Museo del Cognome emerged in 2012 in Padula, in the province of Salerno, in the Campania region.
The Museo del Cognome (Surname Museum), located in the small town of Padula, in southern Italy, has invented a curious and fun way of telling the story of families of Italian origin: comic books.
Named “Fumetto Genealogico” (“Genealogical Comic”), the project was created by the museum’s founder and director, Michele Cartusciello, in partnership with cartoonist Emanuele Sabatino. The objective is to bring the public closer to their own origins and create a kind of “souvenir album” based on genealogical research.
The “pilot” comic was based on Cartusciello's own family and serves to show the final result of the work to interested parties. “I did it with data from my family, but to show how it works”, explains the museum director.
To order a “magazine”, simply place the order and send your family tree to the museum. Cartusciello will carry out historical research regarding the surname and the evolution of customs over the years to create the drawings. “Some pages are fixed, like those where I explain what the museum is, where it is”, he says, “and some are invented, but always with historical references”.
The “Fumetto Genealogico” project was presented by the director at four conferences in Brazil, the first of which was in São Paulo, at the Circolo Italiano. The event was promoted by the Brazilian Association of History and Genealogy (Asbrap).
The others will be in Rio de Janeiro (09/11), held by the Brazilian College of Genealogy (CBG); in Belo Horizonte (19/11), by the Historical and Geographical Institute of Minas Gerais (IHGMG); and in Porto Alegre (22/11), by the Genealogy Center in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. In his lectures, the director will also talk about genealogical tourism and citizenship applications, topics that are very dear to the millions of Italian descendants who reside in Brazil. The Museo del Cognome emerged in 2012, when Cartusciello decided to close a restaurant to focus on genealogical research. The attraction is open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 13pm and from 16pm to 19pm, and its website even has a Portuguese version.
Padula is a small town of 5,5 inhabitants located in the province of Salerno, in the Campania region, and is about three hours by train from Naples. (ANSA)
Lucas Rizzi/Ansa Agency
