13/03/2023
THE PATRILINEAR FAMILY TREE OF THE BONGIOVIS
Today marks the birthday of Jon Bon Jovi, stage name of John Francis Bongiovi Jr (Perth Amboy, March 2, 1962), American singer-songwriter, musician and actor, leader of Bon Jovi, a well-known rock group from New Jersey.
Thanks to the State Archives of Agrigento, precisely of Cianciana and Sciacca, we were able to partially reconstruct the history of his family.
HISTORICAL-GENEALOGICAL NOTES
Jon Bon Jovi was born in Perth Amboy (New Jersey), with the name of John Francis Bongiovi Jr, from an American father of Italian origins (his great-grandfather and great-grandmother were born in Cianciana, Agrigento) and Slovakian and from an American mother of German origins and Russian. His mother, Carol Sharkey, was a Pl***oy Bunny (a waitress at the Pl***oy Clubs in the famous uniform), while his father, John Bongiovi, was a barber.
The press has always declared that the town of origin of the Bongiovi is Sciacca: it is partially so. His great-grandfather Giuseppe (1887-1857) was actually born in Cianciana to Luigi (1830-1903), a shoemaker from Sciacca who married Antonina Baiamonte (1854-1905) from Cianciana.
The Bongiovi in Cianciana, descendants of Luigi, were all "solfatari", therefore employed in the solfataras of the Agrigento area, while Luigi was a shoemaker, like the brothers who remained in Sciacca. His father Mastro Domenico (about 1790), as can be seen from the records, was a baker, as was Luigi's grandfather, i.e. Giuseppe (about 1760), who was a miller and baker. A family of humble origins from southern Sicily who never thought they could have a rocker great-grandson!
