Collections Online
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Advanced Search
Recordiad sain / Audio recording: Damiana ("Dina") Ruggiero
Oral history recording in English with Damiana ("Dina") Ruggiero. 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 5 ( AV 11469-11473)
00.01 Damiana Ruggiero, called Dina in Wales, her maiden name is Malozzi. She was born on the 2nd April 1920. Her family is now all dead. Her brothers all worked on the farm they lived on, which was large, with six rooms but no running water so they and to go to a well. Her father died at 58 and her mother at 60. Her father was Antonio Malozzi and her mother was Pontecorbo [ph]. She had nine siblings who all sat together at the table to eat every evening. Everyone in the town worked the land, she remarks that the North and South were very different.
03.21 The family started off around Rome, they then went to Castelforte and following that to San Cosimo Damiano. The whole comminity was religous; they went to mass and on Easter procession which she describes with singing and candles. She recalls they had to cover up to go to church, with their knees covered. She remembers all the churches were situated above the towns. She says that Wales is different, it is less religous and she knows less people though she likes to go out.
07.49 Damiana goes on to describe her home, it was large, six rooms and in a valley. Again she says that there was no water but they found water from a spring near the house which was hot during the winter. They made and drank wine as well. The family lived and worked together there. Her mother and father were distant cousins, distant enough to have different surnames so they were able to marry. Her mother’s brother had died in the war and so her mother was on her own. The men went to do various jobs to earn money, whereas the women worked on the farm. Damiana would carry containers for wine and water on her back and sometimes let it fall on her back due to the heat. She enjoyed working on the farm, now she doesn’t get out as much. Damiana explains how they made wine.