“A 15-year-old seamstress dressed as a bride on an autumn day” begins the essay by Shayna Muckerheide, an Italian-American genealogist committed to helping those who, like her, decide to embark on a journey in search of their origins.

“It was breathtaking” he writes, describing the research experience at the Archivio di Stato di Benevento in July 2022. “It was breathtaking to peruse these parchments, page after page. If there were covers, they were made of some animal skin, and all were bound with leather straps. Some had been through fires and floods and neglect…Some had clearly not been reopened since the notary opened and bound them 200 years earlier!”