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Recordiad sain / Audio recording: Domenico Casetta
Oral history recording with Domenico Casetta. Part 3 of 6 (AV 11367 - AV 11372). Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
00:00:00 When the interviewer asks Domenico about the integration of his father into the Welsh community, he explains that there were never great problems and got on well with people. He often helped the local police when the pubs were turning out.
00:04:27 Domenico describes the journey over from Wales; he left Milan, travelled to France and finally arrived in London where he ate his first English breakfast. He recounts a bad experience with the coffee; dark water with lumps of coffee in it.
00:10:03 He has vivid memories of working in the tinplate factories. He describes the work in detail and worked very hard and for long shifts at a time.
00:17:00 Despite the hard work Domenico got on well with his colleagues and bosses. When he left work his boss gave him a book about the history of Wales. He never experienced any discrimination towards his nationality.
00:34:40 When the interviewer asks Domenico to describe his aspirations when leaving Italy, he explains that the main reason he moved to Wales was because he wasn’t sure where to start a new life in Italy. However, he returns often to Italy to visit family and friends. Italy remains Domenico’s home, even though every time he returns he feels like the ‘foreign relative’ because the Italian that he speaks is typical of fifty years ago, and so is now obsolete.