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Panoramic View
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"Italian Canadians". "Italian-Canadian" culture. The "Italian community".
What do these terms really mean? What can be said about them? How can
we describe them? We can, of course, resort to the familiar symbols that "say it all": the romance of the gondola,
the importance of espresso to the Italian way of life, the
Italian appreciation for fine art and design, a passion for soccer and
Ferraris, the solidity of Italian granite and marble structures. But
can we really sum up a million people in a single image or a thousand words?
Today's Italian Canadians can trace their origins to a number of
regions and hundreds of villages with different dialects
and traditions. They are women and men, young and old, rich and poor,
born in Italy, Canada or elsewhere. Their musical and aesthetic preferences
are far from homogeneous. Their political tendencies sometimes divide them.
They live in Canada's metropolitan areas and in its smallest towns. From
Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, they have increasingly integrated into
their communities, through marriage and work, and because they wish
to know more about other people. They are businesspeople, painters,
geologists, poets, hockey players, politicians, professors, dressmakers
and tailors, designers, ranch owners, bonsai enthusiasts, graphic
artists, bocce champions ... all this and
more.
The ABCs of the Italian Alphabet
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This display presents a variety of themes
offering a broader picture of the diversity
of the Italian-Canadian cultural landscape.
You might have noticed that there are five
letters missing in this alphabetical display on
Italian-Canadian diversity. That's because the
letters j, k, w, x and y don't exist in the 21-letter
Italian alphabet. The Italian words beginning
with these letters are all borrowed from
other languages. |
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