Culture

Among Canada’s numerous visual artists of Italian heritage, Sveva Caetani is probably the least known. Yet, her body of work is significant, defined by a visual and thematic complexity that defies categorization. Like many artists, Sveva Caetani’s life was marked by emotional and physical challenges which she expressed in her art. Her father, Leone Caetani, was descended of Italian nobility,…

There is this picture of me, taken at my first gay pride parade, that is one of my favourites. In it, I’m wearing a vintage red and white baseball t-shirt (ironically, of course) and a black sports cap. I must have been about twenty years old at the time, but I look years younger. I’m standing in the centre of…

​Luca inhaled deeply and then parked his cigarette in the ashtray. He turned to me, wearing a very decisive expression and said: “You know…” He paused. “…You are the son she never had.” “What do you mean?” I asked him pointedly. “You know it, the good son, the one she had always hoped for…but the one she never actually had,…

So many of my ancient order have passed on, not from the Covid, but from the life. I have received their spirts and by receiving them I am gifted by their hopes, and this now, for too many years. Grief begets mourning and mourning has its watershed, and when a man traverses the crest, he enters into a landscape of…

Let us not pull any punches here. Nobody pulled any punches on him! His father-in-law is dead. It is the way life goes, and he and his wife live with it and understand the great arc of their peculiar providence. Together, they made a life with him; certainly, after the mother-in-law died of the cancer and later, when the old…

Death begins the way it always does, so many times, with a phone call out of the blue. My wife and I were on an errand and our daughter relayed a call to say that a matriarch had died. It happened on the weekend; the visitation was yesterday and the funeral tomorrow, according to our cousin. We were so grateful…

Read in English Se dovessi definire il periodo natalizio in una parola sarebbe: luce. Quella che illumina le strade, quella delle vetrine dei negozi, quella degli alberi decorati, quella dei balconi, quella dei presepi e quella nel cuore di ogni bambino che aspetta l’arrivo di Babbo Natale. Per molte persone significa fare regali, tempo di vacanze e riposo dal lavoro…

We went down in the biblical sense to the city again. My wife and I. She went with me, in a womanly way, knowing that her husband was seeking to capture some things that are lost and I was conscious of the nadir, perhaps the knell, of a micro culture that faded before my eyes. Life slips through our fingers.…

Nothing says Italian style like a Fiat 500 (pronounced cheen·kweh·CHEN·toh). My love affair with the 500 began when I was 16. I really wanted one, but it would not fit into my suitcase. So I had to go home without one. I don’t know if I will ever own a super cute, chubby 500, but I have spent years photographing them all…

The speedboat and ferry trails left furrows of white wake on the deep azure blue of the Tyrrhenian Sea. As he watched from his window seat high above the peninsula, the white and blue commingled, and his thoughts returned to his childhood, to his first trip to Italy, to relatives, to mountains, and to an ocean liner that left white…

“T’avia sarbàtu du aranci. Ma…” mi dice zia Carmela. “Ti avevo messo da parte le arance. Ma…” sospira. Sono al telefono con lei e parliamo in siciliano, la nostra lingua madre. “Cu è? A nuòstra Francuzza?” sento lo zio Luigi in sottofondo. Io sono a Montreal e loro a Joppolo Giancaxio, il paesino in provincia di Agrigento dove sono cresciuta.…

He calls me il vagabondo because he never knows when I will show up to visit. I have heard that I am “better than an Italian boy” and this is because I show up all the time. It is the way it is. It is not so hard to learn. He is used to me by now. There are many…

Although it was a long time ago, the memories I have are still vivid – walking as a boy at my father's side on cool summer mornings, before the sun was up, at the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto, visiting the farmers' stalls one after another, looking for the most succulent black cherries, the juiciest red haven peaches from the…

In 1966, at the age of twenty-four, I left Italy, my country of birth, and only sporadically returned to visit relatives and friends. Seldom in touch with Italian news, over the many years, I only recall the major events that the media chose to broadcast about my country. If this detachment appears to be neglect for my place of birth,…

I am sent by my wife to retrieve the veal – 11 sweet, 7 hot, a small container of cipolle (the onion), and funghi (the mushrooms-in-oil), ten buns (and make sure they are soft). We phoned the order in yesterday, for our dinner is tonight. It is the celebration of the Fathers – the Father’s Day. For this, there are three…

They sailed across the Atlantic in multiple waves via chain migration. They cultivated the new land they fondly called home and raised their families there. My mom settled in Montreal in 1955, with great faith and golden dreams. She understood what it meant to be a foreigner in a foreign land, but she bravely laid the foundations, built a solid…

The Prescott shares a reputation with The Lafayette House in the Byward Market as the oldest licensed drinking establishment in Ottawa. Originally called The Preston Hotel (it stopped renting rooms in 1978), the establishment was re-baptized The Prescott in 1941 most likely, it is held, in recognition of its status as the last watering hole between Ottawa and the town…

A new law came into effect in Canada on October 17 that legalizes the recreational use of marijuana. The legislation was met with praise by some and criticism by others. But what do Italian Canadians think of this new state of affairs? We put the question to a random group of people. Based on our sample’s response, the only thing…

It has been my experience as an educator and a self-proclaimed ambassador of Italian culture that when people think of Italy, they think of three things: the food, the history, and the trains never running on time. They are right on all three counts (although, unbeknownst to them, the third is a direct result of the second). More frequent travellers…

To honour his hometown of Roccamorice in the mountains of Abruzzo, Alberto Di Giovanni established an exquisite cultural museum in a restored chapel in the heart of the village. The project began about 10 years ago when the municipality was able to fund the reconstruction of the “Baron’s Chapel,” a private chapel of the Barone Giuseppe Zambra.  A tall, square,…

In December 2015 I sent out a celebratory email about the gingerbread houses I’d made with my nieces and cousins: Subject: Gingerbread House-a-Palooza! Message: What does it take to make three gingerbread houses? 21 cups flour 2 1/4 cups butter 7 eggs + 16 egg whites 5 1/4 cups brown sugar 16 cups icing sugar 3 1/2 cups molasses 20…

In Canada and the United States, Italians form an ethnic community whose values and traditions represent an alternative to the North American status quo. This particular reality often leads to the assumption, among other North Americans that Italy, unlike Canada or the US – countries composed of plural “national identities” – hosts no minority ethnic communities of its own. Historically,…

Mountain Jews in the Italian/Austrian Alps? The Tyrol region is not immediately associated with Jews or Jewish history. Yet surprisingly, the area encompassing the magnificent Dolomite Mountains has had a Jewish presence. In fact, no less breathtaking than the landscape of this UNESCO World Heritage property is the post-Emancipation history of the Jews who passed through this part of the…

My mother never forgave her first Canadian schoolteacher for changing her name. She was five at the time; the memory still rankles at ninety. As one of only a few kids in her neighbourhood to finish high school, she’s proud of the framed diploma on her wall. But recently, she told me that she wanted me to contact St. Catharines…

Canada and Italy possess striking landscapes, each unique in its own right, and no less picturesque one from the other. These spaces, often designated as national parks, are as valuable to a sense of national identity and pride as are music, art, and history. Federal and regional authorities in both countries recognize the value of these spaces and play a vital, ongoing role in their creation and maintenance. The notion of national…

My fascination with cultural identity stems from the fact that I grew up immersed in three separate cultures that were often at odds with each other. I was legally Canadian, culturally Italian, and linguistically, a Quebecker. This hyper-awareness surrounding my cultural identity was only compounded when I left Montreal and moved to Newfoundland for graduate school in 2007. Leaving multi-ethnic…

Recently, an acquaintance told me that I don’t look “Canadian.” In all fairness, the person who said it to me was not Canadian, and I think it was meant as a compliment. Still, it made me reflect on my cultural identity (as opposed to my national identity), and it made me realize how fluid and dynamic it can be. It’s…

The first I saw of Rome was no different than the last I saw of it three years ago. The persistent chaos at Fiumicino, then at Termini, was familiar and, more importantly, happy. There is no reason for me to feel so instantly at home there or, in truth, almost anywhere on the peninsula. I have never lived there for…

Can you imagine waking up every morning in a place where nearly every street has a coffee bar or gelato stand? Where you can sit on your balcony and watch the sunrise or set behind a majestic duomo in the distance? Where beauty and culture are at your fingertips? This place could seem like a dream, but for one summer, it became my reality:…

There is a song, a famous Neapolitan song, that my mother taught me when I was a little girl: Vir 'o mare quant’è bello, Ispira tantu sentimento ... The opening lines of the song, Torna a Surriento, have been made famous by Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Luciano Pavarotti. They have been enjoyed by thousands and thousands of fans over the…

Italy! Land of delectable food, birthplace of the Renaissance, and home of great design – I believe it is one of the greatest places on Earth. My “soggiorno torinese” began in August 2005, but my journey had actually begun at McGill University, six months earlier with an acceptance letter from Italy for a student exchange. Growing up, I had always…

I was standing outside the Palermo airport with my brother and sister, soaking in the scorching heat and the magnificent landscape. Sicily has such beauty to offer; from where I was standing, I could have taken any number of pictures that would have been postcard-worthy. I didn’t take any though, because my body was not yet used to the island’s…

As I sit to write this piece, I am hit by a cosmic, albeit familiar, question: Who am I, really? My identity was never a major concern for me until recently. I’ve always been pretty certain of who I am. I’m Giulia, of course. I had my adolescent identity crisis, but that was part of growing up. Everyone goes through…

The Community Historical Recognition Program instituted by the Government of Canada is a welcome step in exposing past wrongs and trying to gain new understanding of problematic historical events. As reported in the Summer issue of Accenti, in 2009 the Canadian Government created a program inviting community organizations to submit proposals for projects that acknowledge a dark chapter in Canadian history…

Revisiting and re-examining difficult episodes from our past allows us to become attuned to the lessons of history that can inform and guide our social policies, laws and practices. In March 2003, I contributed an article entitled “What We Suffer Most Is Memory Itself” in the inaugural edition of Accenti Magazine (accenti.ca/library). At that time, I was completing research for…

"Sending civilians to internment camps without trial simply because of ethnic origin was not then, is not now and never will be accepted in a civilized nation that purports to respect the rule of law. On behalf of the government and people of Canada, I offer a full and unqualified apology for the wrongs done to our fellow Canadians of…

This past April, the House of Commons passed Bill C-302, the “Italian-Canadian Recognition and Restitution Act,” a private member’s bill tabled by Saint-Leonard/Saint-Michel Member of Parliament Massimo Pacetti, asking the Canadian government to apologize to the Italian Canadian community for its wartime arrest and internment of innocent Italian Canadian civilians. The bill, supported by all opposition parties but opposed by the…

Much has been written on the topic of Italian emigration to America in the 19th and 20th centuries. But despite the vast amount of research on the topic, the ocean crossing itself, perhaps the biggest single event in the immigrant experience, is also one of the least studied. And though it permanently marked their lives, once they arrived in the New World,…

Who am I and where do I come from? The simple response would be “a writer” (my profession) and “Montreal” (my place of birth and residence). Inquire a little deeper and you might get my ethnic background: “Italian,” or more specifically, “Calabrese and Sicilian.” At this, some people will jokingly reference mob connections. The one connection they’d never make is…

The Degrassi television series, which deals with real-life issues facing its young characters, has enthralled viewers in Canada and 100 other countries for thirty years. The original series, The Kids of Degrassi Street (CBC, 1979) took its name from a street in Toronto’s East End – De Grassi Street. Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High followed. The current edition, called Degrassi: The Next Generation, is now in its…

Put away your prejudices, preconceptions and stereotypes. Le Donne Briganti are coming! Made up of women from all walks of Montreal life – lawyers, restaurateurs, conference centre directors and publishing house owners, to name but a few, Le Donne have made it their mission to speak and act out as one against what they feel is the malicious stereotyping of Italians. While…

Although the Italian community in Nova Scotia is among the oldest in Canada and Halifax holds a significant place in the history of immigration, it was only in 1974 that a group of Italians came together to form the Italian Canadian Cultural Association of Nova Scotia (ICCA). Previously, while the Italian community was present in Nova Scotia, most Italians were…

Standing in front of the Duomo in Florence with a group of your best friends makes a perfect photo for Facebook or your cell phone. But more importantly, you will remember the experience for the rest of your life. Travelling to Italy, living in residence, studying for credit, and visiting historic sites creates an indelible impression on eager young minds. Since 1986,…

1. John Florio added more than one thousand new words to the English language, the same contribution attributed to William Shakespeare. Furthermore, Florio compiled the first Italian/English dictionary. The 1611 edition contained 74,000 Italian words and 150,000 English words. Frances Yates, author of Florio’s biography (1934) defines Florio’s dictionary as the epitome of the era’s culture. 2. John Florio and…

Newfoundland’s Memorial University is famous for its Folklore department and may boast the only such program in Canada – at least in the English language. (The Université Laval in Quebec has a French Ethnology program). But it still takes quite a stretch of the imagination to connect that and the making of tomato sauce by third generation Italians in Montreal…

Italian Canadians offer good lessons in preserving Old World culture in the land of milk and honey. If someone asked me what I’ve been asking people for the past week, I know what I would say. Am I Dutch first or Canadian? Well, Canadian of course, but I am proud of my Dutch name. And no, I don’t speak any…

The Valigia d'Oro Award was created with the purpose of recognizing the sacrifices and contributions made by Italians who immigrated to Canada. Every year since 1999, the year the Award was created, recipients are honoured in the presence of family members, friends, representatives from the Italian Consulate, and all levels of government. Over the course of the last five years,…

In the unusual spelling of my family name lies a significant aspect of North American Italian culture. Schembri is the original spelling of my name, as it appears in the birth record of my grandfather in the nineteenth-century municipal record book in Bivona, Sicily.The vulgarization of surnames is, of course, typical among North American immigrants. It happened often for obvious…

Last April I was privileged to be invited to the Minister's Forum on Diversity and Culture, a two-day affair organized by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The event brought together heritage department functionaries and representatives of the so-called ethnic media, ostensibly with the purpose of initiating a dialogue between the two parties. In plenary sessions and in smaller discussion groups,…

In the fall of 1999, I began offering a course in North American Italian literature. After years of reading about classes with titles such as Italian Canadian Literature or The Italian American Experience, I decided to offer a North American Italian Literature course, though my university has few Italian American students. Much of what I have observed about American and…

The actual moment when the Italian immigration to Canada began is a hotly debated topic. Some consider the landing of Giovanni Caboto somewhere in modern-day Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in 1497 as the very first evidence of the Italian presence on Canadian soil. Others refer to such historical facts as the arrival of Piedmontese soldiers in New France with French…

Early childhood is the best time to learn a second language, according to Dr. Laura Ann Petitto, a neuropsychologist and the director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory for Language and Child Development at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The study, conducted at McGill University in Montreal, concludes that children under seven who are systematically and equally exposed to two…

Some months ago in Toronto, a group of legal scholars gathered to discuss the administration of security in a multicultural society (like Canada) in the aftermath of the horrific events of September 11, 2001. With the introduction before Parliament of Bill C-36, ethnic and racial profiling had burst onto the national agenda and attained renewed prominence. As one participant noted,…

ACCENTI: Thank you for agreeing to appear in the inaugural issue of Accenti Magazine. Sheila Copps: No problem. I'm very excited about it. It's wonderful. ACCENTI: You delivered a very emotional address during the ceremony designating Madonna della Difesa Church a national historic site. Do you feel a special attachment to the Italian Canadian community? Sheila Copps: I was taught to speak French by…

According to the census conducted in the summer of 2001, Canada's total population was estimated to be 29,639,035. The greatest proportion of Canadians ever (39.42%) reported "Canadian" as their ethnic origin. Canadians of Italian origin account for 4.30% of the population, the eighth largest single group. Vaughn, north of Toronto, is the Canadian city with the greatest proportion of people…

Last November 30, Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, in a simple but meaningful ceremony, designated Madonna della Difesa Church, in the heart of Montreal's Little Italy, a national historic site. "For the last 80 years, "Copps said, "Madonna della Difesa has been at the centre of the life of Montreal Italians. It has enabled the immigrants arriving from Italy to…