Spending Time Together

A number of immigrants remember how, here in Canada, in the 1950s, groups of Italians who gathered on the sidewalk to chat were often dispersed by the police.

Imagine the surprise of these newcomers, who were simply doing what everyone did back home: chat in the square, take a stroll (passeggiata) or play cards in a sidewalk café.

Things have changed a lot since then. Canadian cities now all have cafés, patios and pedestrian streets filled with people who chat and stroll while eating ice cream. Italian Canadians have contributed significantly to this change in the urban scene.

Album covers Italy and Canada Carenza Collection, Canadian Museum of Civilization Frank Carenza's parents came to Canada in 1927. He was born here, and hosted a radio programme for the Italian communities of Niagara Falls, Toronto and Oshawa from 1950 to 1974. Broadcast when immigration was at its height, the program was so popular that Mr. and Mrs. Carenza had to import many records from Italy. Their collection of over 40,000 records, which they donated to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, includes famous operas, traditional regional music, Italian pop music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and much more.

	Album covers (detail)

	Photo: © Vincenzo Pietropaolo

	Photo: © Vincenzo Pietropaolo

	Photo: © Vincenzo Pietropaolo

	Photo: © Vincenzo Pietropaolo

	Italian playing cards Made by Dal Negro Italy 1990s Used in Canada Paper Lent by Luciano Pradal

	Album with photographs of various picnics Canada Various dates Various photographers Lent by Ariella Hostetter

	Picnic scene, Ottawa, 1932 Photographer unknown Lent by Italo Tiezzi

	Picnic scene Canada Date unknown Unknown photographer Lent by Maria Ierullo