Life in Toritto, Bari 1909 – 1950 ( as told by Giovanni Nicoletti )

Giovanni Nicoletti Italian Army 1929

I have always been a student of history, which is one of the reasons that I began researching my family. Last year, about this time. I learned that my uncle Giovanni’s youngest son, Joe, had taped several conversations he had with his dad. Joe and his sister Vita, were able to translate from the original Barese into English. Here is the summary written by Joe. With some awesome photos. At the bottom you will find some more links to Toritto and my mom’s family.

Don’t forget to explore the rest of the site for tracing Noble Roots and tips and sources to find your family roots in Italy.

—- Bob

The following is a personal history of my father Giovanni (John) Nicoletti (1909-1986). I made tapes with my father in 1981 when my father was 72 years old and this history encompasses the first 40 years of his life. We spoke in our regional italian dialect and this translation was done by my sister Vita Gabler and myself in December 2019.

This is by necessity a summary, and many events, stories and anecdotes had to be eliminated. On occasion, I’ve added some explanatory notes in brackets.

Joseph Nicoletti

The Early Years

I was born on May 29, 1909 in the house of my mother’s parents (Francesco and Maria) in Toritto, (province of Apulia) Italy. I was the first child of Luigi and Maria Nicoletti. My father was not there for my birth as he was serving in the Italian army during the 2nd Libyan war. My father was a bersalgiere (front line troops who took heavy casualties during the war) and he was one of only three that returned to Toritto in 1911. Upon his return my father worked as watchman over flocks of sheep. In 1914 on the eve of World War 1 my father was about to be recalled into the army, and decided that he would go to America. My mother told him that you were in the Army when we married, you went to war for three years missing the birth of your son, and I’m not going to be left behind. At the time a second child had been born Antonia (Ann) and my mother was pregnant with her third, Francesco (Frank). Feeling badly for her parents who would have no family left in Toritto, (Maria’s brothers Domenico and Tomasso had already immigrated and were living in New York) my parents decided to leave me behind to stay with my grandparents. They left with there daughter Ann and thought they would return in 4 or 5 years when they expected the war to be over. Once in America their family began growing and it became difficult for them to return. They would write and send money always wanting me to join them in America, but I was 5 years old when they left and I hardy knew them and I didn’t want to leave the only family I knew, my grandparents.

School and Work

Iwent to school for about 3 years but I wasn’t very interested. Since school was not obligatory I told my grandparents I didn’t want to go anymore, they said “good now you can go to work”. So, I began my working life at the age of 7. I did small jobs for people in town and they would pay me with small amounts of food. Also, My grandfather had a cow and we would go through the town selling milk directly from the cow’s udder. Around that time I also began doing small jobs at the local olive oil mill. In those days the stone mill wheels were turned by mules, and I would groom them and hitch and unhitch them. For this work I would be paid a small amount of money ( Work was seasonal in Toritto. olive season was usually December, January and February. Olives were picked, pressed for oil, and then the trees were pruned. The other season was almonds, usually September, they were picked, shelled and dried in the sun). In between olive and almond season my grandfather and I would do day labor for people in town who had land. We would work in the fields, plowing, sewing, weeding, and reaping. I also maintained horses, mules and cleaned and drove carriages for the people who were better off in our town. Eventually my grandfather became too old to do field work, and I became the only breadwinner. As I grew older I continued working at the olive mill during the season. Eventually the owner trusted me enough to make me the foreman of the place. Even though I was basically illiterate I could keep simple accounts and handle payments (during olive season workers ate and slept at the mill as the work started at 4 a.m and ended at 11 p.m). This was my life in Toritto and even though we weren’t rich we were better off than many in town.

At about the age of 18 I became interested in a 15 year old local girl named Giuseppina (Josephine) Lisi. She was well known in Toritto for her lovely singing voice. In those days men and women connected with each other indirectly. They would use hand gestures, intermediaries, and perhaps exchange a few words at someone’s house. Josephine let me know that she was interested in me, but her parents were against it. They felt that I was of a lower class than they were and wanted her to get engaged to her second cousin who had more assets than me and my grandparents ( people married class to class and finances were more important than love). Finally I got frustrated with the whole thing and I called the relationship off.

It was at that time that began to think that I should go to America to see my parents and meet my brothers and sisters. My parents were very happy about my going over and began organize things on there end. I got my papers together and went to the town hall to get a passport. I was shocked when they told me that I couldn’t go anywhere as I had reached draft age and was obligated to serve 18 months in the Italian army (this was in 1928). Before I left for my service I had reconciled with Josephine and her family. Even though we were now engaged we could not be alone with each other. I would go to her house for dinner but I couldn’t sit next to her. If we went someplace in town we always had a chaperone, usually Josephine’s mother.

Army Life

I was 20 years old when I went into the army and I was stationed in Sulmona (in the Abruzzi region of Italy). During my service I reached the rank of Corporal Major. I first saw Rome when we were assigned to guard the procession celebrating the marriage of Umberto son of King Vittorio Emanuele. We also were sent to Florence to march when Benito Mussolini visited there. I was 1930 when I returned from my service and in 1931 I married Josephine. We lived with my grandparents, and inherited this house when my grandparents died ( It was in this house that Josephine gave birth to all of her 10 children, 3 of whom died at a very young age). The Great Depression had started and the times were very difficult. I continued working at the olive mill and doing day labor the rest of the time. We had our first child Maria (Mary) in 1931, I was 22 and Josephine 19. By the time I reached the age of 30 we already had 5 children.

Marriage and Family

In 1938 World War II was about to breakout, but fortunately for me, I was exempt from being called up because of the number of children I had. Luckily, the war basically passed Toritto by, but things were very difficult. I continued to work at anything I could find to support my family. During the war correspondence with my parents was not possible (Italy was part of Axis) and I didn’t know that 3 of my brothers were serving in the Pacific. At wars end Italy was in ruins and life was more difficult than ever, especially since my family continued to grow. A few years after wars end, my mother wanted to come to Italy to see me. Her children said that they wanted to know me too and convinced her that it would be best if I went to America to visit them. They started talking to lawyers and immigration brokers but they all wanted money up front with no guarantee that they could succeed. By a strange coincidence my sister Mary overheard a conversation in a butcher shop in Corona, Queens (N.Y.C.), and introduced herself to a man named Manerino, who told her that he could get me to America. Manerino visited with my parents and said that he could get me to America for $500.00 payable on my arrival ( It’s likely that that Manerino was a immigration broker who had political contacts. The idea was to get John over on a visa and then stay as an immigrant allowing him to call his wife and children over). I was overjoyed when my American family informed me about their plan. They told me that Manerino would be coming to Naples on personal business, and I went there to meet with him to discuss how to proceed. He eventually came to visit me in Toritto and met Josephine and the children. After that things became complicated and confused and it became clear that I couldn’t go to America directly (all this took several years). Manerino finally said that the only way was for me to go to Canada ( At the time it was almost impossible for Italians to get to America. Canada was much easier to enter because it needed agricultural workers). I would be contracted to work on a mushroom farm outside of Toronto for a year after which I would be free. After some time passed and more complications I was able to arrange passage on a freighter leaving from Naples and bound for Montreal. The freighter picked up cargo in Palermo and Messina Sicily and then Tarragona and Seville Spain before crossing the Atlantic. 28 days later we arrived in Quebec where immigration authorities came aboard to check our documents. There were 8 passengers aboard, and when the authorities asked us if we had money (through a translator), I said I didn’t, thinking that if I told them I had money they would think I was trying to get to America. The Canadian authorities, who spoke no Italian, motioned me and another passenger, who was also Italian, to get our stuff and follow them off the boat. We were interred in a building (probably an immigration facility) given cots to sleep on, and fed. Since we didn’t speak english we were confused and scared thinking that we were either in a prison or maybe an insane asylum. After two days we were brought to an office and given some Canadian money, our documents were returned, and we were escorted to a train bound for Toronto.

Canada

When I got off the train in Toronto no one was there to meet me. All I had was the address of the man who was my contact to the mushroom farmer . With the help of a couple I met on the train, who spoke Italian, I got a taxi to the address I had been given. When I arrived the man was packed and just about to leave for Niagara Falls. He was angry, saying that he wanted nothing to do workers from Toritto, as those who had come before had caused a great deal of trouble for him and the farm owner. He eventually took pity on me and gave me the address of a boarding house (on Clinton Street) where some of my townspeople were boarding. When I got there I called my mother, she had no idea where I was or what had happened to me. Two days later my mother my sister Ann and brother Frank arrived in Toronto. I was waiting at the station and recognized my mother as she got off the train. I was 40 years old and I hadn’t seen my mother in 35 years.

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