Nicolangelo Romano

Nicolangelo Romano and Maria C. Romano

We are Nicolangelo (Nick) Romano and Maria (Mary) C. Romano. I, Nick, was born in Roseto Valfortore, Foggia, Italia, the youngest child of Maria Figliola and Antonio Romano. Mary was also born in Roseto, the middle child of Filippo Bozzelli and Maria Grazia Giannini. Roseto was and is a small farming community in the mountains of beautiful southern Italy with origins dating back to the mid-8th century.

Mary and I took different routes from the same small town to Canada. In 1953 after an eleven-day journey aboard the small Greek liner the Nea Hellas, I arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and became a landed immigrant. I had attended classes in Italy to learn as much as I could about Canada, but I knew very little English. I made my way to Toronto via train to live with my older brother who had sponsored me. Two of my sisters followed by plane that same year and a third sister remained in Italy. Sadly, my father passed away on the voyage from Italy with my mother several years later.

Although born in Roseto, Mary’s father had travelled to the United States for work in the early 1900s and had obtained his American citizenship making Mary an American citizen when she was born in Italy. She had to arrive in the States before she turned 18 years of age or she would lose her citizenship, so she left her family as a teenager, travelling on the Cristoforo Colombo with a paesano who was also making the journey. Although the ship has been described as one of the nicest ships ever built, she spent the entire journey suffering sea sickness arriving in New York City in 1956. Mary lived in the Bronx and officially became an American citizen.

We met when Mary came to Toronto to visit relatives, one of whom I was friends with and married in 1959. With Mary’s American citizenship, we had the choice to settle in the United States or Canada and decided to remain in Canada to be closer to family. We became Canadian citizens and together sponsored Mary’s sisters and their families as well as her mother.

My first job in Toronto was working in a factory making cement blocks. I completed my grade 8 equivalency by correspondence and became a welder and later a millwright. I’ve used my welding skills to make furniture out of iron, wood (from trees at the cottage), glass and ceramic tile as well as gates, railings and other items. Mary worked in a bakery for over 30 years before retiring. She is the best cook!

After living in Etobicoke for twenty years and welcoming our three daughters, Anna, Netta and Gracie, we moved to Mississauga where we have lived for 45 years tending our massive vegetable garden from spring to fall and making wine and sausage in the fall and winter. We also enjoy our time at the cottage on Georgian Bay. We had fun looking after our grandsons, when they were little and our fur grand puppies from time to time. We have visited every province of Canada (Mary hasn’t been to Newfoundland yet) and have returned to Roseto many times over the years.

In October 2023, our family went to Pier 21 on what I would call a pilgrimage back to where my life in Canada began. It was a very special and moving experience to stand where I stood more than 70 years ago and still remembered it like it was yesterday. Canada has been good to us, and we like to think that we have contributed back. Looking back, the decision we made in 1959 to stay in Canada was the right one.

January 2024