I arrived in Italy with all the information I had been able to gather, but there were certainly more uncertainties than certainties. In short, I knew that my origins were Ligurian, but from the name of the country that appeared in my great-grandfather’s documents, only a few letters were legible.
Before leaving for the trip, I had contacted several people with the same last name as me, looking for some connection that would help me achieve my goal. One of them was Elsa, with whom I had spoken many times, although I did not know if we were related. It was obvious that I had to get to know her.

I took the bus to Sassello; on the way I met Lucia, a beautiful and chatty lady who was going to the same place as me. With my poor knowledge of Italian I asked her if she knew of a hotel in Sassello. She answered yes, and when we arrived in the village we got off at the same stop. We walked a few steps until we reached a bar; to myself I thought, “Evidently we didn’t understand each other. I was looking for a hotel and we ended up in a bar.” She asked Giuliano (the owner of the bar) if he knew where to rent a room and he added, “This girl is from Argentina, she is looking for her roots. Her last name is ……” automatically, in that bar four people repeated “I am Deprati too!”
Something made me think that, looking for Elsa, I had come to the right place. I went out to walk around the village and it was simply beautiful! As I walked I came to a bridge that, to my surprise, bore my last name. It was as if it had been written somewhere. I had to go to the mountains to start writing my story.

When I called Elsa I realized that and because of language misunderstandings, she did not actually live in Sassello, but in Genoa. So I went back to Genoa and we finally met. She confirmed to me that that bridge in Sassello was related to her family. My story was beginning to be written….

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)