Wilder - Introducing: The Sicilian Inheritance

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

Every family has an origin story – for author Jo Piazza (Under the Influence, Wilder) her family's is a murder mystery. For as long as she can remember the Piazzas have told the story of their Sicilian roots going back over a hundred years ago: one by one the sons and then their father sailed off to America to carve out a better life. Their mother, Lorenza Marsala was supposed to join them – but she never made it. She was murdered by the Sicilian mafia, they said. The truth of what happened has morphed like a game of telephone through the generations. Various versions of the story claim she was killed by the Black Hand, others insisted she was a witch, killed over a bad spell. Now, Jo is determined to untangle the twisted narrative which just might bridge the gap from cinematic mob fantasies to an unexpected reality. Join her in Sicily on a family vacation/fact finding mission in which she goes to the scene of the crime, confronts mafia experts, consults mediums, and tracks down Italian officials, determined to set the record straight on her great, great grandmother’s mysterious disappearance. Listen here and subscribe to the The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, nobody knows for sure. There's two stories. All I know is just obviously here we say. Okay, so here's what I was told. Every family has an origin story. My grandpa, Santo Piazza, immigrated to the U.S. The boys came over from Italy two by two. So they came through Ellis Island, settled in in New York. They left their mother behind.

His wife stays behind to tend to a family farm. Mine happens to be a murder mystery. Apparently, still in Sicily, there's still tons of mafia. What I heard was that the mob was interested in her land. She refused to sell. Now, this part I don't know if it's true. The mafia leisurely stole it from her and killed her. For as long as I can remember, my family's believed

that my great-great-grandmother, Lorenza Marsala, was murdered in Sicily. It's a story that's been passed down in a hundred-year game of telephone. The facts are constantly changing. Did you hear how they killed her? No, I never heard any details. I was asking somebody about her and they just looked at me and they kept saying,

Morte, Morte, no. And they're like, they shut it down. They wouldn't talk. Really? But now, I'm going back to Sicily to find out the truth. They knew about the murders. They knew about it, right? Yeah, they did. They wouldn't tell the truth.

They were frightened. And they didn't want to start it, I think. Was she murdered by the mafia for the family land? Killed for being a witch who crossed the wrong man? Or was it an honor killing for betraying her husband? He said, you'd better drop it. You don't want the vendetta to continue. Vendetta or not, I'm about to solve a hundred-year-old murder.

Join us as we travel across oceans and generations to finally unravel the mystery of this Sicilian inheritance. There's a landslide, there's a landslide here, this is it. This is the place. We have the absolute certainty, 110 percent that this is the place. 110 percent this is it. I'm Jo Piatta. Coming soon from Kaleidoscope and iHeart podcasts, the Sicilian inheritance.

Subscribe now. I'd love to know what the hell happened. Wouldn't it be great to solve this mystery? I feel good. My Sicilian witchy powers. I feel like we're on the right path. Maybe this crazy story is true. It's path. Maybe this crazy story is true. It's unbelievable. Maybe this crazy story is true.

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