FORGARIA, Italy — “My great-grandfather left from a small village in Friuli called Forgaria. Can you help me find some clues about my family?”

Paul, a 40-year-old Paris resident, knows little about the village his great-grandfather Enio left to find work. Like thousands of others from this corner of northeastern Italy, Enio settled abroad, joining communities in France, Switzerland and Argentina.

Generations later, Paul is trying to piece together his family history.

In Forgaria, the past survives in unexpected places: a church rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1976, workshops where artisans still weave baskets by hand, and stone houses that have turned memories of poverty into a source of pride. Featured in an episode of Rai’s Radici d’Italia, the village shows how a community is preserving its heritage and sharing it with new generations.

A Village Rebuilt From the Ruins

Forgaria’s history cannot be told without the earthquake that struck Friuli in 1976, devastating towns and villages across the region.

At the village church, the disaster remains part of the building’s story. The structure was rebuilt, but some original elements survived.

“The roof collapsed during the earthquake, but the most important part — the side walls — remained standing,” says local resident Ivo Logna Prat.

The disaster might have driven even more residents away. Instead, some emigrants returned to help rebuild their hometown.

“Fortunately, that didn’t happen,” Ivo says, referring to a further exodus. “We’re a land of emigrants, and many people had already gone abroad. But after these events, many of our fellow villagers came back because they wanted to preserve the identity of the town.”

The earthquake became a turning point, revealing the strength of ties that distance had never entirely severed.

From Paris to a Quieter Life

For Sereno Belfio, a tailor who spent 18 years in France, life in Forgaria offered a chance to reconnect with family and embrace a slower pace.

Near Paris, he made clothes for singers, actors and other performers, including elaborate stage costumes. His interest in tailoring began when he watched his grandmother sew.

“I was five years old, and I always saw her sewing. I liked it,” he recalls.

Soon, performers were commissioning him to make custom clothing. But professional success did not erase his attachment to home.

“Paris is beautiful, but it’s a madhouse,” he says with a smile. After retiring, he settled in Forgaria, where he had spent childhood summers. “Ultimately, my roots brought me back.”

When Stone Became a Source of Pride

On the Monte Prat plateau, about 2,600 feet above sea level, traditional stone houses tell a story of hardship transformed into heritage.

People returning from seasonal work elsewhere in Europe often plastered over their stone walls to distance themselves from the poverty they represented.

“The first thing they did when they came back was plaster those walls,” says local guide Enio Agnola. “In a way, they wanted to move away from that destiny.”

Today, exposed stone defines the area’s architectural identity, drawing visitors to restored houses and small villages.

“What was once hidden as a symbol of poverty has become our history and tradition,” Agnola says.

Visitors can stay in traditional homes, walk old paths and explore communities shaped by generations of hardship and adaptation.

“This is real roots tourism,” Agnola says. “People are coming back from the same places their ancestors left.”

The Crafts That Sustained a Community

A museum devoted to rural craftsmanship displays wooden rakes, baskets and traditional carrying frames that recall how families made ends meet in a landscape with few opportunities.

Between the world wars, many villagers worked elsewhere in Europe during the warmer months, returning in the winter to make handicrafts for local markets. Large woven baskets carried luggage, supplies and sometimes small children. Women even walked toward Austria to catch trains.

“They were incredible women,” says museum guide Eleonora De Nardo.

Basket weaving survives thanks to artisans such as Enio Bostro, who learned the craft as a boy. After 18 years in France, he returned following the earthquake and began selling baskets at local markets.

“The town saw me with this basket and asked me to come to the market,” he recalls. “There weren’t many people left in Forgaria making baskets.”

He still shapes baskets by hand from willow rods but worries about the craft’s future.

“I have a grandson, but he doesn’t want to learn,” he says. “I understand. There isn’t time anymore. Things are different today.”

Another tradition survives in scarpets, handmade slippers assembled from recycled fabric. Making a pair can take at least 40 hours.

“Nothing gets thrown away,” De Nardo says.

These crafts reflect an older ethic of thrift, patience and resourcefulness.

A Sanctuary for a Different Kind of Migrant

Not all of Friuli’s migrants travel by foot or train. Some arrive on vast wings. At the Cornino Lake Nature Reserve, griffon vultures circle above a landscape where the species had disappeared for more than a century.

About 80 birds were brought from Spain as part of a reintroduction program and released after a period of acclimatization. A feeding site helps sustain the population when food is scarce.

Fulvio Genero, the reserve’s scientific director, says at least 200 griffon vultures may be present in the winter. Younger birds and nonbreeding adults travel across Europe, while the reserve also shelters birds too injured or old to survive in the wild. The reserve covers about 1,235 acres.

Nearby, Lake Cornino draws visitors with its turquoise water. Formed as glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago, it reaches nearly 30 feet at its deepest point. Microscopic algae help give it its distinctive color.

Local legends say a mountain god’s tears formed the lake after a nymph fled from him. Another tale claims church bells ring beneath the water on full-moon nights. The mysterious sound is the call of the eagle owl, which lives in the reserve.

The Past, Served at the Table

The journey ends around a table in a stone house dating to 1833.

Gabriella Lughezzani serves frico, a classic Friulian dish made with potatoes, onions and cheese. Her husband’s ancestors moved to Argentina in the late 19th century to earn enough money to buy the house.

Before a wooden roof was installed, the upper floor served as a hayloft where family members slept. During violent storms, the brothers sometimes climbed up and hung from the roof beams to help keep the structure from being blown away.

Today, the house welcomes visitors, and a meal of frico offers a way to pass traditions from one generation to the next. Its history remains inseparable from the sacrifices that made it possible.

Outside, musicians play traditional tunes in another old stone building. One, an electronics and telecommunications engineer, spent 25 years abroad, including five in Hungary, before settling in his village again. He now works as a startup consultant.

For Friuli, the challenge is not simply to preserve the past, but to give it a future. Traditional crafts, restored houses, local food and protected landscapes are attracting visitors seeking more than a postcard view.

For Paul, the search began with a name and a village mentioned in family stories. In Forgaria, he finds something more tangible: a living heritage shaped by hardship, ingenuity and the choices of generations before him.

*Radici d’Italia is a Rai television series produced as part of the “Roots Tourism” initiative promoted by Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and funded by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU program.