ABOUT US

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ABOUT

EGIZIA

OUR VALUES

Everyone has a story. Every story matters.

Nicole Wedemeyer Miller(librarian, family historian)

"THE STORY ENDS UP BEING A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY"

Elijah Wood

THE LEGEND OF EGIZIA

A story of discovery, diversity and division

My name is Barbara and I am the "storyteller of the tribe". Egizia is the story of my family. Egizia is my story.

Egizia stands for Egypt. And the patron saint of Alexandria. Egizia is a female name used in my family. Egizia is Italian. Egizia is the legacy of the clan. Egizia is history. Egizia is a mosaic of people related to one another, with different hopes, different beliefs and different origins yet united. Egizia is a puzzle, its pieces dispersed all over the world.

Egizia is the story that matters, my story. Egizia is the story I have to tell.

VALUES & MISSION

Entangling a manifold legacy to get to the roots of the family structure

When Jimmy Carter says, "we become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams," he may have been talking about Egizia. Egizia is a mosaic, a mélange of sparkling and glittering tiles, made up of men and women from all over. Town dwellers and farmers, barbers and merchants, protestants, jews and catholics, dreamers and realistists, pessimists and optimists, the brave and the hesitant, those full of hope and those left without.

It is our mission to search for these precious fragments, these invaluable morsels, which, when pieced together will reveal the portrait of Egizia in all its splendour.

Family lore will lead us to the excavation sites, where the pieces of our family mosaic lie, covered by the dust of centuries, waiting to being restored to their former loveliness.

SEEING IS BELIEVING

We shall not let ourselves be blended by obscure family myths, rather, we shall focus on discovering the truth behind the tales.We recognise and respect the guidelines set by law and common genealogical practice. We attempt to verify the facts, but are aware, that some things will remain buried in the dark, when documents are missing or unattainable.

FIGURING THE FACTS

We aren't interesting in collating data in order to create the "bilgiest" tree ever. We are interested in the whole story behind.

GIVE AND TAKE

We like to share but refuse to speculate. If you are related, we would like to invite you to become a part of the online Egizia clan. We will be happy to contribute to your research if you would like to participate in ours.

STUFF I LOVE TO DO

Going back to the past is fun. So are activities in the present ...

PICTURING THE WORLD

Photography is my biggest hobby. I have been taking pictures since university when I enrolled in the summer school of a renown photography college in New York. My first camera was an analog Minolta SLR with a 50mm/1.4 lens, which my father bought me on a business trip in Japan for my 21st birthday. I like capturing landscapes and city scenes. I search undetected details and expermiment with light. I particularly enjoy employing the "painting photography technique", which abstracts the obvious into a piece of art ...

COOKING WITH CREATIVITY

My interest in cooking goes back to my childhood and a brave mother. One of my mother's legacies was to teach to set high standards and tackle them without any fear. I learned how to poach eggs, years before I fried one. I began my cooking career with Sauce Bolognese, homemade Mayonnaise and Crespini, which we called Canelloni. Today I enjoy replicating regional dishes encountered on my travels or introducing new ingredients to old recipes.

HITTING THE ROAD

Travelling is in my blood. My ancestors travelled to foreign destinations in times most people wouldn't venture beyond a 5km radius. Travelling combines my love of photography with my love of food. I enjoy experiencing different lifestyles and taking in the foreign environment with a good cup of coffee and/or a local treat. I leave no stone unturned at archeological sites and have visited (almost) every church between St. Gallen and Lecce. At home I recapture my memories in elaborate photo books.

MORE SERVICES

MEET EGIZIA

Ut in nulla enim. Phasellus molestie magnanon.

Hermann Wechsler

THE SEARCHER

My dad spent his life searching for another Alexandria, unable to settle for second best.

Dolly Sinnett-Smith

THE BRITISH LADY

My forever British Mum, not quite as English, as she would have liked it ...

Otto Wechsler

WISE AND STOIC

Nonno Otto. Austria-Habsburg to the core. An orphan with sixteen, he lived through many hardships and survived.

Rosaria Borg

THE HAPPY COOK

Nonna Rosa: an Italian Mama. Or was it Maltese? In any case, her life revolved around her family.

James Sinnett Smith

THE SAD ONE

Traumatized by WWI, he never seemed to get a grip on life.

Elisabeth de Mattia

THE ROCK

Granny. No matter what, she would overcome obstacles with her pragmatic and stoic nature.

Hermann Wechsler & Eugenie Engelhardt

THE JEW AND THE LUTHERAN

A mixed marriage in Vienna, Trieste and Alexandria. Both died too young.

Nicola Borg & Giovanna Scerri

MALTESE FROM EGYPT AND SICILIAN FROM MALTA

Maltese history condensed. Second marriage for both. My Nonna the result.

Percy Sinnett Smith & Stéphanie Jorelle

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

The gentlemen from Sheffield and the daughter of a French diplomat - and a questionable background in common.

Francesco de Mattia & Anna Maria Musina

ROMEO AND JULIA FROM TRIESTE

Their families disapproved of the union, so they eloped to Egypt. At 16, family lore remembers ... Ah, these myths!

The family historian must master the art of storytelling. What, after all, is truth without anecdote, history without events, explanation without narration--or yet life itself without a story? Stories are not just the wells from which we drink most deeply but at the same time the golden threads that hold and bind--Ariadne's precious string that leads us through the labyrinth that connects living present and the living past.

JOSEPH A. AMATO American historian and author

LET’S WORK TOGETHER