This is a good and catching piece of news. Sassoferrato and Iron Mountain in the State of Michigan are going to be sister cities. The process is at a good point: the City Council of Iron Mountain has unanimously resolved on September 6, 2016 to extend a formal invitation to the city of Sassoferrato to join with Iron Mountain as a sister city. On Thursday October 27, Sassoferrato City Council has unanimously agreed. After the approval by the Governor of Marche Region , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Government the resolution will be made official.

Mayor Ugo Pesciarelli has declared “we owe the Associazione Sassoferratesi nel Mondo the starting point of the sister cities partnership. In fact they bestowed the 2016 Prize Monte Strega-Bartolo da Sassoferrato on Albert Santoni of Iron Mountain. His grandparents Alberto and Lucia emigrated to Iron Mountain in 1910 from Monterosso, a suburb of Sassoferrato.

This agreement is a 7401,373 km long bridge which , according to the City council of Iron Mountain can be regarded as an interesting way to exchange ideas, work and to solve problems together. The City Council has invited the Mayor and the citizens of Sassoferato to come to Iron City in order to strengthen international friendship and Pam Maule, a member of the Council has suggested that a delegation from Sassoferrato should come to Iron Mountain for the annual Italian holiday next August.

It seems that Sassoferrato and Iron Mountain were bound to join together sooner or later. They were both mining spots: in the States it was iron while in Sassoferrato it was sulphur and their common destiny is implied in their names: The Italian translation of Iron Mountain is “Montagna di ferro” and the name Sassoferrato means exactly “Iron Rock”.

Véronique Angeletti@civetta.tv

Translation:

Rita Sacco Ballanti

Associazione Sassoferratesi nel mondo

More information…

Albert Santoni’s family came from Monterosso. Grandfather Alberto emigrated to American in 1905. He returned to Sassoferrato and got married to Lucia Toni. The young couple went back to the States for good in 1910 and settled in Iron Mountain. Alberto worked in the iron mines. They had five children, four daughters and one son Evo who after finishing high school enrolled in the paratroops to fight in the second world war. His plane crashed in Normandy and France and Evo was seriously wounded twice. He was decorated with “Purple Heart” and “Oak leaf cluster” After the war Evo started his own activity in the building industry, he married a girl of Swedish orign, who died in 1980.

Albert is an engineer and architect , he has continued and enlarged his father’s activity, establishing a large Factory, Dickinson Homes with 55 employees . His two sons work also in the factory. Albert and his wife Paula who is also of Italian origin come to Sassoferrato quite often and they became members of the Associazione Sassoferratesi nel Mondo three years ago. In August 2016 Albert was given the “Monte Strega-Bartolo da Sassoferrato” Prize , which the association bestows on those people of Sassoferrato origin who have distinguished themselves in their activity and who care to keep ties with the place of origin of their family.

Just a tip: Albert’s cousin Matthew is a winemaker in California and he has started to produce a wine called “Sassoferrato”.

Above information was copied from www.sassoferratomia.it