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Oral history recording with Nicesio Fantini. Part 6 of 7 (AV 11403 - AV 11409). 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 Part 1 00:30 Nicesio Fantini came to Wales in 1951. He was born in Torreano di Cividale, Friuli, on 28 March 1928. He grew up on a small farm in Italy, and remembers working as soon as he learned to walk - in his family, even for the children, there was always something to do. He started school at the age of six. He was a bright child. He went to school until he was eleven, but his parents couldn’t afford to educate him after that.

03:17 Then the war broke out. He remembers the invasion by German soldiers, when anybody could come to his house and demand what they wanted. He remembers that the Germans went round his village and took horses and other things without paying for them.

Summary Part 2 00:52 Although there was an armistice on 8 September 1943, it didn’t extend to his village, as he remembers the Germans threatening to kill his younger brother because he was picking something up off the ground. Then a few days later he went down to Cividale (the main town), where he met the allies and everybody was cheering them. Then Nicesio emigrated to Wales, but he’s still in touch with his fellow villagers. He remembers that in spite of the war he had a good time. He was happy. They were poor and there was not much to eat, but the food was delicious.

Summary Part 3 0:22 He remembers digging trenches with his father to protect the village from the invaders. He remembers that at that time if someone mentioned the Germans, everybody would run and hide on the top floors of the house.

4:01 The names of all the people living in the house had to be written on the back of the front door, so when the Germans came the first thing they did was to look behind the door and check the names of everyone in the house.

Summmary Part 4 0:39 At that time the villagers were always under the control of others. He remembers the tanks in the village shelling the belltower. There was a retarded boy in the village who kept saying, “They are stealing the bells, they are stealing the bells” but nobody believed him. Then when the tower was hit the boy was killed by a falling bell. 4:31 Nicesio remembers the fine boots the Germans were wearing, and that he would have liked to keep them as a souvenir. 5.44 He remembers he had to be very careful of what he said, because the Germans were always present. 13.37 He remembers when an executive from the Welsh mine came to his village to recruit personnel. There were 11 men from Torreano and they all had to have medical checks, first in Milan and then another one in Calais before entering England. The mines paid their fares. When he arrived in London he was a bit disappointed that Victoria station was so dark. 20.31 He received a residence permit. At that time aliens had to inform the police when they went on holiday. They started work straight away, after a day’s introduction. There were language difficulties. In 1952 he went to Italy for Christmas. One of the directors of the mine told Nicesio that he liked the Italians because they worked hard, and asked Nicesio to recruit more Italian workers. He recruited about 60 people from the nearby villages, and also from other Italian regions. 28.56 There was competitiveness between the Welsh and Italian miners. Food was rationed, they had only two meals per day and they did not have much food to eat. When they went into the shops they had to use sign language as they did not speak English. The layout of the houses was also confusing - one evening a friend went into the wrong house. 32.24 A friend went to buy meat but did not know how to ask for it. Nicesio suggested he should ask the butcher for moo-oo for beef and bah-bah for lamb. Of course the language barrier created many problems, as many people used bad language underground. This caused many problems above ground. He also remembers also the kindness of his employers, and the understanding of the landladies when the men used the bad language they had learned in the mine.

FantiniNicesio-au-04 00.13 Nicesio has always been an active union member and remembers that he worked very hard to get the same rights for the Italians workers as the Welsh had. They would start work as assistant miners, and then become miners. Some of the Italians changed their nationality in order to have the same rights and to work on the same terms as the rest.

5.07 He has always fought for the rights of the Italian workers, and to ease tensions between them and the Welsh miners. He also fought against the closure of the mine in 1975. 20.40 Nicesio is very proud of what he has done for his fellow Italians when in need, and feels he can hold his head high.

Summary Part 5 00.39 Nicesio remembers that his wife was very anxious when a bishop from Lucca came to lunch at Nicesio’s house, and she was surprised when she met the bishop as he was a person like everybody else.

Summary Part 6 5.30 When Nicesio was a young boy his father trained him to be a barber, and in his spare time in Wales he used to cut the hair of his fellow Italians. Nicesio remembers that he used to send money to his family every week, and he thinks that Italian emigration has contributed to the growth of Italy. The mine paid £2.00 per week for health insurance for Nicesio’s relatives in Italy so that they could have healthcare - in those days there was no free healthcare. That was a really great achievement.

11:09 Nicesio used to go off on his motorbike at week-ends to cut hair in all the hospitals, cafes and restaurants in the area. The nurses and doctors were all happy to have this service.

14:45 au 6 He has always worked very well with all the Italian Consuls who have been in Cardiff.

16:18 Nicesio recalls that it is much easier now for people coming to Wales than when he arrived. The language barrier is not as great, because people can shop in supermarkets - they don’t need to speak to the shopkeeper, as the earlier immigrants did.

20:38 Nicesio says that it would be good if some of his fellow workers had learnt the Italian language. He’s very pleased at the way different people integrate nowadays.

23:49 He remembers the wartime in Italy, when he wore the free uniform of the balilla (the fascist youth organisation).

26:07 He also remembers his teacher and the village doctor, who were fascist sympathisers; at the end of the war the doctor had to flee, abandoning his beautiful villa on the outskirts of the village. He remembers some good things done by the fascist regime – for example, providing a swimming pool and a football pitch in his village. Athletics was very important as well.

29:13 He says how beautiful Torreano, his native village, is, and how even now he can sleep there with the door unlocked.

Summary Part 7 0:23 Nicesio remembers the time he met his wife. It was at a dance and he noticed the way she moved - she was a good dancer. He also remembers that in those days, if one man touched the shoulder of another man while he was dancing, the dancer had to leave the woman and let the new man take his place. Nicesio and his wife courted for nine years before they got married.

5:46 He remembers when he used to go round, first on his motorbike and then in his Morris 8 car, working as an Italian barber. People liked the way he cut their hair. He also remembers all the help he has given Italians with passports, translation, social services etc.

11:14 Nicesio was excused military service, as he was the eldest son and his father was in poor health. This did not please Nicesio, because he would rather have done anything other than work in the fields.