Luigi e Grazia Letizia Napolitano

The immigration story of Luigi Napolitano (Italian immigrant)

This is the story of Luigi Napolitano and his wife Grazia Letizia Marzo Napolitano, and their journey to Canada and the better life they sought.

Life was difficult in Southern Italy in the 1940s and 1950s. Luigi had returned from three terrible years as a Prisoner of War for three years from 1942 to 1945. He had suffered forced labour and little food, often bread and water. He had witnessed numerous bombings and been witness to death and destruction. He was never sure he would survive the ordeal to return to his family. But survive he did, and he returned to his little village, Chiesanuova near Gallipoli, in the region of Apulia in Southern Italy. He was determined to make a life for himself after surviving such horror during the War. He came from a family of farmers and he started out planting crops to see if he could establish himself and start his own family. His sense of idealism had returned.

He reconnected with the friends of his childhood and often they would travel to the neighbouring town called Sannicola. While on one of his walks, he saw a young lady sitting outside her home doing needlework as was the custom of the time. Letizia, as she was called by her family and friends, was spirited and full of life and smiles, and so he quickly began courtship, which involved visiting her at her home and sitting with her and her father at the family table. He was only allowed to stay until the Church bells rang at 8 pm and then he was required to leave.

They did not marry for many years as he needed to establish himself to be able to provide for a wife and family. So began a time of hope and despair, as he vigorously planted a series of crops over the next seven years. He planted peppers, capers, grapes, olive and fig trees and even tobacco but to no avail. Those years did not provide plentiful yields. After helping to support his mother, father and little brother, it was never enough for him to move forward in his life.

He then made a decision with his fiancée that would forever change his life.

His sister, Iolanda, had already moved to Ottawa, Canada with her husband and daughter and she had written of a life that had possibility and hope. He accepted her offer to sponsor him to emigrate to Canada and prepared to depart in 1954.

Luigi and Letizia were married on March 11, 1954. He departed almost immediately on March 14 and Letizia stayed behind and waited for Luigi to go to Canada and save enough money to send for her.

Luigi embarked on the voyage of his life with great sadness and great hope.

He, his father and his friend travelled by train to Naples. The train travelled further and further from his home, leaving behind his land of the Mediterranean Sea and its white sand beaches and olive groves and vineyards and whitewashed stone homes, where his ancestors had lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. His home was called the land of “the sun, the wind and the sea”. He told himself he would work, have his wife join him and after they had worked for a while they would return to their beloved home.

Luigi travelled to the port in Naples and awaiting him was the magnificent ship that would carry him to the new land and his new life, the Homeland Number 825. After the gut wrenching good byes to his father and friend, he entered the ship and his new life. The voyage on the journey took eight days in all. The ship stopped at Palermo and then continued toward the Strait of Gibraltar towards Ponta Delgada, Portugal in the Azores Islands, where many Portuguese immigrants embarked. The waters of the Mediterranean were calm and crystal blue but once the ship left the Mediterranean and entered the Atlantic Ocean, the waves became rougher. It was difficult sleeping at night, but during the day, Luigi and a newly found friend would go to the centre of the ship where there was some relief from the constant rocking. Overall, however, the ship was comfortable and surprisingly there was an abundance of delicious Italian food. He met many people from all over Italy, some from Apulia but few from his area. There was a total of 749 Italian and Portuguese passengers all anticipating their new life with a mixture of hope, anxiety and lingering sadness. After 8 days, on March 27, 1954, Luigi arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax, Canada.

Upon disembarking, he was directed into the immigrant offices and his documents were examined. From there he made his way to the overhead walkway connecting Pier 21 to the baggage area and then Customs.

After a wait of two hours, his baggage was inspected. He had brought some olive oil and liquor, which thankfully was not confiscated. Following Customs, Immigration Officers gave everyone a sandwich, and the ten dollars that he had given in Naples were returned to him. This provided the money for the train ride to Ottawa.

The train ride was long and the view, being March in Canada, consisted of the melting spring snow and a lot of barren land. It was so different from the sun, sand and sea of his home.

Luigi finally arrived in Montreal and was greeted by his sister, Iolanda, and her husband, Luigi. They were welcoming and encouraging and he lived with them while searching for work in Ottawa. Although work was plentiful, the city was foreign and the language difficult to learn and it was not easy to land that first job. With little money and delay in finding work, he was worried he would not find sufficient work and would either have to delay sponsoring his wife or worst of all, he would have to return to Italy, having failed. There were many sleepless nights that first month and many times he broke down and cried for the worry.

Thankfully, within the first month Luigi was able to find work as a manual labourer. He took whatever work he could find. He applied himself to learn English and learned enough in a short time so that he could participate to a greater extent in the work force. Although working was a challenge because of his limited English, his coworkers always treated him well. He then learned a trade and became a plasterer and worked tirelessly. Within three months he was able to sponsor his beloved Letizia.

In the meantime, Letizia waited for word from her husband. She missed Luigi desperately and wanted to begin their new life together in this land about which she knew little. “I’m going to that other world”, she had told her family and friends. Finally, she received the message that she could depart to that other world. She too took the train to Naples, she too was accompanied by family. She too embarked the Homeland 825 and made her way through the Mediterranean Sea and across the Atlantic Ocean. For her, the entire voyage was smooth and she so enjoyed standing on the deck looking at gentle waves of the Atlantic Ocean and feeling the breeze, remembering the wind from her own beloved sea. When she arrived at Pier 21 on July 31, 1954, she repeated the same steps as her husband, finally taking the train and arriving in Montreal, where she was greeted by her husband and her brother in law.

Finally reunited, Luigi and Letizia enthusiastically started their new life together. Letizia was able to quickly find work in a dry cleaners shop and she and Luigi soon moved into their own home, which they rented for a short period of time. They both worked very hard and soon were able to afford their own home. Those were wonderful times and Letizia even became accustomed to the snowy winters of Ottawa, loving to throw snowballs and enjoying her new freedom in this other land. Letizia had had a difficult childhood as she had lost her mother very early in her life and, although her beloved father tried his best, her life had been a struggle. Poverty and hunger, especially after the start of World War II, were always present. Canada gave her and Luigi the opportunity to make a life for themselves.

Their first child, Maria, was born in 1956 and Letizia quit the dry cleaners for good and stayed home to raise their children. Within the next five years, two more children followed, Grazio, then Enio. Luigi became successful in his work and even began to invest in properties. A difficult period followed after ten years. Suddenly, in the mid 1960s, work became scarce and Luigi once again felt that pressure and anxiety of not knowing from where the next cheque would come. They were frugal and made many sacrifices so that they could survive this difficult period. Then Luigi received word from his brother, Antonio, back in Italy. Antonio missed his siblings and had always wanted to reunite the family. He told Luigi he had found a work opportunity for him if he would just return to Italy. There were many discussions between Luigi and Letizia. In the end, Letizia felt that she could now not bear to leave her sister and brother, whom she had recently sponsored to come to Ottawa. They also realized in that crucial moment that Canada had become their home, a place they had grown to love immensely, a land that had given them so much opportunity and where their children were born and where they now had grown roots. They made the final decision that Canada was their home and always would be. During that time, they proudly became Canadian citizens.

The next years were rich with family and church and paesani, people from their village who had also immigrated to Ottawa. Tragically, Luigi lost his beloved Letizia in 1979 to a sudden heart attack. He had three children still in school who continued to need his support. His most important goal at that time was that his children would be educated, an opportunity he had not had in his own life as he had had to leave school in Grade 5 to help his family in the fields. With great persistence and strength, he continued to work as a plasterer, determined this would not happen to his children. With his support and sacrifice, all of his children went on to finish university, to his great pride.

The following years were filled with the marriages of his children and the birth of his grandchildren, Justin, Gregory, Samantha, Vanessa, Michael and Jaclyn.

Although Luigi returned to Italy periodically to visit the family he had been forced to leave, Canada became his home. Canada was the place where, through his persistence and hard work, he was able to build a life and where he witnessed the birth of his children and grandchildren. He never regretted that decision and was always thankful to this great nation for its welcome and opportunity.