In English, a celebration of our Italian family in America.

That's what more than 100 descendants of the Santopietro-Valletta family came to the Southbury Hilton for on Saturday, November 27.

The reunion, organized by Louis Gelada, attracted people from as far away as Wisconsin.

The event celebrates those people who branch from Italian immigrant Giocondino Santopietro, who immigrated to Waterbury from the Italian sister city, Pontelandolfo, in 1927.

"As years go by, you see people [relatives] only at weddings and funerals and that's it," said Mr. Gelada on one of the reasons he organizes the event.

"You know I even sent invitations to cousins in Italy, but they couldn't come."

Not that there was a shortage of people for the event, which featured special guests such as Waterbury Alderman Michael D'Occhio, who happens to be Mr. Gelada's cousin, and State Senator Louis DeLuca, R-32, no relation.

Mr. Gelada, the grandson of Giocondino, has been researching his family history and working on a family tree for the past 14 years. As for organizing the reunion, that only took one year.

His grandfather, who was born in 1905, was one of twelve children. But 10 of those siblings were technically half-brothers and half-sisters.

Giocondino's parents, Giovanni and Rosaria, were both on their second marriage when they had him and his older brother, Michelangelo.

Giovanni had three children from his previous marriage, and Rosaria had seven with her first husband, who was named Valletta.

Mr. Gelada said piecing together the family genealogy required Internet research, conversations with relatives, and, of all things, a recent trip to that Mediterranean peninsula.

While touring Europe in early November, Mr. Gelada stopped by Italy for a few days, and met with his cousins and the mayor of Pontelandolfo, Rocco Palladino.

He said his Italian cousins wanted to come to the states, but it didn't seem likely.

But there were plenty of American cousins to fill the void. Some of which, Mr. Gelada admits, he doesn't know that well.

"I know them all from e-mails and talking to them, but I don't really know all of them," he said.

At the reunion, which offered dinner - yes, pasta was served - speeches and dancing, some of Mr. Gelada's distant relatives were able to fill in some history gaps for him.

The family tree, which dates back to 1766, he has been working on for the past decade-and-a-half took up an entire wall in one room. And old pictures of family members were laid across a table.

"There are unidentified pictures of people," said Mr. Gelada. "But people here have said, 'Hey, I know who's in that picture.'"

His pride in his heritage and his hard work did not go unnoticed. People all throughout the Southbury Hilton banquet hall were overheard laughing and complimenting Mr. Gelada on a job well done.

Alderman D'Occhio even led the entire crowd in a standing ovation for Mr. Gelada.

"God bless him, he's so smart to do all of this," Shirley Gelada, Mr. Gelada's mother, said. "Not everybody has the patience for something like this."

Luckily, Giocondino's grandson does.