I know about the Darcy Loss Luzzatto, from Pinto Bandeira-RS, grandson of trentini and bellunesi. He is an enthusiast of the so-called Talian (
https://youtu.be/YfnQkLHQQZs, and has done a grammar (~1994) and a dictionary (~2010).
So your grandfather migrated to America and then returned to Italy... Your father, years after, migrated to America. Is that right? Very interesting! It would be similar to what happened with my godfather. His maternal grandparents migrated to South Brazil, and his mother was born in Caxias do Sul. But then they returned to Treviso, where he was born, and married. In the 1940s, if my memory serves, the couple migrated to Argentina, and in 1950s to South Brazil, now definitely. His mother, born in South Brazil, lived in Treviso till her death with 107 years - believe me! Unfortunately, he himself didn't live that long.
These immigrations to Serra Gaúcha after 1900 were not common, that's why I think the vecieta was born in Antonio Prado-RS, Brazil, rather than Italy, and must have heard from her parents about that misfortune in the ship, involving the poor child. That was not rare, btw; I myself heard about it several times (on bodies thrown into the sea during the journey). Really horrible! Plus, at 9:25 the man asked: "Da dove sono venuti (i genitori)"?. At 17:40 she explains part of the journey, and uses "sono", not "siamo".
Anyway, I don't know how common returns were, compared to North America. I do know that many were disappointed (the propaganda in Italy was exaggerated). Still, some immigrants, satisfied, did send letters to relatives in Italy stimulating migrations; my guess is that sometimes they were absolutely sincere, and other times, still with good intentions, they were possibly distracted or induced by the fact they simply missed their folks. There were also letters of regret. It depends. So, some were really satisfied, some were not exactly happy but didn't want to go back for some reason, and some did want to return, as a mother-in-law's great-grandmother, just for example. After her husband tragically died, she wanted to go back to Italy with the kids, but she hasn't had the ways. To provide an example in my own family: years ago I sent a letter to the Anagrafe of a certain comune in Treviso, asking for a certificato di stato di famiglia storico, and the responsible person wrote more or less the following, in Italian:
- Hey, your ancestor was brother of my great-grandfather, who also migrated to Brazil, but returned to Italy soon after his twins died.
I myself didn't know, and later I saw it was in the same ship. Great coincidence! And it was her to said who my father's 3rd cousins from Italy are.
Anyway, some of these immigrants were very successful, and the descendants generally haven't lost the "attachment" to Italy. An example of both is Raul Randon and ancestors. Raul became a multimillionaire and has never forgotten his roots. You probably don't read Portuguese, but the Google Translator may help you to read this nice article about him and his visits to the ancestry location in Italy:
http://pioneiro.clicrbs.com.br/rs/c...mos-anos-de-vida-de-raul-randon-10803849.html
So, anyway the immigration thrived, and Brazilians, Italians, Germans etc. have done a good work in developing some areas:
http://www.economist.com/news/ameri...eography-brazils-three-southern-states-escape
Interesting this story of yours. An additional difficulty your family faced apparently was this cultural "isolation", while in my area at least the Italians were almost completely surrounded by... Italians.
I believe this fact softened a bit their way.
Thanks for the beautiful song. Really touching, and probably even more for those who experienced a migration to a distant place. You usually post some nice and interesting videos, btw. For example, I showed the trallalero for my father and the tammuriata for my mother. They liked them. My mother even shared it with the family.