Z1205/175

Male. Italian immigrant brickworker. b. 18.02.1936 SIDE A (00 mins)Born in Piano D'ordine in the province of Avellino, Southern Italy. Father was a self-employed maker of baskets. Mother from next village, Picarelli. (05 mins)Sold baskets at a market once a week and made them to order for farmers. (10 mins)Village situated on the Via Apia, on the road to Foggia. Local shops. Paternal grandparents lived next door. Maternal grandparent in next village, seen once or twice a month. (15 mins)7 children in family. Hard post-war conditions. Tobacco factory and walnut factory in village as seasonal work (20 mins)Chestnuts in October/November. Village school, from 6 - 14 years. (25 mins)Elder sister went to England to work in a factory in Yorkshire, aged 21 yrs. (30 mins)She met and married an Englishman. Her parents went over for the wedding. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)The other sister joined her to work in England. Father and two sons came over to work in the brickworks at Stewartby. Interviewee came over with his mother and his youngest sister to join the rest of the family in 1953. (05 mins)His mother's parents had already died and his father's father had died. Grandmother and aunties and uncles remained in Italy. The shock of living in a town with thousands of workers on bicycles going to work. (10 mins)Started work 8 Jan 1954 as a labourer at London Brick. Helped out by other Italian workers there. (15 mins)Learned Italian at work through other workers. Met an English girl from Stewartby. Father not keen on Italians because of the war. (20 mins)Fiancé got pregnant and they married. Married 44 years (in 2002). Had five children but one died through an accident. 8 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Saved up and bought a house in Wootton. (25 mins)After forty years, returned to Italy. His home village had suffered an earthquake in 1981 and it had to be rebuilt but to the same design. Emotional return to his remaining family there. Only one of his own age remained in his mum's village. Since then, tourist holidays to various parts of Italy. (30 mins)Doesn't regret coming to England. Has his family around him. Sons and daughters only 20 minutes away. Emigration form southern Italy was the norm. (32 mins)End of Side B END OF INTERVIEW. Original Interview 60 mins.

20 November 2002

From: 1930 To: 2002

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brick worker, basket maker, markets, walnuts, immigration, agricultural labourer, bicycles, LANGUAGE, DEATH, seismic, holidays, Italy, Yorkshire, STEWARTBY, WOOTTON, Piano D'ordine