As Italian Americans, many of us wonder about the family that our immigrant ancestors left behind in Italy. Do we have cousins there? Are they alive and well? Would they want to connect with us? Lisa Sciandra had exactly those questions—and after decades of searching, she found her answers. Hear about her journey from finding clues in her grandmother’s home about her Italian cousins, to finding those cousins through social media, to their joyful reunion in Italy in April 2023. There, Lisa was privileged to connect with over 50 relatives, who opened their hearts and homes to her. She also visited her ancestral villages in Sicily, where she walked the streets that her ancestors once walked and got a first-hand look at 19th-century church and civic records. Lisa will share photos and stories from this Italian-American dream come true and will present strategies for finding relatives in Italy.