the same town the same town ARIENZO — seven generations, 1767 to 1901 most of it on one street: strada Camellara Generation 1: Matteo Falco, by c. 1735 1 Generation 2: Pasquale Falco, 24 Oct 1767 2 Generation 3: Vincenzo Falco, 1 Feb 1792 3 Generation 4: Raffaele Falco, 10 May 1818 4 Generation 5: Carmine Antonio Falco, 10 Jul 1850 5 Generation 6: Raffaele Falco, 6 Apr 1873 6 Generation 7: Carminantonio Falco, 11 Jan 1901 7 Crisci — married in at Arienzo Crisci Rivetti — married in at Arienzo Rivetti Crisci — married in at Arienzo Crisci Arricole — married in at Arienzo Arricole Maione — married in at Arienzo Maione 1 Matteo Falco by c. 1735 2 Pasquale Falco 24 Oct 1767 3 Vincenzo Falco 1 Feb 1792 4 Raffaele Falco 10 May 1818 5 Carmine Antonio Falco 10 Jul 1850 6 Raffaele Falco 6 Apr 1873 7 Carminantonio Falco 11 Jan 1901 WHO WAS BORN HERE Forchia, 1930 Forchia 1930 Benevento BORN HERE 8 · Carmine Falco 8 Jun 1930 Benevento, 1955 Benevento 1955 where they married LIVING 9 · Giuseppina Falco living — named only Brisbane, 1964 Brisbane 1964 Queensland · Nudgee ARRIVED Carmine & Francesca arrived 26 Mar 1964 Falco who lived on the same ground and are NOT joined to this line Four Falco households on strada Camellara Michelangelo Falco — PROVED KIN Michelangelo Falco — PROVED KIN Michele · Francesco · a second Michele — NOT joined Michele · Francesco · a second Michele — NOT joined The wider family → Out of Paolisi — the oldest Falco claim Francesco Falco, Paolisi 1714 → Arienzo 1726 — NOT joined Francesco Falco, Paolisi 1714 → Arienzo 1726 — NOT joined Open questions → The gentry Falco of Arienzo Don Francesco Falco, proprietario · Donna Raffaela, nun — NOT joined Don Francesco Falco, proprietario · Donna Raffaela, nun — NOT joined The registers →
Click or tab any dot — the place, the person, and what the document behind it says.
The red channel is the movement of this line through places, and the names beneath each place are the people born there. Seven generations never left Arienzo; the last three moves happened inside fifty years. The three families above the channel each married in and brought a new town with them — the Annecchino tributary and the next stop on the spine are the same town, Forchia, which is the whole reason generation eight was born there. The Zampiello are drawn joining, not running alongside, because they are this family from generation eight onward. Below the rule are the Falco who lived on the same street and in the same parish and whom no record joins to this line — one household excepted, and the gaps are drawn deliberately.

Generation nine is living, and this diagram got that wrong on the day it was built. Its first version printed her full date of birth under the heading BORN HERE. The rule on this site is that living people are named and nothing more — no date, no place, no detail — and this archive has now broken it with that same date three times.

So the fix is not a corrected string. The figure now checks every date it is about to print against the person graph and prints «living — named only» instead if the person is alive, whatever the data behind it says. The 1955 beside Benevento is generation eight's marriage year — a fact about two people who have died. Corrections →

How to read the diagram

The spine is places, not names. Names hang beneath the place they belong to. A family drawn above the channel married into the line and brought a new town with it — and there are only three: the Morgillo of San Felice a Cancello at generation four, the Annecchino of Forchia at generation seven, and the Zampiello of Arpaia at generation eight. The families marked in ochre on the channel — Crisci, Rivetti, Arricole, Maione — married in without moving anyone, because the bride was already of Arienzo.

Forchia appears twice and is the same town both times. That is the causal hinge of the whole geography: Carminantonio Falco married Filomena Annecchino, the Annecchino were of Forchia, and so his son was born there in 1930. Seven generations had not moved; a marriage moved them.

The Zampiello are not a parallel family and are no longer drawn as one. An earlier version of this diagram ran them alongside the line as a separate stream. Francesca Zampiello married Carmine Falco at Benevento in 1955 and sailed with him in 1964 — from generation eight onward they are this family. The same version omitted San Felice a Cancello and Forchia altogether, and used one visual grammar for places, for people and once for a ship. Corrections →

The rule this page follows

A shared surname in one small town is suggestive and not evidence. Two Falco households on the same street may be brothers, cousins, or unrelated men who happen to share a common Campanian name. This archive joins two people only when a record says so, and draws everything else apart — even where joining them would make a better story.

What changed in May 1831

Until that register was read, the honest position was that none of the strada Camellara households could be joined to the line. That is no longer quite true.

…sono comparsi Andrea Crisci , di anni cinquantotto, contadino, strada Camellara, vicino della defunta, e Vincenzo Falco , di anni trentotto, contadino, strada Camellara, parente della defunta… — Arienzo, Morti 1831, atto 33, on the death of Anna Falco, thirteen months, daughter of Michelangelo Falco and Mariantonia Vigliotta

The clerk drew the distinction himself: one declarant a neighbour, the other a kinsman. Vincenzo Falco, thirty-eight in 1831, is generation three of this line. So Michelangelo Falco's household is kin — degree unstated. The other three Camellara households remain unjoined. One joined, three not. The wider family →