Welsh Italians and Their Story

For an interesting and educational day out visit the National Wool Museum where
currently exhibiting is a story of how 53 Welsh-Italians lost their lives
during World War Two while the ship they were travelling on from Liverpool
to Canada was sunk by a German U-boat.

The SS Arandora Star was taking internees, many of whom were rounded up just
because of their Italian descent and were taken by order of the British
Government in 1940 to internment camps in Canada. This exhibition, entitled
Wales Breaks its Silence ...from Memories to Memorial, was created by the
Arandora Star Memorial Fund in Wales and commemorates this story within a
small exhibition of mounted photographs, personal accounts of survivors and
newspaper articles and includes a large model of the SS Arandora Star. A
memorial has been placed in the Metropolitan Cathedral of St David Cardiff,
naming the 53 who perished.

With numerous Welsh-Italians settled in the Newcastle Emlyn and Llandysul
area, as well as other pockets in Wales, this exhibition may strike a chord
with many local Italian descendent, their families and friends. Many have
settled in this particular area because of the Prisoners of War Camp at
Henllan.

The exhibition is free of charge and the Museum open from 10am to 5pm daily
over the summer.

George Hill from the Arandora Star Memorial Fund in Wales said: “The
committee set out to honour all those who died on that fatal day of July 2nd
1940 on the Arandora Star. This travelling exhibition has been developed to
give insight to what happened and raise awareness of this tragedy.”

Italians Love Their Chocolate

...or should that be cioccolato?

Learning Italian: Greetings

This is always the first thing you seem to start with in an Italian lesson, and of, course, it is the usual Buongiorno (hello/good day), Buonasera, Buonanotte (which you would onky used when going to bed),  ciao and arrivederci (how I love the sound of that word). Ciao of course is unusual in that it is used for both "hello" and "goodbye". The more formal verson would be "salve" which again, can be both hello and goodbye.

But there are a couple of unusual ones that sometimes get mentioned too.  "Arrivederla" is one that foxed me at first. But I have since learnt that it's a very polite way of saying goodbye, often used by shop assistants or concierges. You wouldn't, however, use it when saying goodbye to more than one person though.

"Pronto" is another one. It's used when Italians answer the phone and I have to admit that the way that many of them say it does sound very much like "get on with it"!

"Pronto" actually means "ready" and apparently this particular use stems right back to old fashioned telephones, where an operator would put people through. Saying "pronto" meant I'm ready to talk!

Ciao!

Learning Italian: My story

 

One of my biggest regrets has always been abandoning foreign languages after O level. I studied both French and Latin up to the age of 16. I then dropped Latin because no one else in the school wanted to do it, and although I started French at A level, swiftly moved to Economics because I didn't like the teacher.

Looking back, I now know that I hadn't really given the teacher enough of a chance, and that giving up a language was probably  one of the most stupid things I have done in my life. Now, many many years later I am trying to learn Italian, and, to be frank, it is hard.

My memory is not what it used to be, and whilst I could cope with conjugating verbs at 15, I now find it bewilderingly confusing! I look back on the luxury of devoting a whole day to study, and instead find myself trying to fit in Italian practice around everything else...on the tube, in cafes whilst waiting for someone, even in the bath last thing at night.

Both my sister and a very close friend, Jo, have moved abroad, and I both admire and am jealous of their ability and opportunity to learn a language and integrate (to a degree) into a foreign culture. My sister lives in China and has learnt both Mandarin and Cantonese, and Jo is currently living in Lisbon and studying Portuguese. It's something that is definitely in my long term plans, but of course Italy is my goal.

Why Italy?

 

I don't know, for sure, when my "thing" for Italy started. I holidayed at the town of Maiori, near Sorrento, with my parents as a surly teen and it certainly didn't do a lot for me then. But then I visited Venice, and was captivated. I loved the way you could get lost so easily, and all you'd hear is the sound of your own footsteps...no cars or horns beeping. It's a very romantic city, not just if you are with someone you love, but also romantic in that lovely whimsical old fashioned way when you can easily imagine ghosts pursuing you in the mist, or find it easy to conjure up images of star crossed lovers meeting on bridges. Hmm, yes I know the star crossed Lovers are from Verona, but give me some artistic licence here.

I didn't go back for years and years after that trip. I was either doing the uber trendy backpacking must sees of Thailand, Oz etc, or pottering around France on family holidays. And then I saw Hannibal, set in Florence, and my longing for Italy began once again. So much so that my second honeymoon was a trip to Florence centred around the locations of the film.

There are many reasons I adore Italy so much - the culture of course, but also the food and wine, the passionate character of its people, the lyricism of its language and the beauty of its buildings. I also love siestas...my body naturally wants to sleep in the afternoon: what other sign could I need to tell me I should have been born Italian?