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With the influx of many immigrants being very topical at the moment,
it was great to see how a group of Peterborough Italian immigrants
who came to our shores some 60 years ago have integrated so well in
our City.
In Peterborough
the local Italian community got together with the City Council and
organised a festival to celebrate the Anniversary of the first
Italian migrant workers arriving in England in the late forties to
fill the unwanted vacancies in the brickyards. Over the years the
community have stayed very close but they have also paved the way in
town to being part of everyday life in the UK, the community take an
active role in local politics. Marco
Cereste, son of one the first migrants is
now leader of the City council.
Local restaurateur Antonio Scibelli
picks up the story of how the Italians came to be here,
“As there was very little employment in Italy in the 40s my father
and many other Paesanos (fellow countrymen) thought it would be a
wonderful opportunity to work here for a short period with dreams of
returning to Italy relatively wealthy men.
"However,
he soon fell in love with the country, at first there was some
suspicion about these olive skinned guys but with a great work ethic
and some tasty home cooking that was always shared with their
neighbours, they
were soon warmly welcomed by the local folk.”
Tony took his home cooking skills
and turned it into the first pizza delivery service in the UK, it
was named Papa Luigi and they are celebrating there 25th year of
delivering authentic Italian pizzas to the East Anglia area.
Papa Luigi were represented at the
Festival by organising a pizza demonstration, where the crowd could
make there own pizza. Also, pizza portions
were sold to raise money for the Italian Earthquake appeal, the
locals also had an opportunity to sample home made Strega, a very
strong Italian liqueur which added to the merriment.
The local Italian
Association also booked folk singers and dancers from Avelino
who at one point showed they have moved with the times when a bit of
Italian hip hop was being performed. There were
Italian opera stars and some wonderful singers that could compare to
an Italian version of last night at the proms, the local Ferrari
club brought down their cars to look at and the free pasta was
sampled by some hungry shoppers. A great
day was had by all.
Tony concluded,”
If you have the right work ethic then this is the most wonderful
country in the World and we are all proud to be part of it.”
October 2009 -
Peterborough UK Community Website
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