I am not sure that this is the case for Casagrandes. I am under the impression that the
Casagranda half of my Sudtirolean ancestors were originally Germans, possibly Bavarian who
immigrated to Sudtirol in response to a land offer made by the Austrian Emperor. He did
this as a measure to increase the German presence in Sudtirol in order to weaken
Italy's claim to it. Once my ancestors arrived they found the land inadequate and
since they had technical and industrial skills they crossed over into Italy for work. In
Italy the Italian population refused to learn how to pronounce their German last names so
they made up Italian like last names. It follows then that we had a name originally like
Grosshaus. Does anybody on this list know anything about this? Am I on the right track
or is there something that I am missing?
Thanks,
Roy Casagranda