Hi Libbs! I am italian. Sorry for my english. There are a lot of people with the same name, so is possible to make errors. I have done a research about Vincenzo Melandri born in Faenza (near Ravenna) 27/07/1814. His father was called Giuseppe (not Guiseppe) and was a shoemaker. Vincenzo fight in the first indipendence italian war in Vicenza in 1848 in a civic battalion. In 1849 in Italy there was a revolution in particolary in papal state. When the Pope returned there were a terribile restauration with a lot of exiliated. Vincenzo , called Barilone (big barrel) was an innkeeper, with 25 of Faenza was send in New York in 1854. He tried to retourn in Italy passing by Marseille, but he had to go to London where he met Giuseppe Mazzini and other italian patriots.