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Whether over here or over there, what will the weather be in Edinburgh or Rome.
This is a new section where I'd like to recount your tales and publications or those of your family (preferably with a Scots-Italian slant but I'll take on pretty much anything).
Email me with the details and I'll feature it right here !
Non era gran cosa by Peter Muccini
This article recently appeared in The Times newspaper and have reproduced it with the kind permission of the author.
"The Italians first came to Scotland in the late 1800s as peddlers selling plaster saints door-to-door to devout Irish Roman Catholic working class families in and around Glasgow and Edinburgh. These itinerant traders came mainly from Tuscany and Emilia -- regions that straddle the northern Apennine mountain range -- from towns and villages around major centres such as Parma, Piacenza, Lucca and Pisa where there has long been a tradition of craftsmanship in the plastic arts. They soon realised there was a more durable market in the shape of a catering service for a largely undernourished industrial working class. Scotland was rich in both fish and potatoes so the Italians went into the fish and chip trade. By 1900 they were prospering and bringing over relatives suffering dire poverty in the motherland. Business expanded with the introduction of mosaic and marble ice cream parlours and tea rooms where young couples of modest incomes could have a taste of luxury. This attracted immigrants from other parts of Italy, mainly from the south around Cassino and Naples who had traditionally gone to America. Scotland was nearer and the opportunities were just as good. More came after the United States closed the door to further Italian immigrants. In the meanwhile the Italians spread out all over Scotland and today every telephone directory from John O’Groats to Gretna Green has a goodly sprinkling of their names. Some retired back to their native villages in Italy where even today they startle British tourists by suddenly switching from a melodious Italian into English with a broad Glasgow accent."
Read about Peter's recollection as a child of Italian parents living in Scotland during World War II in our Internment page.
It's a small world........
(submitted by Jules)
I'm actually English - but who's perfect? I have a small business selling
holiday property around the Garfagnana area and was always amazed at the number
of apparent Glaswegians in the area. This was an accent I easily recognised as I
had a day job working for a large American company that was setting up a call
centre at the end of Bath Street, Glasgow at the time. 
I realised it was a small world when I stopped for lunch in Coreglia Antelminelli and met the young Scots-Italian lady who runs the hairdressers in the town. She told me that her father ran an Italian restaurant in Sauchiehall Street.
I told her that I frequently visited Glasgow and what I was doing. She then correctly identified the building I worked in and told me her father's restaurant was next door. I realised I'd had dinner in there the week before !!!
Follow
this
thrilling tale as Twelve-year-old Nunzio opens the boot of a wrecked
Pontiac Bonneville in his father's scrapyard. But who will believe the tale of
the horror that he has found there when all evidence is lost to the Paradise
Salvage crusher?
The author John Fusco draws from his experiences as a child of Scots-Italian parentage living in small town America.
Amazon describes the book as:
'The story of innocence lost and justice found; of ambition frustrated and dreams realised; and of the love, and the difference, between generations of a family struggling to reconcile the traditions of the past with the demands of the present.'
Many thanks to John for getting in touch - if you are interested in finding out more then check out his website.
Bored? Well, why not check out some of these webcam's .......
More Stories Featured Here Soon...