Jill Biden recalls her childhood linked to Italian traditions: “I’m proud of my origins”
Jill Biden proud of her Italian roots. The first lady of the United States, wife of President Joe Biden, tells her stories about her childhood memories related to Italy in a video message to Noiaw – National Organization of Italian American Women – the largest association of Italian American women which celebrated the 43rd year of its foundation on Saturday.
The US first lady is indeed Italian American. His ancestors had emigrated from the town of Gesso, in Sicily. They were called Giacoppo, or Giacobbo, but once they arrived in the US, their surname was Americanized into Jacobs. Jill Jacobs Biden, however, has not forgotten her origins, thanks to the afternoons spent with her grandparents. “There my grandmother’s house – he says – it was old and well furnished over the years, but I never had to worry about not putting my feet on the sofa or leaving fingerprints on the windows. I had to be only myself when my family passed by every week.end in southern New Jersey and I woke up to the scent of freshly baked Italian bread“.
“I loved – continues Jill – seeing her making pasta by hand, with her apron on, her hands full of flour, the scent of basil and fresh tomato that flooded the house from the garden. In the days when he made the sauce, I was fascinated by the musical way he scolded my grandfather in Italian, when he left the fish to dry on the radiator in the back of the house, when he returned from fishing. And when she hugged me, and everything in that moment seemed perfect. His home was love, laughter and family“.
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