Nives Zuttioni

In the summer of 1956, while working at her parent’s bar in the town of Fagagna in the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region of northeast Italy, a young man wearing light blue pants caught the attention of Nives Zuttioni. Little did she know that meeting this man would change the course of her life.

That man was Mario Chiarvesio. He had immigrated to Canada in 1951 and returned to his hometown to visit his mother who was seriously ill. When it came time for Mario to return to Canada, they decided to keep in contact. They wrote letters to each other for four years.

Nives often said that she was destined to immigrate to Canada because her birthday is on July 1st – Canada Day. As well, her dad, Luigi Zuttioni, was an Italian soldier during the Second World War. Luigi was captured by U.S. soldiers during the war and brought to New Jersey where he worked as a bread maker. Luigi saw first-hand the opportunities that were available in North America and was not afraid to let his daughter immigrate to Canada.

Nives’ dad always said the best flour you could make bread with was la farina manitoba. Little did Nives know that the flour came from a province in Canada called Manitoba – the province she was going to live next door to for the rest of her life.

In May 1960, Nives visited the Canadian Department of National Health and Welfare in Rome and was granted a visa to come to Canada. With the airline ticket that Mario had bought her in her hand, Nives boarded a flight in Milan for Canada. She arrived at Montreal’s Dorval Airport on June 3, 1960.

In Montreal, she boarded another plane and landed in Toronto early and Mario was not there to pick her up. Luckily, another passenger on the plane who spoke Italian gave her 10 cents so she could use a payphone to let Mario know she had arrived.

The day after her 21st birthday, Nives married the love of her life in Toronto on July 2, 1960. They moved into a flat on McRoberts Avenue in Toronto’s Little Italy. The year after their son Paul was born in 1962, they bought a bungalow in the west end of the city for $16,000. In 1966, their daughter Linda was born.

A stay-at-home mom, Nives learned English by watching the I Love Lucy show on TV. Every Saturday night was dedicated to watching Hockey Night in Canada on TV and playing bingo with friends.

Although Nives’ mom, Nella Fabrizio, was terrified of flying, she found the courage to board her first and only flight in 1968 to visit her daughter and son-in-law in Toronto and meet her grandchildren for the first time. Nella told Nives and Mario that she sat on the edge of her seat the entire flight so she would not be too heavy for the plane to fly.

Over the years, Nives and Mario brought their children to Italy to visit their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. In 2020, Nives will celebrate her 81st birthday and Mario his 92nd. They will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in July 2020.

Today, as a proud Canadian citizen, Nives still cooks her traditional Northern Italian dishes like polenta. Mario stills tends to his vegetable garden and their son-in-law, a retired RCMP officer, has become their driver – or as Mario likes to call him – Uber.

When she first arrived in Canada 60 years ago, Nives had little money but plenty of hope. Together with her beloved Mario – and with lots of hard work, sacrifices and perseverance – they made a better life for themselves, their children and their grandchildren. They set an excellent example for the next generations to follow.

Thank you to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 for providing us with a place to preserve my mother’s story.

Written by Linda Chiarvesio, Toronto, Ontario, April 2020