Liverpool Communities - Italian

The Capaldi Family

Ice Cream Parlour

Liverpool was known as the 'gateway' to the new world and a stopping off point en-route to America for immigrants from many parts of the world. During the 1870s and 1880s many Italian families left their homeland to seek work and stable futures for their children. Disease and hunger had become widespread, food prices soared and unemployment rose, for many the choice was simple, they could leave Italy or starve. Arriving in Liverpool they made for the area just outside the city centre where among the Court and Boarding houses they knew they would receive a welcome as for one thing the Italian's were certain to do was to look after their own. Welcoming houses would give them food and rest before either helping them find work and homes, or with purchasing tickets for the voyage to America. Through lack of money, fear of being turned away from America, or just their own choice, many Italian families decided to stay in Liverpool finding work, some with the intention of saving enough money to continue with the journey. The immigrants were well received and it was said in a local newspaper at the time of the influx, "It was very rare to find anywhere they had settled evidence of a single offence committed by them." Many of these settlers originated from the small mountain villages of Atina & Picinisco, located midway between Rome and Naples and to the north Genoa and Lucca, making the voyage from Italy on the same vessel and as such established family friendships which were to endure for generations an even up to the modern day. Some family names include… Albertini - Baccino - Bartolomeri - Blanki - Boggiano - Bonneretti - Bordessa - Capaldi - Cappella - Chiappe - Cogliolo - Colletta - D'Annunzio - Edro - Fasciole - Ferri - Franchetti - Frediani - Fusco - Gianelli - Granelli - Guzzoni - Iello - Imundi - Innelli - Mancini - Marengo - Minchelli - Miolla - Minghella - Moretta - Muscatelli - Pacelli - Podesta Riccio - Riozzi - Rocca - Russiano - Sabatini - Santangelli Sartorri - Silvano - Sinagoea - Tambourini - Temarco - Valerio - Valvona - Varcelli - Ventre - Vermiglio – Volante. A regular guest on Linda McDermott's Radio Merseyside's programe is Debra D'Annunzio who has researched her Italian ancestory and published the book, ' Liverpool's Italian Families.'

The Little Italy area of Liverpool was home to not all, but to the majority of Italian's who chose to settle within the city and was located at the top end of Scotland Road towards the city centre. The principal roads of this vicinity were Christian Street, Circus Street, Gerard Street, Governor Street, Hunter Street and Lionel Street with many smaller  streets branching off. The influx of immigrants created several business opportunities within the area, several lodging houses were established, firms hiring musical instruments and hand carts and cook houses became common place, this was largely due to the vast amount of unmarried Italian males arriving. Living alongside them within this community were the Irish, with the Catholic faiths of the two helping them to form a mutual respect for each other, and with many Italian/Irish marriages taking place. St Joseph's church became the main place of worship for the Italian's, though many chose Holy Cross church on the other side of Scotland Road. The migration period can be categorized into four distinctive patterns throughout the 19th Century, skilled craftsmen, political expatriates, unskilled immigrants and traveling craftsmen. The skilled craftsmen had left Italy independently and did not follow any sort of migration trend. They were mainly from Northern Italy from areas such as Coma and Lucca and all specialized in specific fields, for example the people from Coma were expert engravers and precision instrument makers, whilst the people from Lucca made intricate plaster figurines. They married English women, and it can be assumed they did not become part of any Italian community here but rather merged into British society, nevertheless they placed the foundations for future Italians.  

The Italian's were hard working, friendly, and well liked within the community, they worked hard and many found success with business ventures. They brought with them their skills from their homeland, allowing them to maintain their own traditions as well as bringing it to the local people. They were wonderful entertainers who brought their music, Organ grinders, Plaster figures, food, and especially, Ice cream. They ran stores, cook houses, Fish and chip shops, while their skilled Mosaic and Terrazzo workers produced incredible work in some of the cities finest buildings. It is impossible to walk through Liverpool without seeing some of the skills of their craft.

The Italian's had settled in well in Liverpool. Although the Little Italy area was one of the most poverished in the city, it did not deter them, this was their home. Like the Irish they accepted what life had thrown at them, rose above it and got on with it all. Life could be hard and at times terrible, but they came through. The church processions and wedding celebrations have long become legendary, most of us can only wonder at how marvelous they where as we will never experience anything like them. One of the most difficult times, also recalled in print by Debra D'Annunzio, was when Mussolini led Italy into WW11 when he sided with Germany. Almost overnight those of Italian descent were rounded up for questioning with many interned in the prisoner of war camp in Huyton near Bluebell Lane. Italian run shops and homes were attacked, windows smashed and insults thrown and the previously close knit community left in disarray. A decision was made to deport many of the Italians to Canada or Australia, with the cruise ships Arandora Star and Ettrick used for the voyage to Canada. On the 1st of July 1940 the SS Arandora Star left Liverpool on route to St. John's, Newfoundland and the Canadian internment camps with approximately 734 Italian's on board. On route it was torpedoed by a German U-boat and it is believed 486 Italian's died along with German prisoners and British troops and crew. This event became the most tragic in the history of the Anglo-Italian community. No other Italian community in the world had or has ever since suffered so greatly.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/02/liverpool-communities-chinese.html