In the capital city of Ohio, you can find plenty of “Columbus” references made all around the city, all with connections to Italian-American roots. First and foremost, the city was named after the explorer Christopher Columbus, whose statue, a gift from the citizens of Genoa, Italy to the City of Columbus in 1955, once stood outside City Hall.

Following next are the Columbus Italian Festival, Columbus Italian Club, and Columbus Italian Ancestry Organization (CIAO). Since 1980, the Columbus Italian Festival has served as a gathering place for all to share in the history, culture, and heritage of the Italian-American experience within the capital city.

This year's festival, held October 11-13 over the Columbus Day holiday at the grounds of the historic St. John the Baptist Italian Catholic Church, drew crowds from far and wide, and seemed to exceed expectations.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival was the participation of CIAO, an informal, local genealogy group started by passionate, first-generation Italian-Americans who share roots in the quaint town of Introdacqua, in Abruzzo, Italy. The group is dedicated to preserving the Italian heritage, family stories, immigration journeys, and keeping the Italian legacies alive for generations to come. CIAO’s in-person sessions focus on making connections with fellow Italians interested in genealogy, sharing our own Italian ancestry research, encouraging beginners, and providing support to family history exploration. For the first time, CIAO showcased aspects of genealogy research for tracing your family roots in a booth at this year’s festival. Visitors were captivated by the display of personal family certificates of naturalization, genealogy books, an enlarged ship manifest, and a map of Italy where festival goers proudly pinned the town of their ancestral roots.

The weekend was filled with engaging conversations between a multitude of generations that led to connections of shared roots with relatives still in the old country in the regions of Abruzzo, Puglia, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, and Sicily. Overall, the enthusiasm for CIAO was evident by the growing number of people signing up to join the group. For CIAO, participating in the Columbus Italian Festival made for a perfect marriage.

Many thanks to the board members of the Columbus Italian Festival for allowing CIAO Columbus to participate in this year’s Italian festival.

About the Authors

Ida’s family roots are in Introdacqua, Abruzzo. Rich’s family roots are in Comune di Biccari-Puglia and Santa Caterina dello Ionio-Calabria.