Collections Online

Oral history recording with Salvatore 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 1 of 4 (AV 11483 - AV 11486).

Summary covering AV 11483, AV 11484, AV 11485 and AV 11486: Mr. Schiavo grew up in his beloved Palermo, as the only son of a lone mother. His father had left when he was still quite young to find fortune in America, but he never returned. Salvatore left Italy in the early 60s because work in Sicily was increasingly difficult to find. By then, he was already married with Maria and he had two sets of twins. In Wales, Salvatore found a welcoming society, which was well predisposed toward the Italian community and an already well-established community of Italian migrants helped him. From the very beginning, friends provided him with work and a room to stay. He was working in the Italian restaurant ‘The New Continental’ as one of five chefs, all Italians. This well–known restaurant became an important first ‘port of call’ for many families of immigrants entering Wales for the first time. At the time, this establishment was run by the Carpanini’s family. One year later, Mr. Schiavo felt stable enough in his work and social environment as to ask his mother and all his family to reach him in Cardiff.

Mr. Schiavo was all ‘home and work’. He didn’t mingle with others in clubs or pubs after work. Rather, where they were able to move into a proper house (prior to that they all shared a one room accommodation), his family became part of a small community of 5/6 Italian families in one popular area of Cardiff. Within this context, people supported one another. This was particularly relevant in relationship with the care for the children, when both parents from each family used to be at work, frequently through long and unsociable hours. In those cases, children knew that they could go in any of those Italian houses, where they could receive a hot meal and spend time with their school friends until the return of their parents. It was common for the men within this group to spend time in the evening in each other houses at the end of their working day. On those occasions they would support one another by sharing common problems and hopes.

Consequently, by working and socializing almost exclusively in an all-Italian environment, Mr. Schiavo found that he didn’t really need the English language that much. Thus, after 48 years in this country, the English language still eludes him. In recent years, Mr. Schiavo has discovered with his greatest surprise and joy that he is no longer an only child. In fact, once immigrated to America, his father remarried and, from this relationship he produced four children, one brother and three sisters. Following the effort of Mr. Schiavo’s daughter in the UK, after a lifetime of separation, brothers and sisters were finally brought together. Since then, and in spite of his difficulty in communicating, Mr. Schiavo has been in regular contact with them and he has made three memorable trips to Baltimore, the state where is newly found family lives and works.