I am a fifth generation Floridian on my maternal grandfather's side of the family and a fourth generation Floridian on my maternal grandmother's side of the family. This is a rare occurrence in Florida. My "American" side of the family dates back to pre-Revolutionary times in Virginia and North Carolina, and I have relatives who fought in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. My family had significant wealth prior to the Civil War after which most of it was lost thus necessitating the move to Florida in the early 1800s.. My paternal grandparents ("Nonni") immigrated to this country from Fiugni, located in the beautiful mountainous region of Abruzzo, Italy. northeast of Rome. Fiugni is a small village that was once a border town of the Papal States. My Nonni were born in the mid-1890’s and my Nonno came to America in 1920 with only fifty-three dollars but worked extremely hard to make a very comfortable life for his family. Despite none of my grandparents having a high school degree, my mother and father took the opportunities afforded them through higher education and fulfilled the quest for the American Dream. While the streets of America were not paved with gold as many claimed around the turn of the nineteenth century, hard work and perseverance enabled my four grandparents to lay the foundation upon which my parents built a legacy that will be passed down to my children and grandchildren.