The meaning of this overturned heart
Something about my family
Giannò, seu Jannò, seu Iannò, Counts of Cartulano-Mori and Zenata Ben Asciur, old family of Spanish stock transferred to Sicily at Aragonese domination time.
In the13th century some members distinguished themselves so much in the St.Louis luckless crusades that the family was authorized to put the overturned heart in the coat of arms as sign of suffering.
At about the same time, Enrico and Riccardo took bravery part in the Ponza naval battle with Ruggero di Lauria in the year 1300, where they were unfortunately made prisoners.
Among others are remembered Nicolò, Captain of Justice in Catania (1400); Ubertino, Justice of Magna Curia, Ambassador and Archbishop of Palermo (1500); Lorenzo and Francesco are annotated in the Mollica's Mastra Nobile (6th and 14th list, years 1502/1600); Giovanni was member of the Palermo Senate (1591-92); Giacomo was Great Court Tribunal's judge in 1609; another Giovanni was Palermo's Pawnshop Governor in (1700-02); Paolo was invested with the baronage in 1731; Onofrio Jannò Ernandes-Arias got a marquisate title in 1751.
To cut short the story, the family agreed with Garibaldi in the Sicily freeing (1860).
My grand-father, Giuseppe Giannò, Doctor in Economics and Colonial Sciences, Driver's Captain and decorated with Red Cross gold medal, moved to Tripoli-Libya in 1916 as the General Manager of Banco di Sicilia and became a pioneer in the agrarian land reclamation.
My father, Rodrigo, took his Law degree with full marks and honours when he was 21; he was knighted commander as he was only 31 years old.
... and something about myself
I was born in Tripoli on the 19th of june in 1941, when Libya was an Italian colony; I lived there even under the English post-war administration and during monarchy's time, till 1969. According to statistics, Libya was considered in 1950 one of the poorest countries in the world and till 1960 the main resources were agriciltural; oil fields were discovered only later and went into production after a while, gradually increasing.
After the General Certificate of Education I attended the Universities in Rome & Milano; in the meantime I had different experiences in family business enterprises and jounalism.
On September 1st 1969 the "Mr." Gheddafi revolution broke out and a few months later, by simple reason of my nationality, I was victim of his great robbery. I lost everything: private enterprises, house, cars, money and I was forced to repatriate naked as a new-born babe in Italy.
And Italy showed itself as an ungrateful Country; it denied medical assistance when may wife was in labour; it broke many of its promises, endless retarding indemnity payments: up to now (27 years later) it has not payed me the trade of my activities.
But little by little hard times were over and now everything seems to go better. At the moment I work as Credit Manager in a Bank; I am a professional journalist too; I personally care my little farm in Umbria where I mean to transfer lock, stock and barrel as I'll be a pensioner.
I am happily married with a sweet Swiss woman, Ebba Dagmar Schneider; we have two good daughters and one son. Valeria, the eldest one, took her medicine degree with full marks and honours and is now specializing herself in Immunology; Susanna is an artist; she studied her performing harp degree at Conservatorio di Musica "L.Cherubini", Florence, Italy. Wolfgang, the youngest of our children, is ready to be a university student.
My hobbies? Sports, fishing and Internet, of course.
Bye
Antonio Giannò
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Copyright © 1996 Antonio Giannò
This Home Page was created Wednesday 24 July 1996
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