The Italians’ jobs
Sep 27 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post
The Italians’ jobs
For Debra, 40, researching and meeting the Italian families, now widely scattered across Mersey- side, has been the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition. The plan is to launch the book in late November.
Arrangements are also being made for it to be sold with a copy of a DVD, combining highlights of Paul Sudbury’s film, Gardens of Stone, about Gerard Gardens, the ten- ements which replaced the streets of Little Italy, and Andy Smith’s short film biography of Dom Volante, the great Liverpool/Italian boxer, related to Debra.
Plans are also being made with Welsby Memorials, of Garston, for a plaque to commemorate Volante’s life.
“Everyone of Italian descent always assumes that they ran out of money and that’s why they stayed in Liverpool (instead of going to the USA),” says Debra. “But that wasn’t always the reason and it wasn’t the reason with Michele, who immediately bought 55, Gerard Street, which he opened as a lodging-house.
“At one time, he had 21 villagers from Atina lodging with him. He was sending back for other people to come and stay. He found them work and they paid him board and lodging. First he gave them a little meal of pasta, olive oil, vegetables, a little roll and some wine.
“The ones who didn’t have a skill were sent out on to the street and told they could sing for their money, literally.”
In the 1881 census in the Gerard Street area, the majority of Italians were listed as “street entertainers”.
“You either sold ice cream, hired a hurdy-gurdy or sang,” says Debra, who was brought up in Blackstock Gardens, about a 10-minute walk from Little Italy. Even at its peak at the beginning of the 20th century, it had not been a large community – just a couple of hundred families.
But they left their mark on the terrazzo floors of great buildings, in the remembered sounds of street organs and violins, the flavours of deep-fried fish followed by ice cream – and, if you look at her closely, there is a certain shrug in the shoulders of Debra, as she raises the palms of her hands, in that Italian gesture known throughout the world.
* LIVERPOOL’S Italian Families will be published by Liverpool Writers’ Press, at the end of November.
