‘A very dear place in the hearts of Italians’

A tidal wave of emigrants left Italy between 1880 and 1920 to escape starvation, malaria and never-ending poverty.

Hundreds of thousands streamed across the ocean. Sailing for several weeks on ships carrying hundreds of passengers herded together like cattle, many became ill from the stormy waters of the Atlantic.

A few were headed for Canada. Smaller numbers still were bound for Winnipeg. But by 1901, 147 people of Italian origin lived in Winnipeg, according to Stanislao Carbone, author of Italians in Winnipeg, and by 1921, 1,311 Italians lived here.

Before 1923, Winnipeg Italians worshipped at St. Mary's Cathedral and other parishes until eventually they found a place they could call their own.

Solid as a Rocco

The iconic image of the Italian barber has been around since 1911 when Mary Pickford co-starred in the silent comedy, The Italian Barber.

More than a century later, audiences are still drawn to Italian barbers. YouTube has close to 1,000 clips of Italian men around the world, grooming guys and dispensing wisdom.

In Winnipeg these days, the Italian barber shop is alive and well -- but its days may be numbered.

"The number of barbers is falling off," said barber Rocco Curatolo, owner of Rocky's Men's Hair Styling & Royal Crown Replacements.

Garden of eatin’

When the Garofalos bought a home in Crestview in the late '70s, their yard wasn't a feast for the eyes.

"When I came here there was a big lot," said Raffaele Garofalo.

More than 30 years later, every spare inch of the Italian-Canadian Winnipegger's backyard is growing something good to eat.

"It's heaven," said the retired chef who immigrated from Italy nearly 60 years ago.

Industrious Italians rose from peasant roots and adapted to Canadian society

"The Italian, like the Irishman, is a bundle of contradictions. He is hot-headed and quick-tempered; yet he is good-natured, kind, obliging; he is gay, fun-loving, light-hearted: yet he takes the every-day duties of life as seriously as he takes religion; he is generous and yet will deny himself the necessities of life to save money. Hot-blooded, volatile, when compared with the Anglo-Saxon, artistic in temperament, industrious, easily influenced for good or bad, the Italian immigrant is an interesting addition to our population."

-- The Manitoba Free Press, Jan. 18, 1913

The first ones sent word back home the streets were paved with gold. That wasn't necessarily the case, but their indomitable spirit, strong work ethic and family devotion would raise Winnipeg's Italian immigrants above their peasant roots. They toiled in rail yards and factories, but they also opened grocery stores, tailor shops, restaurants and other businesses. From agrarian worker to proletariat to entrepreneur, they also introduced their new home to an Old World tableau of language, cuisine and customs.

Amore intenso

North Americans often call it "soccer" while most of the rest of the world refers to it as "football" or "futbol."

But Italians call it "calcio" and, quite frankly, it's more than just a game or a sport. It's more than just a passing fancy or something they'll stop and watch for a few minutes while channel surfing.

To an Italian, soccer -- calcio -- well, it means everything.

And so when you ask a Winnipegger of Italian descent to try to answer this very basic question: "Why are Italians so passionate about this game?" the answer can't possibly come in one sentence or even in a few hundred words. It's bigger than that. Much, much bigger.

Tough life for an outsider

Early immigrants to Canada from Italy (1895 to 1930) constituted a cheap workforce, which contributed greatly to the Canadian economy. But the Italians, particularly southern Italians, were exposed to scorn, ridicule, ostracism and racial slurs by Canadian nativists, who considered immigration from eastern and southern Europe a social evil. Political leaders in Winnipeg wrote that "Italians were worthless as settlers," and anticipated trouble with this class of immigrant.

A minister in the Laurier government expressed his opinion on Italian immigration: "I don't want anything done to facilitate Italian immigration."

Differences in religious beliefs were probably as important as ethnicity in determining how immigrants were viewed.

Immigrants of Anglo-Saxon and northern European origin were warmly received and accepted by the dominant British element already established in Canada. Immigrants from countries in eastern and southern Europe who did not share the same traditions were not warmly accepted and did not as easily adjust to their new environment. They were pejoratively referred to as wops, dagos, greasers, spaghetti-eaters.

From panino and olive oil to white bread, peanut butter

You would be surprised how much Italian you know. You can thank the Italian language for cameo, replica, volcano, scenario, vista, malaria, casino and much more. If we enter the world of song, opera and operetta, orchestra, cello, soprano, piano, forte, adagio, allegro and fortissimo have all struck a tune. Then when we enter the culinary world of spaghetti Bolognese, macaroni, lasagne, pizza marinara, salami calabrese, pasta e faggioli, cappuccino, espresso, zucchini, risotto in a lovely ristorante, you know you are speaking Italian.

Not many realize that when most Italians arrived in Canada after the Second World War, they had the culinary awakening I had -- no sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella or prosciutto, nor eggplant in olive oil on multi-grain bread. After 11 days of crossing the Atlantic by ship, the five-day journey by train from Pier 21 to the CN Rail station in Winnipeg, my mother, brother and I were introduced to the Canadian culinary extravaganza of white, stick-to-your-palate, spongy bread covered with an even stickier concoction called peanut butter. My mother saved our tastebuds from extinction by breaking out the capocollo and biscotto bread she had lovingly brought over upon her husband's request for savoury food.

When you make your delectable gastronomic purchases at De Luca's, Di Nardi's or the Calabrese Market, as you chomp into a panino stuffed with roasted red peppers and Italian sausage, do you think back to the Winnipeg of the late 1950s and '60s where little to none of this existed for you and me?

I lived in two culinary worlds as a young girl in Manitoba. We ate Italian at home and I ate "Canadian" outside. This dichotomy existed for many of us not only in our selection of foods as newly arrived immigrants. We spoke Italian and/or a Calabrese dialect in our home and English outside. We frequented an Italian church to hear our language and meet other immigrants like ourselves. We needed the reassurance a language and its culture can bring. Linguistic transition is not pleasant when you do not know what a person is mumbling or shouting or simply saying to you when it is not in your language. It at times sounds like gibberish with a tone or attitude. Turn the radio on to a foreign station, try listening to another language and tell me what they are saying the first time you hear it.

Internment of Italians reflects broad cultural intolerance

The internment of Italian-Canadians is a dark stain on Canada's multicultural history. Though many are familiar with the injustices of the Second World War, few recognize the magnitude of the cultural intolerance that existed during those years. This is the story of one of those injustices.

After the First World War, fascism was on the rise in Europe. As the alliance between Mussolini and Adolf Hitler grew, so did the fear of their British adversaries. Consequently, Canadians felt the same suspicions and fears as their British partners. As suspicions grew, so did the intolerance of immigrants in Canada. Italians in Winnipeg became targets for suspicion and surveillance. In the years leading up to the Second World War, many Italian businesses were boycotted, Casa D'Italias were closed, meetings of groups such as the Sons of Italy were prohibited and church festivals outlawed. Italians became guilty by virtue of culture rather than crime.

On June 10, 1940, Canada declared war on Italy. Prime Minister Mackenzie King ordered the arrest and internment of any Italian who was suspected of sabotage or questionable activities. The prime minister used the War Measures Act of 1914 to suspend the civil liberties of Italian citizens.

As a result, between 600 and 700 Italians were arrested and detained in camps in Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. Upon arrival, Italians were given a navy-blue uniform with a red stripe along the side and a red circle on the back. The purpose of this target was to give the guards a place to shoot should an individual try to escape. While in the camps, many internees had their bank accounts looted, businesses closed and families abandoned. They were given inadequate living conditions and forced to work for 25 cents a day.

A stitch in time

It seems like a fitting refuge for an aging practitioner of a lost art.

Giovanni Lagioia's custom tailoring shop is located at 726 Osborne St., kind of. To find Gio, locate a narrow gap between buildings that leads to the rear, and cross the parking lot to a small, converted garage, the modest home for the last 20 years of one of Riverview's hidden treasures.

The ranks of the master tailors who can cut and hand-stitch a made-to-measure suit are thinning fast. And there are few apprentices willing to take up the needle in their place.

The Godfather of Bocce

A family man. A restaurant owner.

These are the two titles Joe Grande, owner of the local Italian eatery Mona Lisa, likes to go by.

However, when talking with him at his Corydon Avenue restaurant he opened 30 years ago, another name seems fitting.

The Godfather of Bocce.

Food, folks, fun… and philanthropy

Italians love good food and fellowship, and a group of local Italians has been putting those loves together to serve up philanthropic efforts for several years.

The Order Sons of Italy's Garibaldi Lodge, the first lodge of the international order to be organized in Manitoba when it was created in 1984, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years, thanks to the hard work of their 100 members.

President Justin Bova said most funds are raised through its annual gala dinner.

"Our main goal is philanthropic, which not only benefits the Italian community, but others," Bova said.