Angelo BERNACCHI

26 FEB 1892 - 3 SEP 1969

• RESIDENCE: 1918, 1821 Indiana Ave, Laporte, IN
• OCCUPATION: 1918, Self Employed Truck Gardener
• BIRTH: 26 FEB 1892, Lucca, Toscana, Italy
• DEATH: 3 SEP 1969, Laporte County, Indiana

1.  Harold Corato BERNACCHI
2.  Robert BERNACCHI
3.  Barthlomew BERNACCHI
4. +Victor BERNACCHI
5.  Joseph BERNACCHI
6.  Benjamin BERNACCHI

INDEX

[N14384] Lucca was founded by the Etruscans (there are traces of a pre-existing Ligurian settlement) and became a Roman colony in 180 BC. The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre can still be seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro. At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.[4] Piazza Anfiteatro and the Basilica di San Frediano. Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early 6th century.[5] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the 6th century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. During the 8th - 10th centuries Lucca was a center of Jewish life, the Jewish community being led by the Kalonymos family (which at some point during this time migrated to Germany to become a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry). Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the 11th century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the 10-11th centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

**************************************

Century-old family business closes in LaPorte
Stan Maddux Times Correspondent Nov 19, 2013
LAPORTE | One million poinsettas a year once rolled out of Angelo Bernacchi Greenhouses, a more than century old family owned business in LaPorte that has fallen victim to competition from major retail stores. Bart Bernacchi, 84, said it was a great run for the company started by his father, Angelo, after coming here from Italy. "I loved it. I'd do it all over again," Bernacchi said. The business during its first several decades at the same site on Fox Street actually grew all its vegetables, trucking radishes, broccoli and other produce to mostly to markets in Chicago. In 1948, Bernacchi said the greenhouse operation started churning out wide varieties of plants sold locally and to distributors throughout the Midwest. At one time, Bernacchi said the operation employed up to 150 people operating delivery trucks and doing other tasks such as developing the company's own seed. Financial struggles, though, began setting in as more and more retail chains began selling flowers and plants at lower prices. Bernacchi said the greenhouse operation was sold three years ago because the big box stores wanted plants and flowers from his company at a price lower than what they could be grown.The retail wing of the company kept going with outside suppliers meeting their need for product to sell.However, the store was shut down a month ago due to difficulties competing with the lower prices flowers, plants and other gardening products were sold for in the major chain stores.The struggling economy also didn't help, forcing some loyal and potential new customers elsewhere in search of a better buy. "If they can save a penny they're going to go to that store and save a penny," Bernacchi said. Adding to the difficulties of staying in business was a younger generation of family members in college or careers elsewhere not interested in taking over the company.Bernacchi said he recalls how he and other generations worked at the family owned business starting early in their grade school years. Greater LaPorte Chamber of Commerce president Mike Seitz said the business left a lasting impression not only from its success and involvement in the community but from being such a familiar name."You're losing a staple. It's not a good day," Seitz said.