Elio D'Alessio

Chieti Scalo to Selva Del Montello, Italy and finally Canada.

My father Elio was born on November 26th 1926 in Chieti Scalo in the region of Abruzzo which is in central Italy to Giovanni D'Alessio and Anna Rabottini. After the misery of the Second World War my grandfather Giovanni became an entrepreneur of soft drinks, which at the time the famous soft drink was ‘gazzasa'. My grandfather was called the "gazzozaro" of Abruzzo as he would deliver crates of the popular soft drink on his 3 wheel bicycle. My father came from a family of 7 siblings where he was the forth in line. At that time in the central and southern part of Italy after the war there was not much to do. So to make a better life for himself he emigrated to the northern part of Italy to a small town called Selva Del Montello which is in Veneto, and there he met my mother Luisa Agnoletti, daughter of Ida and Ettore, where they fell in love and got married. They started a business of making liquors but did not have much success. By that time, I, Annida, was born and my father to make a better future for us thought of Canada, because at that time ‘Canada' was seen as the promise land where opportunity could be found and where he could provide a better future for my mother and I. So on March 7th 1956 he set sail from Venice on the ship ‘Vulcania', and that is where his adventure began. After 6 days of being sea sick he was to have emergency surgery to remove his appendix, and luckily enough he survived and made it to Halifax on April 2nd 1956. He had always said to me once he got out of the port that he sat on his only suitcase and asked himself, "which was do I go now? Left or right?" this in itself was a tremendous decision as it was seen that Canada was a great land for a great life. In thinking of his family back in Italy he boarded a train and arrived to Toronto, and there is where he started his new life with work, work and more work as caterer for many different events and brought smiles and to many faces. After 11 years, in October 1963, my mother and I came and finally were reunited. What a surprise it was for me to get on a plane and finally see my father! As he had left me when I was only 3 years old. After one year my brother Elio Jr. was born and he was the apple in my fathers eyes.

This is our story, and like many others we say thank you "Canada". This great land gave my father the opportunity to raise not only his children but his grandchildren Alfonso, Elio, Luisa and Alessandra. Even though their grandchildren never had the pleasure of meeting such great people, as my father passed away on September 13th 1978 and my mother passed away on January 29th 1979, their legacy will be in our hearts forever and the D'Alessio family will be forever indebted to this great opportunity we call home!

"Thank you Canada"