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Oral history recording with Maria Schiavo. 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 3 of 3 AV 11480 - AV 11482.

Oral history recording with Maria Schiavo. Part 3 of 3 (AV 11480, AV 11481, AV 11482). Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Summary covering AV 11480, AV 11481 and AV 11482: After the death of a young sibling and her father, Maria Schiavo lived for a short time in Palermo with her mother. Following the remarriage of her mother, as a young child of six, she was taken to Asmara, in Africa, to live with her uncle and his wife. These were the early days of the Italian colonisation of Ethiopia. She remembers that in Africa the Italian community was well respected, prosperous and well established. For this young community, one of the main centres for religious and social activities, was the local Azione Cattolica. Supported by a robust faith, Maria Battaglia (as she was known then) was a lively and energetic young person, who soon became very involved with charity work and social events within the Italian community. Free of charge, she used to make dresses for the local children who were going to be baptized, and she used her skill to set up sewing classes for the young Italian women of the area. With the local Italian families, she would take part to the scampagnate. On those occasions, families would spend time together in the countryside, sharing food and helping each other to clean up in the end. But she also remembers the great poverty that already existed amongst the local people and how often mothers with their children would be seen begging on the streets.

After 10 years in Asmara, Maria was called back to Palermo to assist her mother who was seriously ill. Here, in the early 50s, she became member of the ACLI Association and continued with her charitable work in her local church. Following her mother's death and her marriage to Salvatore, Maria and her husband settled in Palermo where they lived for a short while with their two sets of twins. However, life in post-war Italy was hard and it was difficult to find work and her husband Salvatore went to Wales to look for work. One year later, in the early 60s, Maria took the two-day long journey into Wales with her four children and her mother in-law. She was full of hopes and confidence because, she explained she had placed her life in God's hands.

Once in Britain, slowly but steadily, the children got settled in their respective schools in Cardiff and she went to work as a waitress in the same Italian restaurant - 'the Continental' - where her husband had found employment as a cook and baker. After a while, they moved from one room apartment into a proper house. Remarkably, even though they were in a foreign country, their lives were very much lived within the Italian community, which from the very beginning supported them in finding work, in finding a place to stay and, generally, in establishing themselves on a more permanent basis. Maria kept on sewing for her family and on commission, but the golden tread that ran through her life in Italy, as in Britain, was her intense and voluntary commitment to the ACLI. In this respect, she worked within the Italian Consulate in Cardiff helping a generation of Italian emigrants to sort out their pensions and make their claims. For years she was in charge of the Colonie, taking to Italy a contingent of children (which included her own) from various immigrant families for a full summer month. This would invariably give the children memorable experiences of the Italian Riviera, a sense of shared community, the chance to familiarize themselves with the Italian language and culture, whilst their parents enjoyed a welcome respite.

Within the ACLI Association, in Italy as in Wales, Maria Schiavo has worked tirelessly to support and bring together the Italian community. This has been done also by organising and keeping alive many of the religions events, commemorations and festivities that co-nationals used to have in Italy. Needless to say, her Italian identity has remained very strong and has trickled down to her four children who, have retained their Italian nationality, are fluent English, Italian and Sicilian speakers and, with the exception of one daughter, have remained in the catering and restoration business. As the children married, the family unit has invariably branched out, but it has remained united and cohesive, centred on the strong traditions and beliefs that have so clearly defined her life.