I belong to a private Facebook group called Trentino Genealogy – La Genealogia del Trentino. There are almost 700 people in our group, all with a shared interest in Trentini (Tyrolean) ancestry. Most members are American Trentini (from USA, and some from South American countries) and a few are Italian Trentini.
Many of the Americans have ancestors from the Val di Non and share the same surnames as our grandparents and great-grandparents. I have found a surprising number of people in this group whose ancestors are from Castelfondo and nearby villages in the valley, with some being cousins.
Today one of our members, Michael Pancheri, posted two lovely videos. Michael is fluent in Italian, English and Nones. In the videos he speaks to his mother in English and she, in turn, translates the phrases into Nones. I understand a small amount of Italian, but was completely lost listening to a native speaker of Nones! Even though my Nonno spoke Nones, I was too young to remember anything of the language.
In the videos, you occasionally hear Michael and his mother chatting in Italian between translations. My ear recognized Italian immediately and I could understand some of their in-between conversation. Allora!
I hope you enjoy this little demonstration of our ancestral tongue. Our many thanks to Michael Pancheri for his gracious generosity. Grazie molto Michael!
Correction: Michael just informed me that the gentleman in the video is not him, but actually a professor from the Netherlands who is studying dying languages. He was interviewing Michael and his mother about their native language of Nones.
The Genetti Family Genealogy Project 