I got surprise emails from some Vivoli's in Italy in late 2004. Click to go to their emails:
By searching the internet in the late 90's, I was able to find a bunch of Vivolis around the world. Here is a list of names I found and the background I was able to piece together.
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 | Pietro (& Susan) Vivoli - from Ohio
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| Pete and Julia Vivoli - San Diego
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| Christine Vivoli, San Diego |
| Franco Vivoli - Firenze |
| D Vivoli - MD, Cardiology |
I sent out email to several Vivoli's I found on the Web and got quite a few responses. They actually helped clear up the relationships of many of the Vivoli's above. Here are some of replies:
DAN: I have found a few other Vivoli's on the internet. One concentration lives in Ohio (Pietro, Peter, Ivana???) and another lives in the San Diego area (Jim, Jamey, James...???). Are you related to any or all of these folks?
Actually, yes i am related to both. Jamey is my sister and James/Jim is my uncle. My grandparents are Pete (Pierre) and Julia Vivoli. My grandmother passed away this summer. They have 5 children, 4 boys John (my dad) Jim, David and Bill, and 1 daughter, Mary. They are all married and 3 of them have children of their of own. I myself have 1 older brother, Michael and a younger sister, Jamey. How did you find us? And the odds that we are related are probably pretty good. I will try giving you a call. Funny but I've thinking about moving to the Santa Clara area for work. How old are you? What you've said already doesn't tell me much, since unfortunatley I don't know much about my own family roots. I know my grandparents went to some part of Italy to visit family about year ago, but I don't recall what part. Keep in touch.
Shelley
Hi, Dan... I got your e-mail today asking about our family tree. I am 48 and one of 5 kids; John 52, Mary 40, Bill 39, Dave 35. Our Dad is Pierre (Pete) who was born in New Jersey in 1924. His Dad was Luigi who came here before WWI and went back to Italy to fight in the Italian Army during the War. He returned to the US in about 1922 and had my Dad who was an only child. Luigi came from Florence and/or the surrounding area. So, it sounds unlikely that we're directly related. I was in Florence in 1970 and there were a whole lot of Vivoli's in the phone book. I've heard that there's a Vivoli Ice Cream shop in the Bay Area...any relation to your side??? There's also a Vivoli Ice Cream in Florence which is quite well known. Idon't know if that's related to the Bay area one either. Jamey Vivoli is my niece and she is active on the net so you may have seen her name. Her dad is John who also has e-mail but I don't know his address. Let me know if I can be of further help. Our number is 619-697-4979.
Regards,
Jim
Hi Dan,
It was nice to hear from a fellow Vivoli but I am not so sure we are related. I am related to Pietro and Ivana Vivoli. I am their daughter. My parents divorced about 20 years ago but they both still live in the Columbus area. Both sides of my family are from Italy from a small village called Piancaldoli. It is about halfway between Bologna and Florence. My parents married in 1959 and moved almost immediately to the United States. The rest of my family on both sides still live in Italy. I have two siblings, a brother who lives here in Columbus and a sister who is married that lives in Baltimore,MD. There is a somewhat famous Vivoli family in Florence that you may have heard of, they own the Vivoli Gelateria. They have there own web page but I don't have their address. I have thought about contacting them to see if there is any relation but my father doesn't see to think that we are related. I hope this helps you, feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.
Ally Vivoli
Hello,
My name is Silvana Vivoli. Me and my family run this gelateria since 1929, so I'm the third generation. My family comes from the countryside close 15miles from Florence. But I don't really know anything before 1850. About Vivoli in San Francisco. Many people are been deceived with a false Vivoli. They took our name and try to make gelato. But it's not the same of the real Vivoli. We can't do anything even if Vivoli is a trademark. I hope you understand my english. Thank you and if you have something to say don't hesitate to contact me
Ciao.
Silvana
and a reply to my reply:
and a message from Alberto, her relative. here is the original Italian and the translation:
-----Original Message-----
From:
enrico vivoli [mailto:sirlight@supereva.it]
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2003 1:53 PM
To: Dan Vivoli
Subject: Origine dei Vivoli
Mi scuso se scrivo in italiano. I Vivoli sono originari di Firenzuola, paese a cavallo delle regioni Toscana e Romagna, ta le zona č piena di Vivoli.
Per quanto riguarda la famiglia Vivoli posso riportare sulla sua provenienza quanto scritto sul " DIZIONARIO BIOGRAFICO GEOGRAFICO STORICO DEL COMUNE DI FIRENZUOLA" VOLUME 2° FIRENZE 1914: .............essa era venuta da Padova e circa l'anno 1475 si era stabilta in Rapezzo (nota dello scrivente:frazione del comune di Firenzuola) insieme alla famiglia Barzagli come negozianti di bestiame. Tale č la tradizione della loro casa. Da un contratto da loro conservato apparisce che Eugenio Vivoli l'anno 1485 conduce in sposa Sinforosa Vignoli di Rapezzo. Pare che acquistassero assai roba e bestiame grosso, che accompagnavano essi stessi co' loro pastori in Maremma. Le loro tenute in Maremma erano conosciutissime."
Il libro porta ancora qualche altra notizia su alcuni Vivoli da cui discende la mia famiglia. Io mi chiamo Alberto e sono nipote di Giovanni che era il fratello maggiore di Rodolfo sbarcato in negli Stati Uniti nel 1904.
Saluti ai Vivoli che riusciranno a leggermi
Alberto Vivoli , Firenze 27/12/2003
------------Translation (thanks to my friend Luciano Alibrandi)-----------:
Apologies for writing in Italian.
The Vivoli family has its origin in Fiorenzuola, a village between the region of Tuscany and Romagna, in this area there are lots of Vivolis.
The roots on the origin as described in the “DIZIONARIO BIOGRAFICO GEOGRAFICO STORICO DEL COMUNE DI FIRENZUOLA" VOLUME 2° FIRENZE 1914”, the Vivoli came from Padova around 1475 and settled in Rapezzo (which is in the suburbs of Fiorenzuola), together with the Barzagli family as cattle trader. From a very old contract it looks like Eugenio Vivoli during year 1485 marries Sinforosa Vignuoli of Rapezzo. It looks like they were buyer of cattle and they used to bring the cattle to the Maremma. Their house in Maremma was very well known. The book also talks about some of the Vivoli from which my family comes from.My name is Alberto and I am the nephew of Giovanni who was the older brother of Rodolfo who landed in the United States in 1904.
Hi to all the Vivoli that will be able to read this letter.
Alberto Vivoli, Florence 27/12/2003
