Introducing: Pack One Bag

Summary

Fail Better with David Duchovny: Episode Summary – "Introducing: Pack One Bag"

Host: David Duchovny
Episode Title: Introducing: Pack One Bag
Release Date: November 26, 2024

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Introduction to "Pack One Bag"

In the premiere episode titled "Introducing: Pack One Bag," hosted by David Duchovny under Lemonada Media, listeners are introduced to a poignant narrative that intertwines family history, resilience, and the enduring impact of past events on the present. The episode features a collaboration with renowned actor Stanley Tucci and documentary filmmaker David Modigliani, who delve into the true story of David's Italian Jewish family torn apart by war and fascism.

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Unveiling the Family Legacy

Discovery of the Archive ([26:11] – [27:05])

David Modigliani recounts the emotional journey of uncovering his family's history. Upon moving to Boston, he and his co-host Ellie Kemper navigate through a well-organized archive maintained by David's father, Sergio Modigliani. Ellie describes the archive as "a very professional system" with meticulously categorized boxes containing decades of family documents, including love letters written by his grandparents, Franco and Serena Calabi Modigliani.

Ellie Kemper ([27:05]): “Just like his father, Nonno Franco, my dad is an intellectual omnivore who's also methodical and precise... My dad's always been doing things for us.”

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Franco Modigliani: A Nobel Legacy Amidst Turmoil

Franco’s Nobel Achievement ([03:13] – [03:32])

At the heart of the family's story is Franco Modigliani, an esteemed economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1985. Despite his success, Franco's journey was fraught with adversity as he fled Fascist Italy, leaving behind his family amid rising antisemitism.

Ellie Kemper ([03:13]): “The hot favorite, the Italian born, naturalized American, Franco Modigliani.”

Franco's commitment to his Italian heritage is evident in his Nobel Prize ceremony attire, where he dons the green sash of Italian knighthood, symbolizing his enduring connection to his roots despite his geographical and cultural displacement.

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The Romance of Escape: Franco and Serena's Love Story

Love Letters and Early Encounters ([06:27] – [13:16])

The episode beautifully captures the romantic yet tumultuous relationship between Franco and Serena. Their correspondence, filled with heartfelt letters, reveals a deep bond formed against the backdrop of war. Their love story begins with playful interactions—Franco's nickname "Il Tipo Ridicolo" (The Ridiculous Character) given by Serena—which evolves into a profound partnership.

Serena Calabi Modigliani ([12:07]): “Franco is a sort of pesky, still a little scrawny, but very handsome, completely ignorant about politics.”

Their relationship is not just a personal journey but also a testament to survival and adaptability in the face of societal upheaval. The letters serve as intimate windows into their lives, blending personal affection with the grim realities of their environment.

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Connecting Past to Present: Lessons in Resilience

Parallel Realities and Modern Reflections ([19:05] – [23:33])

As David and Ellie sift through the archives, they draw parallels between the historical challenges faced by Franco and Serena and contemporary issues of authoritarianism and antisemitism. The resurgence of hateful symbols and the erosion of democratic values in 2024 echo the fears and struggles of Franco's time, prompting reflections on how history informs present resilience.

Ellie Kemper ([20:19]): “It's crazy. This is what war does.”

This connection deepens the narrative, transforming it from a mere historical recount to a relevant discussion on societal patterns and individual responses to crisis.

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Uncovering Hidden Narratives: Giorgio's Letter

Revelation of Giorgio's Experiences ([32:08] – [34:15])

A pivotal moment in the episode occurs when David and Sergio Modigliani discover a letter from Giorgio, Franco's brother, detailing the harrowing experiences his family endured during the Nazi occupation of Rome. This firsthand account provides a stark contrast to the sanitized narrative previously known, revealing the profound personal losses and the enduring scars left by war.

Giorgio’s Letter ([33:37]): “We walked three hours or more with tortured souls soaked to the bone... always in search of a refuge, a place which will still not be final for him.”

This discovery not only adds depth to the family's history but also underscores the indiscriminate brutality of war and the long-lasting impact on those who survived.

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Embarking on a Journey to Italy: Seeking Answers

Planning the Expedition ([34:15] – [35:30])

Motivated by the newfound revelations and driven by the need to understand the full scope of his family's past, David decides to journey back to Italy. He enlists the help of his partner, Willa Kaufman, who pauses her own projects to assist in uncovering the remaining pieces of the family's fragmented story. This decision marks the beginning of a quest to bridge the gap between past and present, seeking closure and insights into the choices made under duress.

Ellie Kemper ([35:30]): “Willa was making a ridiculo move of her own, a generous offer to put her own projects on pause and use the audio skills she'd learned in film school to help me uncover my family's story on the ground.”

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A Letter from Mussolini: Unveiling Dark Connections

Unexpected Discovery ([37:37] – [38:00])

As David and Ellie continue their exploration, they uncover a startling connection: a letter from Benito Mussolini himself. This revelation adds a chilling layer to the narrative, highlighting the direct impact of authoritarian leadership on individual lives and family dynamics.

Sergio Modigliani ([37:07]): “No, it's signed by Mussolini. It's signed directly. Benito Mussolini.”

This discovery not only personalizes the historical narrative but also serves as a stark reminder of the pervasive reach of oppressive regimes.

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Conclusion: The Enduring Power of Storytelling and Resilience

The episode concludes with a sense of determination and hope. David and Ellie reflect on the importance of preserving and understanding family histories, especially those marked by adversity. The narrative emphasizes that while failure and setbacks are integral to the human experience, uncovering and sharing these stories can foster growth, resilience, and a deeper connection to one's heritage.

Ellie Kemper ([37:43]): “Pack One Bag is a production of Live Action Projects and Gilded Audio with sales and distribution by Lemonada Media... Don’t miss this profound journey into family, history, and the lessons that transcend time.”

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Notable Quotes

• Ellie Kemper ([03:13]): “The hot favorite, the Italian born, naturalized American, Franco Modigliani.”

• Serena Calabi Modigliani ([12:07]): “Franco is a sort of pesky, still a little scrawny, but very handsome, completely ignorant about politics.”

• Ellie Kemper ([20:19]): “It's crazy. This is what war does.”

• Giorgio’s Letter ([33:37]): “We walked three hours or more with tortured souls soaked to the bone... always in search of a refuge, a place which will still not be final for him.”

• Ellie Kemper ([37:43]): “Pack One Bag is a production of Live Action Projects and Gilded Audio with sales and distribution by Lemonada Media... Don’t miss this profound journey into family, history, and the lessons that transcend time.”

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Final Thoughts

"Introducing: Pack One Bag" serves as a compelling initiation into a series that promises to explore deep familial ties and historical contexts. By weaving personal narratives with broader societal issues, the episode invites listeners to reflect on the enduring legacy of past generations and the continuous journey towards understanding and resilience.

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Connect with "Pack One Bag":
For additional content, bonus audio, and to share your own stories, visit pack1bagshow.com and follow on Instagram, TikTok, and X at @PackOneBag. Support the series through their tip jar and engage with the extended Modigliani family community.

Transcript

[Reshma Sajani]

Hi, I'm Reshma Sajani, founder of Girls who Code. Look, I'd consider myself a pretty successful adult woman. I've written books, founded two successful nonprofits, and I'm raising two incredible kids. But here's the thing. I still wake up wondering, is this it? And if the best years are yet to come, when's that going to start? Join me on My so Called Midlife, my new podcast with Lemonada Media, where we're building a playbook for navigating midlife one episode at a time. Each week, I'll chat with extraordinary guests who've transformed their midlife crisis into opportunities for growth and newfound purpose. At some point, we all ask ourselves, is there more to life? I'm here to discover how to thrive in my second act right alongside you. My so Called Midlife is out now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ellie Kemper from the Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And this is my fantastically funny friend, Scott Eckert.

[Ellie Kemper]

Hi, everyone.

[Reshma Sajani]

We host a podcast called Born to Love. It's a show where we talk to the people we love about the things they love.

[Ellie Kemper]

Each week we bring on a celebrity guest to discuss their secret passion.

[Reshma Sajani]

Did you know that my friend Jenna Fisher loves Keanu Reeves movies?

[Ellie Kemper]

She does, she does.

[Reshma Sajani]

And how about Al Roker, Samantha Bee, Tony Hawk, Jane Lynch?

[Ellie Kemper]

What do they love? Ellie?

[Reshma Sajani]

You have to listen to the show to find out. So check out Born to Love wherever you get your podcast from. Lemonada Media. Lemonada.

[David Modigliani]

Hey, fail better listeners. We're taking a break this week, so we're playing you something special. If you haven't heard of Pack One Bag, let me tell you. It's a limited series from Lemonada featuring Stanley Tucci. He and the documentarian David Modigliani tell the true story of how David's Italian family was split apart by war and fascism. They uncover the romance on the run that made so many things possible. Like for David's grandfather to win the Nobel Prize and for the family he left behind to face the Nazi occupation. I'm excited to share this first episode with you right here. After you listen. Search Pack One Bag to hear the rest of the episodes. You can also find a link in the show notes that will take you right there now onto the show.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Could.

[Ellie Kemper]

Could I look at it?

[Sergio Modigliani]

I think so. I mean, I gotta dig it out. I think it's in the safe. I hope it's in the safe.

[Ellie Kemper]

That's my dad, Sergio. He's opening this safe in my parents home.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Well, it got opened.

[Ellie Kemper]

We're looking for something that belonged to my dad's father, my Franco.

[Sergio Modigliani]

This looks promising.

[Ellie Kemper]

Yes, this definitely is his medallion. It's heavy circular gold with the face of Alfred Nobel on it. I was only five when my white haired grandfather, the nice guy with the accent who would get down on the rug and play with me sometimes, won the Nobel Prize. The 1985 Prize for Economics went to.

[Reshma Sajani]

The hot favorite, the Italian born, naturalized American, Franco Modigliani.

[David Modigliani]

Franco was front page news across the world.

[Ellie Kemper]

Stacks of foreign papers featuring Nonno Franco's victory came in faster than my grandmother could clip them out. But Nonno was most tickled by the coverage from Italy.

[Sergio Modigliani]

I just got an Italian, very popular.

[David Modigliani]

Newspaper with the front page, the price.

[Ellie Kemper]

Of Dynamite to the refugee from Fascism. The refugee from Fascism the papers called him. They said he'd fled Italy. One Italian put it this way. He said, today, Modigliani's our great pride, but he's also our great shame because of what we did here to turn him into an American. Despite what his mother country put him through. Nonno Franco held Italy close to him. Even at the Nobel Prize ceremony. In the group photos with all the winners decked out in matching white tie and tails, he's the only one who's added some extra flair across his chest. He's wearing the green sash of Italian knighthood. At that pinnacle moment, he wanted the whole world to know where he came from. He wanted to tell a story. And that story is what brings me to my parents house in Boston to open up this safe and hold his medallion in my hands. Maybe I'll just take a picture of it. Okay. To most folks, this prize is an emblem of academic success. To me it's really an emblem of survival. I grew up hearing about how Nonno Franco was just a 20 year old kid when Benito Mussolini passed racial laws against Jews like him. About how lucky he was to have fallen in love with this girl, Serena, and about her family taking him along when they fled the country. As a kid, I was fascinated by my grandparents. Romance on the run, all this turmoil. They escaped just in the nick of time. And as I became a documentary filmmaker, I kept telling myself that I'd capture their story. I told myself I'd spend a solid week together with them, recording in one place all the anecdotes they'd shared over the years. I thought, I have time, I'll get around to it. But I didn't prioritize it. And then my Nonni died. First Nonna Franco Then my Nonna, Serena, I will never get those tapes of my grandparents that I promised myself I'd make. But when they died, my Nonni left behind a parting gift for their grandchildren. A trove of their love letters, full of their stories. And when I read those letters, I can hear their voices so distinctly. I always did these little impersonations of them for my sister and my cousins.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Serena, please don't treat me like a child.

[Franco Modigliani]

Franco, this morning you drove away with your briefcase on the roof of the car.

[Ellie Kemper]

They always sounded to me like those old couples in When Harry Met Sally. The ones being interviewed about their love story. So sometimes I imagine the interview I would have done with my Nonni if I'd acted sooner.

[Franco Modigliani]

Okay? Uno due.

[Ellie Kemper]

In my mind it sounds something like.

[Franco Modigliani]

Now I keep talking. Okay? Si. My name is Serena Calabi Modigliani. And yes, I'm agreeing to these interviews and to showing you these letters. Giorno. Franco and I wrote to each other while we were running from Mussolini. But, David, on the condition you promised me that you won't share these letters until I die.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

But what about me?

[Franco Modigliani]

Okay, until both of us die. Then Franco and I.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Well, hopefully me first.

[Franco Modigliani]

Why you?

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Because I couldn't bear life without you, Serena.

[Franco Modigliani]

And so you want me to bear it without you instead? Always to bear everything for both of us, Mother.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Serena, hopefully we die at the same time, okay? At the exact same time. Does that make you happy?

[Ellie Kemper]

I gotta say, I get why my grandmother was reluctant to share those letters.

[Franco Modigliani]

Franco, you were a literary pornographer at times, so that I.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

All very tasteful.

[Franco Modigliani]

I wouldn't be able to look my grandchildren in the eye like the nudes.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

In the Sistine Chapel.

[Franco Modigliani]

But the dead don't.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Blush.

[Franco Modigliani]

Blush. The dead don't blush. And I do want my grandchildren to know this history, your history. That's why I'm sharing these letters with you. To show you how love got us through the horror of it all.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Love, yes, but also luck, Serena. Because there is another side to the story here. I mean, everything we escaped and everyone we left behind.

[Ellie Kemper]

A woman from the neighborhood says to me, they are looking for you.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

You go out, go out, go out.

[Franco Modigliani]

It's too dangerous.

[Ellie Kemper]

You resist as long as you can.

[Franco Modigliani]

As best as you can.

[Ellie Kemper]

And when you cannot resist no more, you flee. My name is David Modidiani, and this is Pack One Bag, the story of my Italian Jewish family split apart by war and my quest to understand. If fascism takes over your country, do you stay or do you try to flee? And what happens if you can't. This is episode one, the fairy tale Escape. When my Nonnie died, it was a tough blow, and I couldn't really bring myself to dive into this trove of love letters they'd left for us. I felt this paralyzing mix of sadness and guilt that I'd waited too long. Instead, I just kept their voices alive in my head and I held their story, what I knew of it, close to me, especially the romantic parts.

[Willa Kaufman]

I heard this story the first day I met you.

[Ellie Kemper]

This is Willa.

[Willa Kaufman]

We were having drinks and you told me the story of how your grandparents met and escaped Fascist Italy together.

[Ellie Kemper]

It seems I'd been a little overeager to create a romantic mood on our first date. Wait. So that night I told you the whole story of how they met?

[Willa Kaufman]

Yes, complete with the voices?

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

I first saw Giornona when I was about 15 years old, and she came from Bologna to Rome, where I lived on a business trip with her father.

[Franco Modigliani]

I was taller than Nonno then, so.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Of course, when we were playing tag with my cousins, I chose her for my team.

[Franco Modigliani]

Yes, and then you grabbed my hand while we were running, and it made me fall down and tear my new silk stockings.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

She was furious. Furious. It was hate at first sight. And right away she gave me a mean name. Il Tippo Ridiculo, the ridiculous character.

[Franco Modigliani]

Which is exactly what he was. Ridiculous.

[Ellie Kemper]

But lucky for Nonna, Franco. Before Nonna's stockings were torn, she'd made the mistake of giving him her mailing address in Bologna. So that summer he started sending her these postcards, which he always signed Il Tipo Ridicolo. But these first attempts at flirtation couldn't bridge the 200 mile gap between Rome and Bologna, or the gap in their age.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

I could not really hold her attention from a distance. Her father was a big shot, so she was a fancy young signorina.

[Franco Modigliani]

Well, and I was almost. Almost two years old. You still are, which means a lot when you're young. Stop it.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

So it wasn't until a couple of years later that I had a second chance.

[Ellie Kemper]

Here's how it goes. Sirena's father has business in Rome again, so she comes along with him. And when she arrives, Franco is ready. He invites Serena to join him and his cousins for an outing along the Via Appia Antica, the ancient road that leads up out of Rome and into the hills. He picks her up in this rattling, rusty old Fiat, and his cousins are in a different car. But when they get to the base of the Appiantica road, the car full of cousins appears to run out of gas, something that Franco had actually planned in advance with his cousins. And they wave Franco and Serena on ahead.

[Franco Modigliani]

As we drive up the Appiantica, we begin to pass these mimosa trees, which are blooming so beautifully. And as soon as I mention them.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

To Franco, I stopped.

[Franco Modigliani]

I think, something's wrong. He gets out. Then I hear boom above me on the roof of the car.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Well, my car was the best way to get into the mimosa tree.

[Franco Modigliani]

Oh, gosh. From the window I see him climbing from the car, up into the tree and out along a branch to reach a big twig with the blooms, which he manages to break off and then jump down. Boom again. And pass through the window into my lap. These big mimosa blooms up close.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

My ridiculous character has to keep up his reputation.

[Ellie Kemper]

They drive up into the hills, stop by an open field and have some bread and cheese, looking down over Rome. And they get to know each other a little better.

[Franco Modigliani]

Franco is a sort of pesky, still a little scrawny, but very handsome, completely ignorant about politics.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

I was focused on my studies, but.

[Franco Modigliani]

Very intelligent, very curious, and verbally combative, which is attractive, you see. And since he is taller now, he's cute enough. I think he's cute enough. So at Tramonto sunset, before we leave, I let him kiss me.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

It is like kissing the sunset itself.

[Ellie Kemper]

The next morning, when Serena and her father arrive at the train station to go back to Bologna, a thin boy with springy hair in a suit two sizes too big is pacing the platform, the Tipo ridiculo.

[Franco Modigliani]

And he just begins to blabber about his undying love for me. I just completely over the top.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

I have to make my pitch before she takes a marriage proposal from some fancy man in Bologna.

[Franco Modigliani]

I say, don't be so ridiculo, Franco. This is too fast. It was just a kiss.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

She says, you are too young anyway. You can't even vote. By now I had skipped two grades. So I say, look, I'm already in university and I'll be 18 in just three months.

[Ellie Kemper]

So Serena says, fine, three months. You can write to me in three months when you turn 18. Then we'll see if this connection is real. And after imposing this cooling off period, she gets on the train with her father and leaves. We'll be right back after a short break.

[David Modigliani]

Today's podcast is sponsored by Strawberry Me. We talk a lot about the value of failure on this show, but working past setbacks can be a difficult process and one where you might want a little help. When most people think of coaching, they probably think it's just for CEOs or high powered executives. And the coaches are guys with muscles bulging out of their blazers delivering cliches about achievement. At Strawberry Me we believe everyone deserves access to personal coaching with coaches who are trained to help you navigate life's challenges. They can help you set and achieve your goals, whether that's improving your relationships, boosting confidence or choosing the next move in your career. Whatever you need to help unlock your full potential, a StrawBerry membership offers one on one video sessions with your coach and secure messaging in between to keep you on track. This is real coaching with real people and real results. Accessible to everyone who wants to find out how far they can go. Visit Strawberry Me Failbetter and take a short quiz to get matched with the perfect coach plus get 20% off your first month membership. That's Strawberry Me Failbetter.

[Ricki Lake]

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[Reshma Sajani]

Hi, I'm Emily Deschanel. And I'm Carla Gallo and we're excited to tell you about Boneheads, our new Bones Rewatch podcast. I played Dr. Temperance Brennan and I played Daisy Wick and we are going to watch from the very beginning. We're going to watch the episodes. We're going to reminisce, we're going to laugh, we're going to cry. We're going to tell behind the Scenes, stories. We're going to go on tangents, A lot of tangents.

[Ellie Kemper]

So whether you're a seasoned bones fanatic or a newcomer looking to dip your toes into the wild world of forensic.

[Reshma Sajani]

Anthropology, this show is for you. Boneheads from Lemonada Media is out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Franco Modigliani]

Three months later, I'm back in Bologna and I get a package from Rome. On top, there's a card. This card from Franco. He writes, o especato tremesi Signora Dita Torresa.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

I waited three months, Madam Dictator.

[Franco Modigliani]

Ma ogninotte teoscrito.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

But every night I wrote to you.

[Franco Modigliani]

So I open the box, and Inside there are 91 little letters. Three months of letters.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

The Tipo Ridiculous strikes again.

[Franco Modigliani]

The letters are filled with descriptions of special Tramonti sunsets, which she's using as a code word for kisses in case.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Her father intercepted the mail. I have to be very careful.

[Franco Modigliani]

So what could I do? I wrote back a long letter to.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Him sending me Tramonti too. And that was the start of everything.

[Ellie Kemper]

So that's part of what I told Willa the day I met her. If it sounds like I was trying to spin this romantic fairy tale to warm her up to me, well, that's 100% accurate.

[Willa Kaufman]

But I was too busy checking you out to totally remember all the details. So ever since you told me that story, I kept wanting to hear it again.

[Ellie Kemper]

And I wanted to share it with her. But I also needed to learn more about what actually happened. And at the time, I was wrapped up in film projects. Plus, Willow was living in New York and I live in Austin, Texas. So after that first date, we'd only seen each other every month or so. But then, in the spring of 2020, the world stopped.

[Ricki Lake]

The coronavirus has changed life as we know it. Across America, millions quarantined with whole cities in lockdown.

[Ellie Kemper]

When the COVID lockdown started, Willa and I were suddenly facing the very real possibility that we wouldn't be able to see each other for an indefinite amount of time. So in a somewhat ridiculo move of my own, I invited Willa to come stay with me in Austin. Thankfully, she was game. She drove to my place and we became quarantine mates.

[Willa Kaufman]

We went from seeing each other like three days a month to living together full time. Yeah, falling in love with the world on fire.

[Ellie Kemper]

Will is right. I was falling for her. And so when she asked again about my grandparents story, I thought about my copies of their love letters sitting in my filing cabinet. Nonna Serena had Even translated them into English before she died. The letters had been a source of guilt and sorrow, but Willa's curiosity felt infectious.

[Willa Kaufman]

I remember you took out your grandparents love letters and you started reading through them. We were sitting on the couch and yeah, you started to cry.

[Ellie Kemper]

They were moving, very vulnerable. We wound up immersed in my grandparents letters. This one from Franco is very head over heels. He says, I do that crazy thing I once described to you. I lay my cheek on your letters and breathe in your perfume.

[Willa Kaufman]

Have you tried that with my text?

[Ellie Kemper]

With your text messages? Yeah. No, I don't think they'd smell as good. But these letters weren't all mushy romance. We also saw how the political situation around them was starting to spiral. Franco writes about his professor pressuring him to toe the fascist party line. And Serena says antisemitism is getting louder in the mainstream press.

[Willa Kaufman]

Lately. I've seen several anti Jewish articles. This morning there was an especially idiotic one in the Bologna newspaper.

[Ellie Kemper]

Wow. These letters weren't what I'd expected. They weren't faded black and white mementos of some time gone by. The fragility of my grandparents political situation felt vivid and immediate, even strangely familiar. I mean, today in 2024, the parallels between their era and ours might feel more obvious. But even when we first read these letters back in the spring of 2020, we already had an American president stress testing the fundamentals of democracy. And more broadly, we were already in the midst of regular mass shootings by white supremacists, some of whom were posting anti Jewish manifestos online. An era kicked off by rows of men carrying tiki torches. Jews will not replace us. Jews will not replace us. Back then, swastikas were already popping in my town too.

[Reshma Sajani]

Tonight, neighbors want police to find whoever tagged their cars in South Austin with hateful antisemitic symbols.

[Ellie Kemper]

My generation grew up with two things I'd kind of taken for granted. Societal acceptance of Jews and a strong democracy. But it struck me that throughout world history, both of those things were not the norm. The period of safety and security Willa and I had grown up in was an exception, an intermission that could end. As Willa reminded me, part of the reason we met in the first place is because our grandparents had vacationed in the same community. One of the only towns in the area that would allow Jews to rent.

[Willa Kaufman]

A place, you know, like, that would be crazy for us to be like, oh, we can't stay in this hotel because we're Jewish. We don't think like that. But Our grandparents thought like that.

[Ellie Kemper]

My grandparents happened to be Jewish. But their story and the story of who they left behind holds clues for anyone facing down authoritarianism for any regular folks who might suddenly become refugees. So as I read their letters, I found myself wanting to ask them questions. Not for some historical record, but just to understand my present moment. Like if a strongman starts to other groups of people and invite political violence, what do you do? I mean, if fascism takes over your country, do you stay or do you try to flee? And how do you know when to make that choice? It's not like I was packing my bags yet, but I did want to understand. How do you plan for it and how do you get out? I also had a question about my bright and beautiful quarantine mate, Willa. What happens to relationships that are forged when the world's on fire? My nonni were gone and the letters in my hands couldn't answer all of these questions. But the person who knew them best was very much alive. My dad didn't just have a safe in his house. He had a kind of archive. 19 boxes of my grandparents documents.

[Sergio Modigliani]

In fact, some of these boxes I literally have not opened ever. Part of the problem here is keeping track of all this stuff and what do you do with it.

[Ellie Kemper]

It seemed to me that the first step was to open up the boxes. That's after the break.

[Reshma Sajani]

I love me some me and my nipples are touching my gut. Yes, girl. Welcome to the Body Collective podcast. I'm Katie Storino. We're here to change the conversation about weight. We're going to take everything we've learned about shame, unlearn it and transform it into a source of power. And I'm doing it with some of my greatest girlfriends. I'm Hunter McGrady. Ashley Longshore. My name is Tracy Moore from Lemonada Media and Weight Watchers. The Bodi Collective is out now.

[Ellie Kemper]

Get.

[Ricki Lake]

Ready for a wild mythical adventure. Melissa McCarthy leads an all star cast in a hilarious new podcast, Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire. In this fantastical fictional tale, McCarthy stars as Hildy, an unlikely hero from the land of Golgorath who must embark on an epic quest with an unlikely team of warriors to save the world. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Octavia Spencer, Glenn Close and more, Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire spins a legendary laugh out loud tale you won't want to miss. Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire is out now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Reshma Sajani]

Hey everyone. It's me, Ricki Lake. Despite all my success, I've been through some serious challenges. Struggles with my weight, with hair loss, grief, everything. But despite it all, I have managed to create a life filled with ease and a whole lot of fun. Finally, in midlife, I feel like I have mastered the art of choosing happiness, and I want to share that hope, love and good health with you. Listen to the High Life with Ricky Lake from Lemonada Media, out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ellie Kemper]

My dad, Sergio, is an architect by trade, and he looks a little bit like an Italian Hemingway. Solid build, cropped white hair, trimmed white beard, expressive eyes. He's tilting forward a little bit now at age 77, like he's leaning into a stiff wind at sea. All right, so we're going down the stairs of your condo building to a storage area.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Storage area.

[Ellie Kemper]

I went back to Boston to see him and to open up this little archive.

[Sergio Modigliani]

And here we are.

[Ellie Kemper]

Here we are. A what, 8 by 10 room with a couple of shelves and then covered in plastic are these boxes. After poring through my grandparents love letters from the late 1930s, I had questions about their flight from Italian fascism, questions that probe deeper than what was in the letters, and I was hoping that my dad and these boxes might hold some answers.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Your grandmother Serena had for many years been keeping records of your grandfather's life and achievements. And when your grandmother passed away, I found a quite remarkable archive which included things not just related to your grandfather, but to the entire family.

[Ellie Kemper]

Just like his father, Nondo Franco, my dad is an intellectual omnivore who's also methodical and precise. Even if he hasn't opened these boxes, he's approached them in a logical way, just like every other project I've seen him take on, whether that's designing a hospital or eating corn on the cob. We stack the boxes on an old luggage cart and begin to roll them toward my parents condo. You've run a very professional operation.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Meaning what?

[Ellie Kemper]

A very professional archive. You have carriages, boxes, categorized systems.

[Sergio Modigliani]

David I've been dealing with these for 14 years.

[Ellie Kemper]

For my whole life. My dad's always been doing things for us. In high school English class, we read this poem that stuck with me. It's called those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden. It's about a father rising early, even on Sundays in the blue black cold to make a fire while his son is still warm in bed. I've always felt like the sun in that poem, and this situation is no different. My dad has managed the physical and emotional weight of these boxes across two moves so that they sit available for me. The day I roll up, it feels like it's time for me to help shoulder the load. We move the boxes from the cart into my dad's home office and get to work.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Okay, up on the table.

[Ellie Kemper]

We're glad to be in an architect's office where we have large surfaces for reviewing documents and some good lights.

[Sergio Modigliani]

All right, turn on.

[Ellie Kemper]

Okay, so this is box. Box number one.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Box number one.

[Ellie Kemper]

This is from Jimmy Carter with a handwritten note.

[Sergio Modigliani]

How nice. Saying to Serena, your letter is beautiful and still pertinent. Thanks and best wishes. Love, Jimmy Carter.

[Ellie Kemper]

Love, Jimmy.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Jimmy. Thank you.

[Ellie Kemper]

This fancy pen pal wasn't really a big surprise to me. As a prominent economist, Donna Franco had a platform, and both he and my grandmother used that platform to engage with powerful folks and build real friendships. Dear Serena and Franko, thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Sincerely, Bill Clinton. Okay, thanks, Bill. But I already knew about most of this post war public life. I was opening these boxes hoping to uncover more about who my Nonni really were before the war and how they escaped it. So when my dad and I took a break from the boxes, we went over the facts. I knew Nonna Serena's family had been ready to flee the country and that somehow Franco, the tipo ridicolo, had gotten an invitation to come along. Later, In August of 1939, they'd boarded this famous French ocean liner, the Normandie, bound for New York City.

[Sergio Modigliani]

And they all do indeed arrive in New York, only to find that a few days after their arrival, Hitler invades Poland and the war breaks. The Normandie was the last passenger ship to leave prior to the September 1 outbreak.

[Ellie Kemper]

I'd always been amazed by this timing, how my grandparents got off the European continent just before it was engulfed in war. But what I didn't fully understand was what Nondo Franco left behind. When Serena's parents offered him this chance.

[Sergio Modigliani]

To escape, Franco accepted, leaving behind in that process his own family in Rome, which included his mother, his brother Giorgio, and many cousins, aunts, uncles. So more than five years pass with no knowledge of what had happened to them. So it was a pretty amazing departure and disconnect.

[Ellie Kemper]

Mainondi's flight out of Italy had always seemed like a fairy tale, this romantic escape with a happy ending that I told Willa the day I met her. But hearing my dad describe my grandfather saying goodbye to his family, I began to see the more tragic side of their story. That departure from the coast of France ultimately split our family apart. It landed my grandparents in New York and isolated them from everyone they'd left behind in Italy when the war broke out. That disconnect became five long years in which Nondofranco had no news from his family, just reading about the war in the New York Times, listening to American radio stations broadcast that the Nazis had occupied his hometown of Rome, eventually getting word of the systematic mass murder of European Jews. It's getting late when my dad and I decide to open up one more box for the day. And finally we find something that does surprise me.

[Sergio Modigliani]

All right, you're opening a box here.

[Ellie Kemper]

Three. Yes, box three. This is a sheaf. A sheaf of many papers.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Oh, this is, I think maybe the famous letter of. Yeah. From Giorgio to the family, telling about his experience during the war. This is.

[Ellie Kemper]

What do you mean, the famous letter?

[Sergio Modigliani]

Well, Georgia, my uncle Franco's brother.

[Ellie Kemper]

Yeah.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Had written a letter to Franco and Serena to tell them that they were basically alive and what had happened during the war. And it's. This must be it.

[David Modigliani]

It's.

[Ellie Kemper]

It's.

[Sergio Modigliani]

It's very type letter.

[Ellie Kemper]

There's 20. How many pages here?

[Sergio Modigliani]

24 pages. And it starts off, he says, acquista la prima letter vispedisco diretamente e sono tante le cause da. Da contarve. That is, it's the first direct letter. And there are many things to tell you. Wow.

[Ellie Kemper]

Huge. In my hands. I now have an account from my great uncle Giorgio, one of the family members my Nonno Franco left behind. The famous letter my dad had only heard of. It turns out to be the page turning story of how Giorgio and his family faced the Nazi occupation of Rome. Here's a passage my dad helped me.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Caminium tre ore piu con animos traziato in supati fino aleosti. We walked three hours or more with tortured souls soaked to the bone, with feet rotted by water and mud, while the poor children looked at us speechless, sensing the difficulty of the destiny that awaited us. Every time I lifted my foot from the slimy mud to take another step, I seemed to feel reliving within me the wandering Jew, as he advances, advances, always in search of a refuge, a place which will still not be final for him.

[Ellie Kemper]

Reading Giorgio's letter is like hearing from a parallel universe, a version of what might have happened to my Nonni if they hadn't escaped Italy. But this letter was only a start. I had so much to learn about the other side of my Nonni's story, about who and what they'd left behind, about how it all went down. Giorgio's children were still alive in Rome. I'd already failed to record my Nonni before they died. But I didn't have to make the same mistake twice. If I wanted to answer these questions about my grandparents and their families, I knew I had to travel back over the ocean my grandparents had crossed on the Normandie. I had to go back to the hills of Mimosa Trees, back to the country that had given Nonnofranco that green sash of knighthood. Back to Italy. I called Willa to tell her.

[Willa Kaufman]

How long would you need to be there?

[Ellie Kemper]

I don't know. A month, maybe. Yeah, but I would need a crew. I mean, just. I would need an audio engineer.

[Willa Kaufman]

Yeah, or I could do it, really.

[Ellie Kemper]

Willa was making a ridiculo move of her own, a generous offer to put her own projects on pause and use the audio skills she'd learned in film school to help me uncover my family's story on the ground. I felt pretty anxious about mixing work with romance. But Willa's curiosity was the reason I'd started digging back into my family's history in the first place. It felt right to keep going together. So I said yes. And we committed to the adventure ahead, with no idea just how far it would take us. Ciao, Enrico.

[Serena Calabi Modigliani]

Hey.

[Ellie Kemper]

This is. How beautiful you are. Thanks to the regime, by 38, it had become illegal for Jews to move money out. But I don't know what to say. It had to be done in case we had to flee.

[Franco Modigliani]

How do you walk out on your whole life in one day?

[Ellie Kemper]

We are walking to go and meet with the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi. Germany has invaded and bombed many times. General mobilization has been ordered. She's saying that the bombs came. There was no siren. They came down and they hid. Right here we see a stampede of people with women running and shouting to the men, run away. The Germans will take you.

[Sergio Modigliani]

As commander in chief, I have directed.

[Ellie Kemper]

That all measures be taken. Paradox.

[Willa Kaufman]

You could wind up in an internment camp in Texas.

[Franco Modigliani]

Of course.

[Ellie Kemper]

It's crazy. This is what war does. Next time on Pack One Bag. We prepare for Italy by uncovering more of my family's story in those 19 boxes. That's where we find a surprising personal connection to the very man who would drive my family out of Italy.

[Sergio Modigliani]

No, it's signed by Mussolini. It's signed directly. Benito Mussolini.

[Ellie Kemper]

It says vostro yours. This is a letter from Benito Mussolini.

[Sergio Modigliani]

Yep.

[Ellie Kemper]

Pack One Bag is a production of Live Action Projects and Gilded Audio with sales and distribution by Lemonada Media Is there someone you think might enjoy this show? Please text them this episode. Reviewing the show in your podcast app is the best way to help new listeners find us, even just taking a second to give us five stars. To be sure you don't miss an episode, follow or subscribe to this feed where you're listening right now. If you want to see a Modigliani family tree, Franco's Nobel Prize, and the first postcards he sent to Serena, please follow us on Instagram, TikTok and X at Pack One Bag to hear bonus audio from behind the scenes and to share your own stories and comments, please Visit our website pack1bagshow.com where you can also find a tip jar to support the series. Pack One Bag is produced and written by me, David Modigliani production, audio engineering and story development by Willa Kaufman lead producer Nicky Stein producer Eric Spiegelman executive producer and editor, Whitney Donaldson story editor and additional writing, Sam Dingman executive producer and voice talent, Stanley Tucci. The show's original music is by David Garza sound design by Dan Rosato, Nick Dooley additional Italian research and production, Sophie Eisenberg archival research and additional Dustin Brown, Olivia Canney and Ben Chugg graphic design and art by Philip Hodges Andrew Chugg is Gilded Audio's creative director. Executive producers for Lemonada Media, Jessica Cordova, Kramer and Stephanie Whittles Walks Our show is made possible by the lead executive producer, El Jefe, Jeff Steen co executive producers Andrew J. Viterbi, David Montague, Leanne Behrens, Shoshana Ungerleiter, Andrew and Lindsey Gill, Alex Halbert, Heather Halbert and Dominic Leon co producers Diana Barrett and Ashley Pettis and Linda and John Halbert associate producers Justin Siegel, Guy Lancaster, Nikki McGrane, Leah Modigliani and Arthur Julian early development production by Rachel Eklund and Brian Ramos consulting Rebecca Pfefferman. We'll thank the many additional supporters of the show at the end of our series. Until then, my biggest and deepest thanks to the entire extended Modigliani family in the United States and in Italy, all of you past and present. See you next time.

[Reshma Sajani]

Hi everyone. Gloria Rivera here, and we are back for another season of no One Is Coming to Save Us, a podcast about America's childcare crisis. This season, we're delving deep into five critical issues facing our country through the lens of childcare, poverty, mental health, housing, climate change and the public school system. By exploring these connections, we aim to highlight that childcare is not an isolated issue, but one that influences all facets of American life. Season four of no One is Coming to Save Us is out now. Wherever you get your podcasts, I'm Lupita Nyong'o. My new podcast, mind you'd Own, is a storytelling show that navigates what it means to belong all from the African perspective. We're going beyond the headlines to dive into nuanced, intimate stories from Africans around the world. I'm so excited to bring this show to you. Listen to Mind you'd own on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.