Forte Family History Posts

A new 28-minute film showing highlights of the 2019 Festa di S. Antonio in Mortale has just been placed on the website.  It can be found on the Festas on Film page or by clicking here.

During this year’s festa, Ben Langdown captured many priceless moments in an extensive set of fantastic photographs which can be seen on his photography website.  The full gallery can be viewed by clicking here and a slide show can be watched by clicking here.

In addition, a new 5-minute film showing footage of the 2017 Festa di S. Antonio in Mortale has also been placed on the website.  My thanks go to Peter Evans, who took the film, and this can also be found on the Festas on Film page or by clicking here.

The Gallery on the website has been redesigned so that it is now compatible with many more handheld and portable devices, as well as phones.

The photographs are touch responsive, there is now a search facility and there are simpler links to view newly added photos.

If anyone would like to send more photos, then do please email them to me.

Another five newly digitised films have gone into the Festas on Film section of the website.  They were all shot by Ettore Forte and date back to the late 80s and early 90s.

Of particular note is the Festa di S. Antonio of 1988, during which the recently ordained Don Franco Facchini, son of Maria Antonia Forte, celebrates his first ever mass as a priest.

The film of the Festa della Madonna del Carmine of 1989 also contains something unique, but I will allow the more perceptive amongst you to work that one out.

Three newly remastered films have just gone into the Film Section of the website.

All three were filmed by the late Ettore Forte, and have recently been digitised by Tony Langdown, so that people can look back with nostalgic fondness at events that happened in the early 1990s in Mortale.

There are two short films showing the annual gathering of Mortalese outside the church in Mortale to celebrate the Festa di S. Antonio Abate on 17th January in 1990 and 1992.  These two films can be found in the “Festas on Film” Section.

The third longer film, to be found in the main Film Section of the website, was taken in the days leading up to the June festa of 1990.  It starts with the arrival of Charles and Irene Forte, who have commissioned a new statue of the Madonna to stand at the entrance of the village.  A few days later, there is a religious ceremony of dedication, and people familiar with the village will recognise many villagers and emigrants who have returned to Mortale for these events.  The sad thing is that most of these people are no longer with us, but their memory lives on amongst their relatives and descendants.