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Oral history recording with Antonio Di Giacomo. Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Part 2 of 5 (AV 11394-11398)

00:00:20 Antonio’s grandfather Todaro went to America in the ‘30s to make money. He returned and invested it in land for grapevines that was to be lost due to a bad harvest. Antonio’s mother would use a phrase to remind them to put away for hard times. Many of the family moved away from Sicily; his mother was torn between England and Northern Italy where she had family, but followed her husband to Wales.

00:04:00 Antonio describes his grandfather’s house; the stable for the mule, the toilet, the oven room for bread, no running water- they would send Antonio out to fetch water. He goes on to describe his parents’ house and holding. During olive and grape harvests they held a big celebration. There were two big churches around their town- on one festival day there would be a procession with palms and lights in the evening. He recalls following the men on the procession down from the hill, who would mingle on the piazza whereas the women and children would walk home. They would discuss crops and work possibilities.

00:11:30 Land was all dug by hand. His father’s father died in a farm accident when Antonio’s father was young and as the only child he had to go out to work early in life. His paternal grandfather had a horse and cart and was well known in the town so people favoured Antonio’s father and gave him work which he describes. 00:18:17 His grandfather, returning from America, was a widower with four children so Antonio had a step grandmother; it was common for men to have a second wife if their first wife died. A richer aunt would help them out, she offered to adopt Antonio’s mother. There were good family values; everybody had their role and contributed to that. He recalls making mats out of desa with a manual machine with the family. Both his parents’ families were poor, so neither married into money yet the family name was more important in those days. His father was born in 1914 and his mother, a Todaro, born in 1923. He describes his grandfather’s work as a cart owner- the poor people had donkeys, middle class people had mule, a horse owner gained a lot of respect.

00:28:42 Antonio grew up on farm land which he assumes was rented. He explains the landowners/tenants system. In Sicily, land was mainly open stretches of fields, perhaps divided by rows of stones to divide land he recalls misunderstanding due to that. Food was scarce; his grandfather used to get cheap strips of meat or fish every now and then as a treat for his mother to cook. In Sicily the Pescaro, those who lived by the sea, would visit the villages to sell fish. Often his father would be off working for a week at a time, he would return with rabbits, or vegetables found on the land.

00:36:18 His mother became a seamstress and made a lot of clothes for the family. More were sent by family in America or they would have hand me downs. In shops exchanges would be made when the harvest came in. Oil or cheese may have been used as a commodity for payment. He described their house; very basic. His mother had a weaving machine, which would also make material.