As you see a short, dark-haired man
in the front row of the church choir, you would not be able
to distinguish him from anyone else, other than the fact he
has a thick Italian accent. You could not predict During the depression years, poor
families could not afford to have children in private
hospitals. Simply, most families could not produce the
hundreds of lira to pay for the hospital expenses. "Luckily,"
Tata recalls, "the government began to pay for every
delivery." Once this obstacle was overcome, another was soon
to follow. While being born, Giovanni Romagnoli's umbilical
cord was wrapped round his neck. A second time, his life was
saved. Five years prior to Giovanni's
birth, the government made an accord with the church.
Sunday Mass and military parades were ordered by the church.
Everyone had a job and a horse. Saturdays were made holidays
and each family received free train transportation to
mountain and beach resorts. Giovanni, or John as he is known
in Canada, vividly recalls Sunday mornings aboard the train.
"It was like a big party with accordion music, songs and
laughter." It was on one of these train trips
that Giovanni and his family reached Rimini. He remembers
"at the age of two I had a glimpse of the sea for the first
time. We often visited relatives next to the Reno River and
enjoyed country food, tunnel exploration, swimming, and
flying kites." He adds sadly that the tunnels near the Reno
river were later transformed into ammunition depots.
Giovanni's childhood was filled
with hot summers and winters full of snow. "Unlike many
children today, we couldn't wait to get back to school to
show off our new uniforms and salute the king under a very
strict form of discipline." The look in his eyes is one of
excitement, like he is back in the days when he went to
school from eight in the morning until twelve noon, and then
again from one until five in the evening. John became
fascinated with other languages from the time he was a
little boy. Today, he speaks eight different languages and
has a keen interest in Sanskrit. School was interesting, Saturday
trips to the beach were unforgettable, but Sunday was the day
John liked the best. For a Catholic, mass was the centre of
life in 1930's Italy. "As a child, my whole family would
unite after mass for a special dinner with one eighth of a
small cake and a glass of wine. The afternoons were spent
strolling in the city's beautiful gardens, almost always
ending with a cone of ice cream," John recalls. Unlike today, the radio, the only
way to hear news, broadcast good news stories (the bad
news was never heard). There was an occasional speech to the
nation by the leaders of Italy. "Everyone was glued to
Then, as many men of John's
generation recall, Italy found herself at war with nations
the citizens hardly knew or hated. Kids were 'invited' to
spend their summers in the countryside with relatives to help
in the farms depleted of young men who had gone to war in
faraway countries like Russia and Africa. In 1943, Italy was
invaded by two powerful armies who called the Italians
enemies and traitors. "When the battlefield was ever
approaching and the air raids more frequent, the cry of the
time was 'Who can go to the country lives'. I went to the
country with my mom and siblings while my father stayed
behind with his parents. I liked the country. We ate fruit
and slept with our windows open." In 1943 a bomb hit a nearby paper
mill and left nothing but death and destruction. John and
his family went back to the city where most families who
survived were living in cellars. Factories were gone,
railroads nonexistent, bridges collapsed, and water
rationed. A ten p.m. to six a.m. curfew was For a number of years, John was a
member of the Scouts and then served in the army during the
'Cold War'. Europe had now entered a new era. The whole of
Europe was in search of something. They wanted to see,
visit, know, and travel. John too. It was in this spirit that
John left for Canada in 1965. "I enjoyed nature again but in
a different way. Bears, eagles, geese, salmon, elk were
plentiful and I had not seen them before." In a quest to see further south,
John went to Mexico in
the
life experiences he has been exposed to. This man is my
father, also known as Tata. He began his life in 1934 in Italy,
during the time of the great world depression.
the
radio during these speeches," John recalls. When John was a
young boy he was living in the aftermath of the Ethiopian wars
of 1935. Italy was in a state of emergency living with a
League of Nations embargo where any export to Italy was
forbidden. "The paper was made out of straw, gasoline out of
sugar beets, coffee out of barley, chocolate out of filbert
and coal out of tree branches. Swamps were transformed into
grain fields to satisfy the ever-increasing population."
John says these words with apprehension and
excitement.
enforced.
Life was no longer good. "Cows, pigs and chickens were
living with the people in order to escape the slaughter of
the war. I remember one day a pig and piglet entered church
during mass!" For fun, John and his friends searched for
explosive shells and weapons. 
1968 where he met my mother. They were married the next year
and he brought her back to Canada. I was born in 1971 in
Tahsis, BC. When I ask my dad about his youth, he smiles and
says, "Well..., as I look back at the past I have seen the
world, spoken its languages and heard many stories. Despite
the ups and downs, it is a wonderful world out there and it
is great to have lived these experiences."