Meeting Rick Santorum's Italian family (BBC)

By Christine Finn
BBC News

A family in northern Italy has recently discovered they are related to Rick Santorum, one of the four Republicans hoping to be the next president of the US.

Gianni Bottesi thought he recognised the features of the American politician he glimpsed on the TV news, as he watched it in his home in northern Italy.

When he saw - and heard - the politician's surname, he said out loud to his wife Giannina, "He must be family - our family."

The politician was Rick Santorum, whose grandfather Pietro left the bustling lakeside town of Riva del Garda for America in 1920.

With him was his young son Aldo, who grew up on the East Coast and became Rick Santorum's father.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16972178