Margherita di Savoia: Wildwood’s Sister City

A view of Margherita showing a similar resemblance to the wide beaches of Wildwood by-the-sea with its white powdery sand. Photo by Domenic Capacchione

The town of Margherita di Savoia, in the Apulia region of Italy, has been in existence in one form or another since the 4th century B.C. Because of its location by the salt marshes of the Adriatic Sea, the town (originally named Salinae Cannarum) became one of the chief areas for the distribution of salt throughout Italy. In the 14th century, a malaria epidemic forced the town to be abandoned, but it was soon restored and renamed after the first Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the salt mining industry declined and the ensuing poverty throughout the region forced many young Italians to immigrate to America. Among them were the members of eight families from Margherita di Savoia who eventually made their way to, and settled in, Wildwood, New Jersey: the Capacchione’s, the Russo’s, the Compare’s, the Bilotti’s, the Salvatore’s, the Ricco’s, the Sabatini’s, and the Orsini’s. During the 20’s and 30’s, they all played a part in Wildwood’s evolution from a sleepy fishing village into a tourist destination. They opened businesses such as The Gingham Club (Russo’s Restaurant), Golden Dragon, The Victoria, The Sorrento, and The Blue Heaven Nightclub (operated by Cosmos Capacchione) and contractors like Mike Orsini built them. The Bilotti’s opened P&S Furniture Co., the Compare’s had Dino’s Restaurant and Pete Ricco ran a barber shop for many years.

Many of these families put down roots close to Otten’s Harbor, because it reminded them of their hometown. Some of the men worked for either the Union Fish Co. or in one of the four ice houses located along the harbor. Their children learned to swim in the harbor and when they were old enough they went to work for the Swedes and Norwegians who operated the fishing and clamming boats. In 1932 they created the local chapter of the Sons of Italy.

To those who have visited the Margherita di Savoia area, the resemblance to southern New Jersey is striking. Many have remarked that the view from a train window upon approach is the same view that motorists on the Garden State Parkway see on their way to Wildwood: a wide stretch of coastal marshland with a low-lying seashore town shrouded by the ocean’s mist in the distance. Upon arrival in Margherita, one is treated either to an eclectic display of 1950’s architecture known as doo-wop, or a collection of stucco building that are hundreds of years old and bear the signs of resistance against sand and sea. It will not take long to locate a member of one of the families mentioned here, and when you do, you will be welcomed with open arms as though you were a long-lost cousin, and fed and mothered to the point of breaking. To walk off all of their food, you will head toward the beach where you will discover a wide expanse of sand and an ocean which beckons you with a soothing display of waves breaking against the shore. It is then that you will realizeno matter where you are, Wildwood, or Margherita di Savoia, you will always be home.

On Sunday, September 11, 2011, my cousin Pam Orsini Grimme held a luncheon at her home in Wildwood Crest for a few cousins who live in the area. We all feel very fortunate to have grown up in the Wildwoods, a small town where our fathers, aunts and uncles settled in after coming from Margherita di Savoia, Italy.

Thank you Pam and family for hosting such a nice affair and for bringing us all together to shar laughs, tears and wonderful memories. ~Phyllis Bilotti Bethel

(L-R) Bee Stanbach, Dom Capacchione, Fem Raucci, Phyllis Belotti Bethel, Pamela Jean Johnson, Liz McPherson, Anna DeAngelis, Susan Mercier, Pam Orsini Grimme, Bianca Russo Sanford, Don Grimme

Above photos at the Cousins Reunion luncheon hosted by (R) Pam Orsini Grimme, of Pat Russo with a delicious looking homemade birthday cake, and Bianco Russo on far left. SENT IN BY PHYLLIS BILOTTI BETHEL THESE NAMES WERE PRESENTED BY PAM ORSINI GRIMME TO HER GUESTS AT THE COUSINS REUNION LUNCHEON. REMEMBERING: Maria & Domenic Capacchione, Filomena & Federico Bilotti, Nino & Viola, Tony Capacchione & Antoinette Bilotti, Lizzie & Joe Russo, Fannie & Sam Compare, Margaret & Lou Compare, Pete & Marty Compare, Cos & Ruth Capacchione, Cele & Mike Smith, Mary Sabatino, Jimmy Sabatino, Paul, Gilda, Jean, Dolores, Marie, Moffie, Ray, Pete, Dino, Marie Taylor, Douglas Raucci and Michael Grimme II. These are the immigrants from Margherita de Savoia, Italy and their descendants who settled in Wildwood by-thesea, who have gone before us.

Above, MarLou Compare from 1970 at her family’s restaurant, DINO’S located on Cresse Ave. in Wildwood Crest, (now Little Italy.) Her parents, Pete & Marty Compare built this very successful restaurant in 1962 and named it in memory of Pete’s younger brother Dino who passed away at an early age. MarLou’s 2 brothers Pete & Paul worked in the kitchen alongside their father, while she worked in the dining room with her mother. The Compare’s were one of the family’s who immigrated to Wildwood from Margherita di Savoia, Italy in the early 1900s. SENT IN BY MARLOU COMPARE