Joe Bastianich
Bastianich in 2010, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Joseph Bastianich
Place of Birth: Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 17, 1968
Ethnicity: Italian, Croatian, Slovenian
Joe Bastianich is an American restaurateur, winemaker, author, television personality, and musician.
Joe is the son of Lidia Bastianich (born Lidia Giuliana Matticchio) and Felice “Felix” Bastianich/Bastianić. His mother is a chef, television host, author, and restaurateur. Joe’s parents were born and raised in Istria, a peninsula that is now part of Croatia. Felice was from Brovinje. Lidia is from Pula. Joe and his mother own over thirty restaurants.
Joe has Italian, Croatian, and Slovenian ancestry, a mix that occurred over many generations in the region his family is from.
Joe is married to Deanna, with whom he has three children.
Joe’s maternal grandfather was Vittorio Matticchio/Motika (the son of Antonio Motika and Francesca Lovrecich). Vittorio was born in Pula, Istria, then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Antonio was born in Žminj, now Croatia, the son of Silvestro Motika and Catherina. The name Motika means a “hoe,” the agricultural tool, in several Slavic languages.
Joe’s maternal grandmother was Erminia Pavichievaz (the daughter of Giovanni Pavichievaz and Rosaria Smilovich). Erminia was born in Tupliacco, Istria, Italy. Rosaria was the daughter of Giovanni Smolovich Karlic and Francesca Lukšić.
A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2016) stated that Joe’s mother’s genetic ancestry is:
*63% Eastern Europe
*28% Italy & Greece
*6% Europe West
*3% Trace Region
Sources: Obituary of Joe’s father – http://www.legacy.com
Article about Joe’s mother’s appearance on Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2016 – https://bringsomethingtothetableblog.wordpress.com
Genealogy of Joe Bastianich (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=felix-bastianich&pid=147121393&
Lidia Motika (now Lidia Bastianch) has a family name that is common in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina. This is the most likely origin of western Slavic migration to Istria in escaping Ottoman or some other atrocities in this area. Pula on Istr (Lidia’s birthplace). Motika family name means in the South Slavic languages (Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia …) agricultural tool used in working the land – hoe.
https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=hr&text=hoe
This indicates the Slavic paternal line of village tool craftsman or agricultural roots of the family name. This type of family naming was typical for the family name in the area of Lika and Bosnia (mixed Slavic areas). As of know, there is no proof of Bosnia or Lika origin in the case of Lidia Motika (Bastianich), and I dought that Lidia will like that proof based on their Italian business image and related recognition. Lidia Matticchio sounds like an attempt to make the last name of her Anton Motika grandfather sound Italian.
https://www.geni.com/people/Lidia-Matticchio-Bastianich/6000000015063457111
Distribution of family name Motika shows Bosnia and Hercegovina concentration.
https://forebears.io/surnames/motika
Interestingly the surname “Matticchio” appears to be more widespread in Croatia than Italy: https://forebears.io/surnames/matticchio
I saw him as guest in a tv-show last days, he spoke Italian with English accent. He is also everywhere here in McDonald’s commercials.
@madman
His first language is English, so I guess he’s mostly of English descent.
Does he have any Italian ancestry at all? It looks like all his ancestors were Yugoslavian based on the surnames.
Well, his mother did score “28% Italy & Greece” on her DNA test. As I recall, Gates also stated on the show that her ancestry was a mix of Italian and Eastern European, although perhaps that was not in a strictly ethnic sense.
@madman
it should be the other way round, does he have any Jugoslavian ancestry at all? I know some families of Istrian descent who still has Slavic surnames (and names too) and identify as Italians.
Key word is ”identify”.
The other way around? How? We can easily see that all surnames are Yugoslavian or originally Yugoslavian. We don’t label Irish people English just because their family only speak English and has changed their original surname, McGowan, to Smythe.
I guess Patrick Hernández’s maternal ancestors were ethnically Austrian then.
Joe’s family identifies as Italian/Italian-American.
Repeating the same thing over and over is not the same as making a new argument. Why do you want him to be fully Italian so badly? He’s just not. Just be happy that Italian is listed before the Slavic groups, at least.
“They speak Italian and they identify as Italian. They were forced to leave their land when Tito took the power, because of their Italian status. ”
What the hell are you on about ? What land did Tito take? Istria was always part of Croatia (back in Tito’s time it was the socialist republic of Croatia and part of Yugoslavia) and like the article states, their real surname was Motika, which is Croatian.
I do have an issue with the “Eastern European” genetics. Croats are no Eastern Europeans, they are Southeastern and yes there is a difference.
Peiple from the Balkans have a different genetic makeup from Eastern Europeans (like Poles, Czechs, who differ from each other as well); there is a big mix with all types of people (Venetians, Illyrans, Celts, Ottomans…). The language is slavic (with turkish and Italian or German (depending on the region) influences) but their ethnicity is very diverse due to the history of the Balkans.
Istria (expecially the coast) has alwais been politically and culturally part of Italy since Emperor Augustus times:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/ItaliaAlTempoDiAugusto_%28expo_-25_contrasto_25%29.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Noricum_Pict_2.JPG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Italy_1796_AD-it.png
More information about his background up now, Andrew.
whatever his genetic is, and whatever those % mean, his family is Italian. They speak Italian and they identify as Italian. They were forced to leave their land when Tito took the power, because of their Italian status. Some of those surnames were changed (as Matticchio). Slovenians or Croatians don’t carry names like Antonio or Francesca.
I know plenty of Croats named Antonio. For instance, the Croatian actor Antonio Franić, the movie director Antonio Nuić, tennis player Antonio Veić, etc. It’s not as usual as Antun, but it’s not unheard of. Francesca on the other hand, isn’t common, Franka is preferred.
It was mentioned on the show that the surname was changed from “Motika” to “Matticchio” and then to “Motika” again, over a few generations.
A lot of Lidia’s ancestors were ethnic Croatians/Slovenes who had Italianized names like Vittorio, Giovanni, Francesca, etc. but Eastern European surnames like Lovrecich, Smilovich, Lukšić, etc., which is why the DNA result shows so much Eastern European ancestry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istrian_exodus
Oh, we’re posting wiki articles. Cool. Here’s my contribution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italianization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatisation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_Italians
@andrew
”Most Dalmatian Italians gradually assimilated to the prevailing Croatian culture and language between the 1860s and World War I, although Italian language and culture remained present in Dalmatia. The community was granted minority rights in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.”
is a lot different to systemic oppression of Slavic people under Italian rule that resulted in italianization.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foibe_massacres