For Monika, Franz Jr.Michael, Adam, and Damien
In memory of Franz & Desanka.
An understanding of Ancient History augments the blending of the Simonetti, Attisani and Vogel oral history hand-me-downs into the events evolving in Italy, Austria, Greater Europe and in later centuries, Australia. Those governing originated during the Bronze Age; Anatolia, Sea People, Philistines, Etruscans, Canaan and Mycenean civilizations. Events on a Biblical scale encompassing Exodus and Homer’s Troy. The Roman Empire is brought undone by the Islamic Ottomans once the Crusades initiated by Pope Urban II, fizzles out. Hometown Francavilla dates to the turn of the millennia. The ‘Great Schism’ which split the faith of Jesus Christ, propagated by the Papacy into Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity continues to reverberate through Eastern Europe. It is relevant to the Vogel’s initial migration to the Balkans following Austria’s reclamation of Ottoman territories. Science is bolstered by Galileo’s observations of a heliocentric universe. The Church of Rome aids the revolving door occupations of the Italian peninsular. Earthquakes and feudalistic practices leave permanent scars in the South of Italy. In Europe the French Revolution awakens egalitarianism, leading to demands for constitutional rights. Protestant England meddles in Catholic Bourbon-Hapsburg Italia, its newly minted vassal, to wedge out the French.