Oriana Fallaci had Polish ancestors?
The controversial Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who died in September 2006, could trace her family roots back to a Polish aristocrat, claims a Polish-Italian translator.
The well-known translator of Polish literature into Italian, Francesco Cataluccio, has published an article which unravels the family roots of the late Oriana Fallaci, one of the world’s most famous journalists.
In an article in the daily "Il Sole", Cataluccio writes that he was asked by Fallaci to trace her family roots. According to Fallaci, in the middle of the 19th century her great great-grand mother had a baby fathered by a Polish aristocrat who happened to be in Italy in connection with his activities in the independence movement.
At the news of the outbreak of a national insurrection in Poland, he returned to his homeland to take part in the fighting. He promised to his Italian sweetheart that he would return and marry her. However, he was caught by enemy forces and hanged in the Market Square in Krakow.
Fallaci studied the history of Polish insurrections in order to arrive at some information relating to her family history. She asked Francesco Cataluccio for assistance.
One day, to demonstrate the way Poles used to dress in the late 19th century, he showed her a self portrait of the famous Polish playwright and painter Stanisław Wyspiański (1869-1907). Having seen the painting, Fallaci exclaimed: ‘It’s him. It makes my blood boil. His likeness to some of my ancestors is astonishing.’
Source: thenews.pl
29.06.2018
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