Ferdinando was the second child of Antonio Pacitto & Annamaria Pacitto. Ferdinando was born 25th April 1842 at Cerasuolo. In 1865, he married Pasqua Coia and they had seven children together before Pasqua died in 1880. Left a widow to look after two young children (Carmine and Gerardo), Ferdinando married a second time to Mariantonia Pacitti on March 4th 1883 at Cerasuolo. Together they had six children. The Scottish marriage certificates of some of his children gave his occupation as a farmer.

Ferdinando died at Cerasuolo on 19th August 1899 and Mariantonia continued to live at Cerasuolo until her own death in 1919. Gerardo, the eldest surviving male also remained at Cerasuolo in Italy where he died in 1939. The other children emigrated to the UK between 1900 and 1920.

Mariantonia Pacitti continued to live in Italy. According to my father, she did visit her family in Scotland on one occasion round about 1920 but, happy that they were all doing well, she returned to Italy where she died sometime between 1925 and 1930.

The family tree below provides detail on Ferdinando's thirteen children.

My father’s confirmation godfather, Pietro Jacobelli, provided some further background.

My father had met Signor Jacobelli in Italy many years after his confirmation; Jacobelli was a first class tailor by trade and at this time he was one of the wise old men in the town of Cerasuolo. He told my father that Ferdinando had been employed as the ‘fattore’ (a bailiff or steward) for the Duca di Marotta, a local land owner. The ducal family of Marotta were well known and respected in the area and one of the Dukes was responsible for providing funds to build the imprsesive church of San Pasquale Baylon in Cerasuolo.
Ferdinando died relatively young leaving a widow, six sons and a daughter. This would tie in with the other facts of that time; Gerardo, the eldest, remained in Italy; Carmine, next oldest, emigrated to London in 1900 shortly after getting married at Cerasuolo, and then some years later to Scotland; all of the remaining children of Ferdinando followed suit over the next 15 years or so.