Jill Biden’s Sicilian Relative Invites Her Back Home for Dinner


First Lady-elect Jill Biden's great-grandparents and grandfather left Gesso in 1900 for a new life. Now, her distant cousin is inviting her back for meatballs and cannoli.

Dr. Jill Biden’s distant Sicilian cousin is urging the First Lady-elect to visit her ancestral village and share a meal of lasagna, meatballs and fresh cannoli.

“Jill, I’m here, my house is open for you, as is the entire village of Gesso,” Biden’s cousin, Caterina Giacoppo, told Forbes. “Please do come visit us next time you travel to Italy.”

Biden’s grandfather, Domenico Giacoppo, was 2 years old in 1900 when he and his parents, Gaetano and Concetta, left the tiny village of Gesso for a new life in America.

The family name was Anglicized at Ellis Island to Jacobs and the immigrants settled in New Jersey, where Domenico worked as a deliveryman at a small furniture store.

Fast-forward to 2020, and residents of Gesso are celebrating the Bidens’ presumptive White House win as if it were their own.

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