DNA Test Reunites Italian Orphan With 50 Family Members

Carlo Arco spent six decades wondering about the mother who gave him up, but he finally found his family just in time to say goodbye surrounded by their love.

Born Giancarlo Lavi in Turin, Italy in 1952, Carlo was abandoned as an infant and spent five years in a religious institution. At six years old, he flew alone to the United States to be adopted by an American family.

For most of his life, Carlo didn't talk about his biological mother. He loved his adoptive father Sam deeply and never wanted him to feel replaced. But after Sam passed away and Carlo suffered a massive stroke, his wife Debra gently asked if he ever thought about finding her.

"Why should I? She gave me up for adoption," Carlo told her at first. But Debra reminded him that in 1952 Italy, unmarried pregnant women often had no choice. Two weeks later, Carlo changed his mind. "I want to look for my mother," he said.

Debra spent nearly a year researching every evening after dinner, tracking down the orphanage in Turin and petitioning Italian courts. In 2019, she suggested Carlo take a MyHeritage DNA test. The results changed everything.

Carlo discovered he had a half-brother named Angelo living in Sicily. "Carlo was in heaven. I had never seen him so happy," Debra says. The test revealed over 50 family members he never knew existed.

Angelo was sitting alone in his kitchen in Sicily when he got the notification. "I never imagined for a second that it would reveal a brother," he says. Their first video call left both men in tears. "He whispered, 'I love you, my brother,' and something shifted forever inside me," Angelo remembers.

The COVID-19 pandemic delayed their first meeting until 2021, when Angelo and his son Marco traveled to Carlo's home in Highland, New York. "That embrace contained everything: the years we had lost, the unanswered questions and the profound joy of having found each other," Angelo says.

They also learned about Carlo's mother, who never had other children because she feared she wouldn't be a good mother after losing him. She had held Carlo during his baptism before he was taken to the orphanage, signing the baptism record as a witness.

Sunny's Take

The most beautiful part of this story isn't just that Carlo found his family. It's that his Italian relatives showed up with open hearts and immediate love. When Carlo passed away on November 11, 2022, his daughter held the phone so Angelo could say goodbye from Italy. Carlo smiled and whispered one last time, "I love you, my brother."

After Carlo's death, Debra and their daughter Dana traveled to Sicily for 10 days. Angelo's family welcomed them with daily meals, family recipes, and endless warmth. "It was incredibly emotional," Debra says. They could feel Carlo with them the entire time.

Carlo never made it to Italy himself, but his DNA test created a bridge across an ocean and six decades of separation, proving that family bonds can form instantly when given the chance.