Table of Contents
Antonio and Gelsomina Bucci
-Did you want to go back?- (to Italy)
Gelsomina: “Uh in the first time I didn’t like at all to stay here but, and then it was okay.”
Antonio (whispering jokingly): “She met me…”
Interviews with Antonio and Gelsomina Bucci on their lives both separately and together, and their transitions from Italian to Canadian life.
Interviews conducted by their loving grandaughter.
Credits
Published by: Alicia Davies
Gelsomina Abstract
Mia nonna, Gelsomina Bucci, è cresciuta in una piccola città in Italia appena fuori da Napoli e si chiama San Nicola, Baronia. Lei è nata in marzo, 1946. Lei viveva li finche ci aveva venti anni in una casa che condiviso con sua nonna, tre sorelle e i suoi genitori.
Ha iniziato a lavorare presto e lei andò a scuola per imparare a cucire. Lei viaggiava per tutta la città a cucire per la gente e dover stare li per diversi giorni finche era finita. Ha fatto un sacco di abiti da sposa e diceva che gli oggetti più comuni che ha realizzato erano biancheria intima e reggiseni per le donne che si sposano e l’uomini che dovevo viaggiare a la Francia per trovare lavoro.
Lei e trasferita in Canada nel 1967 per incontrare sua sorella a Toronto chi ere già stabilita con suo marito. Poco dopo di arrivare a Toronto, lei ha incontrato mio nonno chi abitava proprio nella porta accanto. Lei non ci e piaciuta a primo e non sapeva si rimaneva, però lei ha impacchettato la sua macchina da cucire solo in caso.
Lei ha lavorato a una fattoria di fabbrica a cucire vestiti bellissime per molto della sua carriera e poi lei e diventato una donna di vendita in un negozio di abiti da sposa e abiti da damigelle più vicino a casa. Qui, lei ha incontrato molto delle sue amiche. Tra le amiche e incontrare mio nonno, lei ha incominciato a piacere il Canada.
Adesso, mia nonna non più cuce per sua carriera, lei e pensionato ma lei ama tenersi impegnata usare la sua macchina da cucire nel suo tempo libero. Lei ama fare cuscini e pigiama e perché ci ha l’artrite a le mani, dovrebbe fare solo cose più semplice. Quando i suoi figli stavano crescendo, lei ha fatto la maggior parte dei loro vestiti compreso il vestito da ballo per sua figlia e l’abito da sposa dell’altra figlia. Lei può ricreare un vestito solamente usando una foto e lei ama la moda molto.
Lei e anche una sarta di grande talento ed e sempre felice di sistemare i miei vestiti se non si adatta correttamente o è strappato.
Per quanto riguarda le sue radici Italiane, lei è una cuoca fantastica e lei odia mangiare nei ristoranti perché si sente sempre che lei poteva cucinarlo miglioramento. Lei fa tutta da zero e in famiglia noi facciamo la salsa di pomodoro ogni anno. Lei anche imbottisce le sue ospiti a tutte l’occasione con una cena speciale e tutti sono troppo sazie però vogliono ancora mangiare la sua bellissima cena.
Lei ha imparato a parlare inglese da prendere lezioni e praticare al suo lavoro, e anche a fare i cruciverba nel suo tempo libero. Lei ancora parla l’italiano per sua prima lingue, però può ancora comunicare con tutte le sue nipotini perfettamente in inglese.
Portrait of a young Gelsomina Bucci.
Gelsomina (left) and her sisters in Italy.
Gelsomina at her granddaughters confirmation party.
Gelsomina’s Transcription
March 1st, 2019
AD= Alicia Davies
MB= Mina Bucci
TB= Tony Bucci
AD: Okay so Nonna when did you come to Canada? What year?
TB: 1946 hahaha…
MB: No 1966.
AD: 1966? So how old were you when you came?
MB: 20.
AD: 20, okay.
MB: mhm.
AD: And did you come by yourself?
MB: Yes.
AD: Yes? And how did you get here.
MB: With a plane.
AD: With a plane okay and where did the plane drop you off?
MB: In Toronto.
AD: Okay and why did you decide to come here?
MB: Why? I don’t know… just because my sister was here and I wanted to come…
AD: And be with her?
MB: Yeah.
AD: And was she the only one that was here?
MB: Yeah and then my uncle, my aunt.
AD: They came after or?
MB: No no they were here already.
AD: Okay so where in Italy did you immigrate from?
MB: San Nicola Baronia.
AD: Okay and how close is that to Naples?
MB: How close? Hm one hour?
AD: Okay pretty close. And what did you bring with you, what did you pack?
MB: Oh, all my stuff, I even bring my sewing machine because I don’t know if I would really stay but I bring the machine anyway.
AD: Okay.
MB: Yeah.
AD: So you were sewing in Italy before?
MB: Oh yeah.
AD: And did your mom teach you?
MB: No no I went to school.
AD: Okay that’s cool did you bring anything else that was special with you? Like jewelry or anything?
MB: Uh yeah, oh yeah I bring some jewelry, I bring a bottle of Strega, yeah I bring lots of cute stuff.
AD: Oh wow, do you have a lot of that jewelry still?
MB: Yeah.
AD: What kind? Like a special necklace or…?
MB: Special necklace, how you call it? The colliera? The one that’s thicker and it goes around, then rings, bracciale, watch, yeah earrings.. ya.
AD: So a few things, so you came to Toronto and where was your sister living?
MB: She was living in St. Claire.
TB: You know where Nonno Domenico used to live, no you probably don’t know…
AD: No, haha.
TB: Yeah next door.
AD: Okay so you went to go live with your sister next door.
MB: Ya.
AD: Okay and it was just you two in the house?
MB: And the husband.
AD: Oh and her husband okay. And were there lots of other Italians around you? Like in that area?
MB: Oh yeah, yeah.
AD: Was it easy? Transitioning from Italy to Canada?
MB: Like uh?
AD: Like did you miss your family a lot?
MB: Oh yeah for miss yeah, yes yes I miss so much.
AD: Did you want to go back?
MB: Uh in the first time I didn’t like at all to stay here but, and then it was okay.
TB: *Whispers* She met me… ha ha.
AD: Hahaha she met you of course. Was it cold when you came or was it the summer?
MB: Yea it was really cold, yeah it was um October 13 when I came here.
AD: Oh okay.
MB: There was snow…
AD: Oh wow so you had to buy like a warm jacket?
MB: No the jacket I have, the boots I had to buy but the rest I was okay.
AD: Do you still miss Italy?
MB: Yeah because still my family there but its okay now its here my house, my home its all.
AD: And I know you used to go back every so often but you don’t want to do that anymore?
MB: Uh right now not really because before I had my mom and my father, then my father… gone and my mother 5 years ago she died so I just went one time after my mom died.
AD: Right, okay I remember.
MB: And before when my mom was sick for 10-15 years I went every year and then I stop and just 2-3 years ago I went.
AD: And before that when you first came, when you were still a young girl were you communicating with your family?
MB: Oh yeah, yeah.
AD: And how were you communicating with them on the phone or with letters?
MB: With letters really because with the phone we no use before after they put long distance to call but before yeah was expensive so once in a while but more we writing with the letters.
AD: Do you have any of those letters still, did you keep any of them?
MB: Oh I keep some my father and my sister write for me… some.
AD: How long would it take for you to hear back, for them to respond?
MB: A week maybe… 2 weeks? it depends until it reaches there and then for it to come back. Yeah for sure 2 weeks I think.
AD: Was learning English hard?
MB: Yes, I never went to school really but little by little with watching the tv and with friends and the people I work it was not too bad.
AD: At work at the dress shop? Like where was your first job?
MB: Um Downtown and uh what do you call it…. I forgot.
AD: Like by the water?
MB: Nooo. Well it was a factory, I forgot.
AD: That’s okay. With the other women? Were they Italian as well?
MB: Oh yeah but its all mixed in, like all places very mixed but lots of Italians.
AD: So did you make friends there?
MB: Yeah I went to work because my friend was there too so she take me, she worked there and I liked really yeah.
AD: So then did you go to school to become a seamstress?
MB: I went to school after I have all my kids, a little bit at the library but that’s it I stopped and I never went anymore but I’m doing okay.
AD: Yeah, yeah to learn English?
MB: Yeah English I went to learn English a little bit.
AD: And I know you do your crossword puzzles.
MB: Yeah, yeah.
AD: I remember. So when did you retire?
MB: 60
AD: Did you have a party hahah?
MB: A party, yeah I have a little party haha but I work until I was 65 though, the pension I start to have when I was 60 but then it was not too much because before I work at home so. It was a mistake to take that time but its okay because its done.
AD: Yeah that’s too bad but its alright. And did you retire because you were just tired of working or was there another reason?
MB: Oh because I don’t wanna work too much anymore I wanna only two days a week but the owner he wanted to give me I didn’t like, so I stopped.
AD: Oh yeah.
MB: Yeah he wants me to do 2-3 hours in the night and the Sunday work and I said no at this age no no no way.
AD: Yeah those are the times when you wanna relax.
MB: Yeah Nonno come home form work and me I have to go away to work no no no… he’s on the way to come home and me I’m on the way to work no I said no and that’s why I stop.
AD: So do you still sew?
MB: A little bit yeah.
AD: And you work on your machines?
MB: Yes.
AD: So what are your favourite things to make?
MB: Oh actually everything, I love to do everything.
AD: Wow so did you have to become a seamstress or did you want to?
MB: No no I wanted to yeah.
AD: Because you liked to make clothing or?
MB: Yeah.
AD: So you made your own clothes?
MB: Yes, I made clothes I even make wedding dress lots of wedding dress and in Italy we usually go with the-bring the machine at home at people home and then I stay 2-3 days, a week going every morning and night come home and then…
AD: To their house?
MB: To their house yeah, yeah because you know in Italy the husband and the son they going to France to go to work so I usually sewing everything for the man.
AD: Really? That surprises me.
MB: Yeah everything, like the lady you’re sewing everything like when they married or something – see that’s for the man when they leave to go to France see.
AD: So what kinds of things did you make for the men?
MB: Oh my, well, Camicia lots of camicia and underwear.
AD: Haha, really?
MB: Yeah, lots of underwear hahah.
AD: So then why did you decide to become a Canadian citizen? Like when did you decide that you wanted to stay here permanently?
MB: Oh it was when I came, uh before 60 years old yeah it was when I was here.
AD: You decided that you liked it.
MB: Yeah and then that’s why I still have the Italian citizenship for Italy yeah.
AD: Okay, so do you have any regrets about moving here?
MB: No because now I have everything here, all my family all my granddaughter my grandson I love it hehe.
AD: So do you think your life got better when you moved to Canada?
MB: In a way yeah I think so because going in Italy seems changed but not so much. Better here.
AD: Is there anything specifically that you miss about Italy like a place that you used to go or..?
MB: No, I miss my family that’s all, a place I never really used to go is all.
AD: So this is about Nonno, so when and how did you meet Nonno?
MB: Oh after maybe one week I was came in Canada he actually live next door to my sister where I was there yeah and then we met.
AD: You just met because you lived beside each other?
MB: Yeah beside each other and then he came… you know I bring the – not the suitcase, the big chest with all my clothes and my machine – sewing machine. So when the stuff arrive, so it was my uncle he went to truck and pick it up but at home it was just me and my sister not even my brother in law came home yet so it just so we can bring the stuff inside. So Tony came from work and my Zio Mike he saw him he said “come here! Help me bring this stuff inside” hahahah so that s where uh it happened… really we met and then we had the bottle of stregga was in the thing and we open and then he drink and then after he say “you are my streggato because you give me this stregga and so I fall in love with you”.
AD: Awwwww
MB: Because the stregga it’s the stregga (witch) yeah and that’s it and then my mother in law, my father in law he told him you see “next door na signorina e arrivata, la sorella di Clara. She’s beautiful you gotta see it” so they told him the time I came from work and he was on top of the veranda and look for me when I came home.
AD: He was waiting for you?
MB: He was waiting for me and then another night he came right after where the bus stop, I was supposed to walk a little longer before I come home he came right there and he start to talk to me yeah and that’s it.. yeah.
AD: Did you think that he was cute?
MB: Yeah heheh
AD: So you liked him too?
MB: Yeah.
AD: So when did he bring you a flower? I remember you told me.
MB: Oh yeah because it was winter time then so it was snow and I think it was snow a little bit but not too much to clean the car like but he went to clean the car and he look and I was in the window and so he was doing like this and he was watching me and my father in law he look him and he was laughing he said “he clean the snow but he look over there because she look” and then in the morning I get up and I saw the carnation on the window hehehe… he bring me a carnation almost every once in a while in the morning I would find a flower.
AD: He would leave a flower on the window, like on the window sill?
MB: Yeah.
AD: Aw and you knew it was from him?
MB: Oh yeah for sure.
AD: Who else would it be from? (laughing). So what did you like about Nonno? Was he funny?
MB: Oh no everything, he was really nice and cute and very very hm… what do I wanna say very very sensitive? What do I wanna say aspetta he was very calm, very gentle that’s the most I really like.
AD: So, was it difficult to understand each other because you were from different parts of Italy?
MB: No, no it was okay they just a little bit but no it was all the same yeah.
AD: So the dialect didn’t mess up anything?
MB: The dialect no no no we can understand good and then he never really talks Sicilian no no because he mix it up but no mostly it was okay.
AD: Regular Italian. Because I know that sometimes when I tell people where you guys are both from they’re like “oh that’s interesting” because Sicilian is so different.
MB: Yeah.
AD: Well okay that’s cool. So how did he propose to you?
MB: How did he propose to me..? hm
AD: Did you guys just agree or?
MB: Yeah yeah, its it and then it was Easter and he bring me the egg. A beautiful egg chocolate and then on my birthday he came and he bring me the present and he ask for me in front of my sister and my brother in law that he wanna marry me and then that’s it, then we decide the day we decide what to do, what to prepare yeah.
AD: So how soon after that did you decide that you were gonna get married? Like a year or so?
MB: Ohh no no before a year I was married one year and one day I was married yeah I came the 66 and then at 67 the 14 we were married one year and one day.
AD: And did you tell your parents first?
MB: Oh yeah yeah I talk to my parents and they even – my father sent me money.
AD: Oh, okay.
MB: Yeah he sent me a thousand lire yeah just for that day and my mother in law she give me the shower, the wedding shower yeah it was beautiful, a lotta people.
AD: Did anybody else from Italy come to see you?
MB: No, not that time no.
AD: They couldn’t?
MB: Yeah, not that time.
AD: Were your parents worried about you at all?
MB: Sure because they think I was by myself you know but yeah, they were okay.
AD: That’s good.
MB: And then my Nonna came here after a year when first baby was supposed to be born yeah, she came in September she came and she stay one year.
AD: And then she went back to Italy?
MB: And then she went back to Italy yeah.
AD: So she stayed with you when she was here.
MB: Yeah she helped me with Zia when she was a little girl and then she left.
AD: So then you had Zia like a year after you were married?
MB: Yeah married the 14th and she 2 weeks before my anniversary October 3 and then the 14 was my anniversary before a year yeah.
AD: Do you have any other stories that you can tell me?
MB: Yeah lots of stories but now out of the blue.
AD: Haha its hard to think of one.
MB: So we live with my mother in law and father and law and then after Zia I was expecting already your mum and then we bought a house in Malton and then we supposed to go before your mom born but my mother in law said wait because this weather it was winter time she said wait and then you go so I wait until your mom came and then we went to live in the new house.
AD: Did you pick it, or did Nonno go out and find it?
MB: No we pick, I went too yeah and we pick that house because even Zio Joe, Nonno’s brother he went to live there so the next door house was for sale that’s why we went to see, we like it we bought it.
AD: So then you were neighbours?
MB: Yeah we were neighbours yeah yeah but after a couple years he sold the house and they move but we lived there for 32 years.
AD: And do you still honour your Italian traditions, like I know we make sauce all the time, what else?
MB: Yeah I keep my traditions.
AD: So what else do you make still?
MB: Still the sauce, still the jar with the sotto aceto stuff vinegar stuff like pepperoni, melenzani zucchini, green tomato with vinegar too.
AD: Oh yeah, and the carrots.
MB: Yeah pepper and hot peppers, beans, yeah lots of this stuff I still doing anyway.
AD: Were you making pasta for a long time and then you stopped or do you still make pasta sometimes?
MB: Oh yeah pasta I make all the time.
AD: Like from scratch?
MB: Oh from scratch not too much but I doing once in a while I doing yeah, specialmente gli gnocchi, cicatelli yeah I make that. Fettuccini… linguini yeah.
AD: And I know you like to make cookies…
MB: Yeah cookies, cake, cheese cake yeah lots of that stuff, pizza the pizza la carnavale you know la pizza da carnavale?
AD: No.
MB: With lots of cheese, salsicce, eggs, rice…
AD: I’ve never had that.
MB: No? oh because you were a little girl.
AD: I guess.
MB: And then now I don’t usually make anymore cuz its too much heavy.
AD: Yeah it has a lot of stuff on it.
MB: Too heavy so that one I no make.
AD: And Nonno still makes wine but you don’t do that, that’s what Nonno does.
MB: Yeah Nonno does the wine yeah.
AD: What else, what else can I ask you? Did you have a big garden in Italy?
MB: Oh in Italy we non have garden. We have the um, like a little farm, no farm but we have the house there too and then my mom go to work there to do something, pick tomato, pick something..
AD: So did you have animals there?
MB: Oh no, no, no. oh the chickens my mom have, that’s all. Chicken yeah.
AD: So did you have a job in Italy, were you working in Italy or you didn’t have to?
MB: No no I have my job sewing, that’s what I do, that’s my job.
AD: Yeah so you were doing that.
MB: Yeah yeah Zia Clara and Zia Vincenza they usually go work outside, but the nice thing in Italy is we have the house and then we have lots lots and lots of land where we have olives, cherry, the gels. We have you know those things they’re long, they’re sweet, I don’t know how to call… gels we call, like the blackberry they were white. Those ones, they were big big one, when we have to pick it up- we put the sheet all over and lots of people hold and the guy bang on top and they fall. Yeah. Yeah.
AD: Would they fall onto something?
MB: The sheets, the sheets.
AD: Oh the sheet would be on the ground.
MB: Yeah yeah – we pick it up like this – 5/6 people hold yeah hold little bit like this, no throw.
AD: Would you make anything with the berries, or would you just eat them?
MB: No, we just eat them – sometimes the jam we make, but more eating yeah yeah we make the salsa in Italy, you know before before, we usually make the salsa, and then we put on the wood thing and then let it dry – that’s really the how you call la salsa secca Tony? La conserva, come si chiama la dry salsa?
TB: Oh, um tomato paste.
MB: Yeah we usually do that – we make tomato paste e with zucchini, we make like pane, zucchini, what do you call it? We clean, and then we clean the inside and then we cut rolling, like you know when you doing the orange peeling all around with the knife and make long way like this, and then we put in the stick and let it dry and then the winter time we cook it.
AD: Oh…
TB: We have some here, no?
MB: No, misa che le ho usate. Non ci stanno piu, yeah.
AD: So how would you cook it, you’d fry it or?
MB: Oh then they come yellow like when they’re dry, then we cut it; the ice we want and put it in the water, warm water and they come all yellow the water. Then you change 2, 3 times that water and then we squeeze little bit, then we put for fry, put like garlic, hot pepper olive oil and we let it fry and the taste its unbelievable, yeah.
AD: What else would you save and make in the winter time?
MB: I don’t know what I can say – I no remember really, those things we were doing and then we usually do the tomato like the pelati, hm?
TB: dry peppers.
MB: Oh the dry peppers yeah yeah we put the peppers in the thread, three layers, one, two, three, then we put on the layer and then we let dry, the long one, the sweet one, the hot one proprio le quaq il ette quelie cosi and then the round one Nonna put the oil, salt, olio e roast, yeah those one, that’s the special thing in Italy.
AD: Did you make bread at all?
MB: Oh, yeah we make bread, lots of bread. I even did that, I make bread when mamma was out in campagna, make on farm and yeah made even bread.
AD: So did you do that in Canada a lot too?
MB: No, here just for fun sometime you know like you do the pizza, but no the bread, no just one time I do the bread, little thing, but no.
AD: So you just buy everything?
MB: Yeah because you know its no use to do it anyway, yeah and then I was working all the time anyway.
AD: Was it expensive here? Verses Italy?
MB: No, no.
AD: It was okay?
MB: No, no before, because it’s like now, before you get less money at work, less and less, but you spend less, it was cheaper to buy, but now we have lots money. They pay good, and you pay good the stuff too, the food. But it was easy with 20$ you can live 2 weeks.
AD: Right, yeah I know it’s different now.
MB: Even more, yeah because when I work, I usually get 25, 26, 30 dollars because it was piece work, but they pay dollars, they pay us nothing an hour, yeah that’s why, you know.
AD: So, it was okay?
MB: Yeah it was okay, it was okay.
AD: How big was the first house that you lived in with your sister? Was it big?
MB: It was a nice bungalow.
AD: So you had your own room?
MB: I have 3 bedroom, dining room and front room, big kitchen, kitchen and dinette and then all the basement and the big length all around the house, yeah, you never see? You must remember Malton? You were a little girl though.
AD: Yeah not really.
MB: yeah you no remember… you were 2 years old.
AD: No, hahaha. But how about in Italy? How many people lived with you in your house, all your brother and sisters?
MB: Oh yeah we were 5, my mamma, my papa 7 and then my Nonna was living upstairs and then the other Nonna but they live by self, they were close. My father mother live upstairs, just have a little kitchen, she have a little room and that’s it. She live there and we were 2 floors, we live on the first floor and then we go upstairs to sleep and then my Nonna she was beside us yeah.
AD: So it was a very small village or was it like a little town?
MB: No, it was a very small little town, 1 thousand and 500 at that time but now no even more than 500, its less and less. Yeah because people there’s no more work there. People they go, all the young kids they go. Yeah yeah its really small now, it’s the same thing but no people, no too much people.
AD: So would people go to Naples to find work, would that be the biggest, closest city?
MB: Yeah Naples, Salerno, Milano, Genoa, no they go, they travel yeah.
AD: Oh so they travel quite far depending… did you have to go far to get on the plane? Where was it?
MB: Oh Napoli. I went to Napoli and then the start there and then to Roma, and then Roma take another plane and came straight here.
AD: Did you have a celebration when you were saying goodbye to everyone? Or was it just like “bye see ya?” haha.
MB: Oh no, just when the first time I came here?
AD: Yeah.
MB: Oh no be that time we no use to – everybody cry that’s for sure, yeah everybody cry, yeah it was terrible I know yeah. But that’s it, no big festa nothing, just big cry!
AD: Haha oh! Did you get gifts?
MB: Oh yeah yeah, yeah everybody bring me something.
AD: Did you have a special rosary? Do you have a special old one?
MB: Oh yeah I don’t know if I have the old one, but I always usually have one. Yeah now I have lots because go to place and you buy and somebody gave to me, lots yeah. In Italy I went all over for the visit Sunday, everything yeah.
AD: And when you got married did people send you gifts?
MB: Yeah, oh yeah we send the invitation to everybody and everybody send gift. Some the gift and some money. But mostly the gift, yeah yeah send lots gold, I had lots gold, and a tray, espresso machine, coffee machine, yeah that’s yeah that kind of stuff.
AD: Wow.
MB: All the strict family though no.
AD: Did they have Strega here at the liquor store?
MB: Yeah we buy here now.
AD: Here now, but before too, was it here?
MB: Oh before, before no, no.
AD: For a long time, you didn’t have it?
MB: No, no, no haha…
AD: Did anybody send you bottles of Strega? How would you get it?
MB: Oh when my brother came, Vitantonio yeah he bring me one. Yeah it must be strict family because that time it was just 220 kilo you supposed to bring, its all 20 kilo no more than that so nobody can really bring you. Just my brother bring me a little yeah.
AD: So it was special, very special.
MB: Yeah that bottle its special for lot of people. Yeah special bottle yeah!
AD: Ha ha.
MB: Yeah, mhm what else?
AD: So, your family in Italy, are they still living in the house you grew up in?
MB: Ya, no the one I grew up it’s, it’s almost, well the first floor it’s now flat. It’s nothing there, it’s closed up and then they build same thing and they fix it up, but ya, Antonio live there now. And where we have the, um it’s like garage they did now, ya Antonio di Zio Vito live there and then Antonio di Zia Vinzenza live on top where Nonna Vincenza was living. She used to live there you know, my father mother, it’s same thing but when I go, after my father built another house in front of that one just next. All the house was here, papa built another one because the length we have it was in the village, was there where we live, ya it was, and then my father had sold the little land because the government want for build more house, ya. And my father had sell for almost nothing- they give just little money. Ya I know because they like you say, “spropriate”. If he no wanna sell, they take anyway.
AD: Ah, ok.
MB: So, lost all that beautiful land.
AD: So you didn’t have a choice?
MB: Ya, we didn’t have a choice, well we had choice, he can build what he need to build. We want 1 house, 2, 3 house, and they build 3 house – 1 for my aunt (my father sister), they went together like, they both together house, our house with Zia, and then for Zia Vincenza, build another house, and then that’s it. And then with the little farm, we have a little bit more, ya, where Raffaela and Antonio built restaurant. It was house we have there, and they make a restaurant.
AD: Do they still have the restaurant?
MB: They still have but they rent now…
AD: Is it by the water at all? Or is it in the hills?
MB: No, no. It’s in the hills and it is water there, it goes in the pond like a little pond ya.
AD: Not the ocean or anything?
MB: No, no, not the ocean and you have to go a Napoli, Margerita di Savoia over there it’s beautiful. We went when we went 2 years ago, it was beautiful.
AD: And I remember you saying that you would make underwear for the men. What would you make for the women? Would you make underwear for them as well?
MB: Oh ya, we make specially when the girl supposed to be married, the mother prepare all the corredo (we call), all lots clothes she need, lots of lensuola, lots of pigiama, camicia da note, sheets, cover, everything we usually made. Um, dress, shirt, top we make, underwear, we make bra, ya.
AD: Wow, how would you make a bra?
MB: Ha, it was easy, just material bra, no like now with little sponge and everything, you know imbottito, ya but you going like size like, you think she need B, I have already the idea. Maybe we prepare the big size when she get pregnant, she wait the kids, see and so we make big size and then we make undershirt too, canuttiera. And then we make pigiama like camicia da notte, no pigiama. For the men pigiama, and then we make housecoat too, ya ya. And then sheets, we no buy sheets, it’s we buy just the material and we make the size, we make and put some lace, then make the merletto, l’unginetto and then we put on top. The pillow case we make too, ya lots things and then we make skirt, we make blouse, we make dress, we make wedding dress, ya lots.
AD: How many wedding dresses do you think you made?
MB: Oh no too much because that time it was easy to buy – they buy that time the dress, but maybe 4, 5 we made in Italy because then I no work too much because I came here. Oh and then when I had all the kids, because I couldn’t work and go to work, I bought the sewing machine, the big machine, the factory one.
AD: Is that the one you have now?
MB: Ya that’s the one I have downstairs, so I usually work with the guy where I work a Spadina in the factory. He send me the stuff, he bring me all the stuff already cut and prepare, and I work at home because they like me. He came all that way and he bring me everything – from Spadina, Paradise the factory si chiama, see now I remember. Ya, Spadina Paradise, ya and then that’s why I work all night and day with 3 kids and then Zio Vitantonio was living with me before he get married, and then his friend was living with me, so I have we were 3 kids, 7 people. I had work and clean and make food for everybody and still work and I work lots of night, I work a lotta night for finish my sewing.
AD: And were you working at home still?
MB: At home, ya.
AD: And they were still paying you because you were still working for them?
MB: Ya, ya. Whatever I sewing, they pay me, oh ya.
AD: Was the material expensive, like in Italy?
MB: No it was fine.
AD: Were there a lot of colours to choose from?
MB: Ya, ya, but now I talk about here, where I was with my kids and 2 guys live with me. And Italy too, I remember one time, even here one night I remember I work from the day until 8am in the morning because somebody supposed to get married and I didn’t finish the suit, the dress, so I all night and then here too was wedding. I had to finish the dress I not finish yet, so all the day long and all night I work, ya.
AD: Did you make a veil or anything like that, or did you make just the wedding dress?
MB: Oh ya, ya, even veil, oh ya.
AD: How about gloves, did you ever have to make gloves?
MB: No gloves, no they buy. Ya, no gloves.
AD: Did you ever have to put beads on the dresses?
MB: Beads, no, that time no, that time all night when I came here or Italy, that time they no use that, no. After here, ya I doing lots, especially when I went to work in the store, ya at the Bride store, ya. That’s I put lots that stuff. I usually sell dress too, I was sales lady, but in my spare time, when nobody there, I put the beads, ya.
AD: That’s very cool Nonna.
MB: Ya. Lot of work for Nonna, eh? Ya.
AD: Yes, a lot of work, I can imagine. So, what else? Most of your schooling you did in Italy right?
MB: Ya, ya I did.
AD: Was the school close? Was it a short walk?
MB: Ya, ya, it was close, like 5 min walk, ya.
AD: How many people were in the class?
MB: Oh, who remember? Maybe 20? Ya, there were lot of class though, lots ya – prima, seconda, terza. Was 5 class, 5 class in the building, ya the townhouse it was the school, it was no big school, it was townhouse. And then after a while, when I did all my school, they make the big school like here, big school like here, ya, ya.
AD: Like our high schools, you mean?
MB: For high school, ya. I did until la quinta, 5 year.
AD: Wow. How old was Nonno when you met him?
MB: He’s 3 years before me.
AD: So, 23?
MB: Ya 23, ya, ya.
AD: And you were 20, right?
MB: Ya.
AD: And was he living alone?
MB: He was with mother and father, with whole family, all together because it was big house Nonno Domenico house, ya.
AD: How long after your wedding did you go on your honeymoon? That same year when you got married?
MB: The same year, the day after. October 15 we leave.
AD: How long did you stay?
MB: 2 weeks, no 3 weeks. 1 week at Mexico City and 2 weeks a Acapulco. I know, ya.
AD: And you went back there recently right? When did you go back to Acapulco?
MB: 4 times I think I went back.
AD: Did you go to the same area?
MB: Ya, the hotel was the next one…
(looking at pictures)
AD: So that’s the dress from the picture?
MB: Ya, I made this. I saw in the store a Spadina down there, look…look.
AD: Wow.
MB: All this, see I start too because I wanna fix it up, hmmm. I wanna make bigger but see I just ruined it.
AD: Oh, aw. Wow this is so pretty, the back. So you made that in the factory?
MB: Ya. The material I went and buy. I saw the style in the store and then…
AD: And then you made it?
MB: And then I made, ya.
AD: So, can you tell me another story?
MB: Ha ha, well I live mostly my baby thing with my Nonna because when I born, my mamma come sick, very very sick, and she can’t take care of me. My Nonna took me over with here with Nonno and I live with her um for until 9 years old.
AD: Wow.
MB: Ya, and then because mamma had the 3 other kids to take care of, so I stay with my Nonna. Ya, and I call all time my Nonna “Manonna, Manonna” because I call mamma and Nonna. “Manonna” ya.
AD: That’s so cute.
MB: Ya and that’s it.
Mina with 60 white roses on her 60th birthday.
Antonio Abstract
Mio nonno, Antonio Bucci, è cresciuto sull’isola di Sicilia nella città di Augusta. Lui è nato in gennaio, 1943. Lui era il secondo figlio di quattro ragazzi e erano cresciuti sulla campagna.
Lui a passato la maggior parte del suo tempo a lavorare nella campagna a raccogliere uva e olive e inseguire gli uccelli in giro con colpi di fionda con le sue fratelli. Ha imparato come andare in bicicletta da solo e ha viaggiato avanti e indietro verso la città per vendere qualsiasi cosa che stavano crescendo nella campagna, per esempio, olive e uova e aranci per il suo primo lavoro.
Quando si è trasferito in Canada, lui aveva 17 anni e a venuto su una barca con sua mamma e tre fratelli nel 1960. Hanno viaggiato nove giorni sulla barca e hanno arrivato in Halifax a “Pier 21”. Lui era l’unico chi è diventato malato con mal di mare. Andavano incontrare loro padre chi era arrivato in Canada due anni fa e ha messo a punto la loro casa. Hanno arrivato in gennaio e erano molto sorprese di vedere due piedi di neve. Non hanno potuto portare troppo, però ci hanno detto di portare i pigiami pesante. Dopo che sono scesi dalla barca, è stato un altro viaggio di due giorni sul treno per la stazione “Union Station” a Toronto.
Lui si è messo in scuola serale immediatamente per imperarsi l’inglese da solo e ha lavorato facendo diversi lavori in costruzione per la maggior parte.
Adesso lui è Saldatore a tempo pieno e trascorre la maggior parte del suo tempo al lavoro o nel suo giardino quando il tempo è buono. Lui ancora fa il suo vino però non pesta l’uva lui stesso come facevano in campagna. Lui ha sempre le soppressate e capicolli freschi e una bottiglia di vino sempre pronto per tutte l’occasione. L’apice del mese di agosto noi facevamo tutti insieme la salsa fresca per l’ano.
Portrait of Antonio Bucci.
Jars of homemade tomato sauce being stores in the cellar.
Capicollo and soppressata hanging to dry until ready.
Antonio’s Transcription
March 10th, 2019
AD= Alicia Davies
TB= Tony Bucci
MB= Mina Bucci
AD: Ok Nonno, when did you come to Canada?
TB: 1960.
AD: And did you come alone?
TB: Me, 3 brothers and my mum.
AD: And how did you get here?
TB: By boat to Halifax, then by train.
AD: And how was that? Did you get sea sick at all?
TB: Yes, I did. Only me. Yup.
AD: Really? Only you? And you were throwing up, or were you just dizzy?
TB: Ya, I threw up. I just stayed in the cabin.
AD: Was that the first time you were on a boat?
TB: Yup. First time travel.
AD: How long did it take? How many days?
TB: 9 days on the boat and 2 days on the train.
AD: Was it hard to get to Canada? Were you asked a lot of questions?
TB: No, I don’t even remember what they asked but my brother, he was bigger than me, so he was answering all the questions. Ha ha ha!
AD: Ok, so how old were you then when you came to Canada?
TB: I was 17.
AD: 17, ok. So what made you decide to come to Canada? Your family just decided that they were going to come here?
TB: Ya, well my father came here 2 years before, and then, ya, my uncle was here (my father’s brother) then my dad and another brother came over, and then he got us over here too.
AD: So where in Italy did you immigrate from?
TB: Sicily.
AD: Is there a smaller town in Sicily where you’re from, or just Sicily?
TB: Sicily, ya. The town of Augusta. Augusta is surrounded by the ocean with a bridge to go.
AD: So is it like a little island?
TB: Sort of like, ya. But we lived on a farm.
AD: Were there lots of animals on the farm?
TB: Ya, not lots but we had a few.
AD: What kind of animals did you have?
TB: Oh, we had cows, we had dogs, cats, donkeys. Ha ha! Ya.
AD: Do you remember what you packed to bring with you to Canada?
TB: Not very much.
AD: Not very much? Just some clothes?
TB: Just some clothing, ya. Good heavy pair of pajamas because they told us it was cold here so.
AD: Ok, so you weren’t able to bring a lot obviously?
TB: Well we didn’t really have a lot.
AD: You brought less than Nonna brought then.
TB: Oh ya, she brought 2 big trunks.
AD: 2 trunks? Oh my. So, there were people you were meeting here? You were meeting your Dad here in Canada?
TB: Ya, my Dad.
AD: So, he had a house already, all set up for you guys?
TB: Yes.
AD: So what city was it that you immigrated to?
TB: Toronto.
AD: Toronto? So that’s where your first house was?
TB: Yes.
AD: So then, how did you get to Toronto? Did you take the train all the way there?
TB: Well, from Halifax to Union Station we came with the train and then my uncle and my dad came to pick us up at the station.
AD: And were there lots of other Italians there where you moved to in Toronto?
TB: There was a few, ya. There was some.
AD: Was the transition from Italy to Canada easy for you? Do you remember it being difficult at all? Do you miss Sicily a lot?
TB: Well, at the beginning yes, because see we left Sicily in January and in Sicily January is still warm, but when we got here there was 2 feet of snow, ha ha! And it was cold so it was a little bit difficult in the beginning, but it got easier.
AD: Do you miss Italy? Do you miss it at all?
TB: Not now, no. Not really, no, because now we have everyone here – we have our family here – I got nobody there so…
AD: At the time, what was it specifically that you missed? Did you miss the farm, or a specific place?
TB: Ya, ya. I missed the place where I lived.
AD: Did you have a lot of land there since you had a farm?
TB: Ya, we had about 10 acres. We had vineyards, we had olive trees, ya, lots of grapes, lots of olives. We used to do the wheat, the grain, ya. We did everything on the farm.
AD: What kind of olives were they? Were they green or black olives?
TB: Well, you know olives start green and then turns brown.
AD: I did not know that.
TB: Ha ha ha, ya see? You can pick them green or you can leave them longer and they turn black.
AD: So you had lots of olives.
TB: Ya.
AD: So, do you want to go back to Sicily at all now?
TB: No.
AD: Do you have any family there still, or no?
TB: No. Actually, I do. I have a cousin in Sicily, ya.
AD: So, then at the time, was there still a lot of family in Sicily? Were you communicating with anyone there?
TB: Well, we had friends, but family, we had my uncle who lived there and my cousins, that’s about all the family I had there.
AD: So, most of your family was already here?
TB: Other family was in Abbruzzi because that’s where we originated from.
AD: Oh wow, I didn’t know that.
TB: In the Northern part of Italy. Sicily is in the South.
AD: So, do you remember moving to Sicily then?
TB: No. I was born in Sicily. Ya, my parents moved there soon after they got married.
AD: Why? Do you know why?
TB: It was a better life there than in Abbruzzi, ya.
AD: There were more jobs? Is that what you mean?
TB: Ya.
AD: How did you learn to speak English?
TB: I went to night school first.
AD: Here in Canada?
TB: Here in Canada, ya, where else? Then I start working and I used to go to night school. And then in the winter when we couldn’t work outside because I used to work in construction, so when I couldn’t work outside, so I went to day school but not with like a regular school. This was… like learning English and I took a course of blueprint reading and drawings, stuff like that and I took English I was going during the day at Central Technical School.
AD: Was that in Toronto?
TB: Yup, in Toronto, ya.
AD: Did you go with your brothers too? Were they also going to school?
TB: No, I was doing it by myself.
AD: Did you go to school in Italy at all?
TB: Yes, up to 5th grade, ha ha!
AD: Did you have a large class?
TB: Oh ya, 20, at least 20 students or more.
AD: And you walked to school every day?
TB: Ya, about 2 and a half miles, ha!
AD: How long did that take?
TB: About an hour, a little over an hour.
AD: Wow, by yourself?
TB: My brothers, my cousin sometimes, it depends. Sometimes I was by myself. Sometimes the teacher, because the teacher came from another town, so he had a scooter, sometimes he’d meet me on the road and pick me up, ha ha!
AD: Oh, that’s nice.
TB: Ya.
AD: So, did that teacher teach you a lot of different subjects? Did you have more than 1 teacher?
TB: No, one teacher. Each class had a teacher – 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade, you know. When you’re in the third grade, no the 4th grade, it was a priest. The priest was doing the teaching.
AD: What was your first job when you were in Sicily?
TB: I just working on the farm.
AD: Just working on the farm? So what was your first job when you came to Toronto?
TB: Working in construction, building homes and buildings and stuff.
AD: Did you have to train for that?
TB: No, they just take you and say “go to work”. Not those days. These days maybe, ya, you have to do training. Those days, no, they just put you there and…. work.
AD: Why did you decide to become a Canadian citizen?
TB: Well, it’s convenient and um, after so many years…
AD: And you did it before Nonna did it right?
TB: Actually, we did it at the same time. Didn’t we do it at the same time?
MB: Oh, I don’t remember. Ya, we went both together.
MB: Oh ya, ya. That’s true, ya.
AD: So, it was convenient, it made sense, that’s why?
TB: Ya.
AD: Do you have any regrets about moving to Canada?
TB: No, no. I got such nice family here now, ha ha!
AD: We’re ok, we’re good family ha ha ha?
TB: Ya, we got you, so… ha ha!
AD: You would probably say that your life got better since you moved here?
TB: Ya.
AD: How and when did you meet Nonna?
TB: Ha ha! See, I lived on Earlscourt Avenue and um, I moved there in January, 1960. And she came to Canada in 1966. So, then she moved next door to me, ha ha, because her sister lived there. So, and that’s it. Then we met and um, we kind of liked each other and that was it. The year after, we were married, ha ha!
MB: What, you think you find better? Ha ha!
AD: So how old were you when you met her? 23?
TB: I was 23, ya.
AD: What did you like about her?
TB: Everything.
AD: Everything? What does that mean?
TB: Well, she was nice looking, she was nice, ha ha!
MB: You forgot to say beautiful!
TB: She was beautiful, ha ha ha!
MB: laughing…
AD: I asked Nonna this too – was it difficult to understand each other at first at all, being from different parts of Italy?
TB: No, no. No problem there.
AD: So when did you decide that you wanted to marry her?
TB: Right then.
AD: Really, did you have to ask your Dad first?
TB: No.
AD: You just told him?
TB: Ya, “I’m getting married”, that’s it, ha ha!
AD: Hope you can make it? ha ha!
AD: So how did you ask Nonna that?
TB: How I asked Nonna?
AD: Ya, how did you ask Nonna to marry you?
TB: Oh, oh, I don’t know if I remember. How did I ask you?
MB: Uh, just talking?
TB: I don’t know, we were just talking because she used to go to work and then she would come home from St. Clair and she would walk home.
MB: And I didn’t like to stay here, so we decide to get married.
TB: She didn’t really like it here in St. Clair, Toronto because of stuff or whatever. Anyways, and then she met me. I would just go walk down the street and walk her home, and we’re talking and this and that, and then I asked her if she had a boyfriend, ha ha! She said no. I, we had a fight then, we were split and then…
MB: I have the ring. You said why you no take the ring off?
TB: Oh, I don’t remember that.
MB: Ya, ha ha! I said I don’t know, I still have but…
TB: ha ha!
AD: So you had a ring from someone in Italy?
MB: Ya, you know the… no the really engagement ring, but the…
AD: Promise ring?
MB: Yes, the promise ring. It was just like, like this, just a band, ya, ya.
AD: So Nonno, you got lucky then?
TB: Ya.
AD: So then, do you remember where you got married and what year it was? Was it the next year? Was it 1967?
TB: Well, she came here on October 13, 1966 and we got married on October 14, 1967.
AD: Wow, so did you guys ever go on a date, or just walking with each other?
TB: No, that time, we couldn’t go on a date then.
MB: No. One time, we had to go to the wedding and I was bridesmaid and he was usher, and my brother in law, he had come along, ya ya.
TB: Chaperone, ha ha! Oh ya, not like these days, ha ha!
AD: So that was before you were married right?
TB: Uh huh.
AD: So, was your family able to come to the wedding? They were all here already?
TB: Oh ya, oh ya. We had what, 600 people at the wedding.
AD: Oh my gosh!
MB: Ya, that time were a lot of people.
AD: Really, wow!
TB: Those days you invite a lot of people, just a friend and you say “Oh, I’m getting married, you wanna come?”
MB: 600 people, ya.
AD: Did you get a lot of gifts or just bustas?
MB: No , like busta, even they put, you know, the santo, la figurina di la Madonnina, anno messo.
TB: Ya?
MB: And 3 sisters they put $5 dollars for envelope a la busta.
TB: Those days that’s what it was.
MB: They just put $5 dollars. Family with 5 or 6 people, they put $15 dollars. They no have lots money that time.
TB: We had lunch and dinner, so by lunch time, we were about 150 people.
MB: Ya, maybe 200. All the mostly relatives, very, very close.
AD: Did you have it in a big reception hall?
TB: Ya, big hall. The biggest one ha ha! It was brand new hall, brand new. Those times for a plate we would pay, what $4.50 or something.
MB: Ya, we pay $4.50 both the dinner and lunch.
TB: For both, lunch and dinner, you know.
AD: Was that considered expensive or was that still a good price?
TB: It was ok, but those days, he did a good price for us actually because it was so many people and he still make money on it.
AD: Do you know if the hall still exists? Or do you think it’s gone?
TB: I don’t know. I haven’t been over that way in a long time. I don’t know if they still there or not.
AD: So then when did you guys move after you moved in together?
TB: Well, after we got married we lived in my dad’s house where I lived for what, 2 years, about 2 years, ya.
MB: Ya, 2 years.
TB: Then we bought a house in Malton – we moved there 1970. Um, ya 1970. Actually, we bought it in 70, but we moved in January 1971.
AD: Right next door to your brother, right Nonno?
TB: Ya, right after your mum was born, next door to my brother.
AD: And, Nonna was saying that he moved away after a few years?
TB: Ya.
AD: Why did he move away? Did he not like his house anymore?
TB: No, no, he had a… he was working with the insurance company and he had an office farther down and so he decided to go over there – he bought a bigger house.
AD: And you guys stayed in that house in Malton for how long?
TB: We stayed there for 31 years. We moved in 2000.
AD: To this house?
TB: To this house, ya.
AD: What kind of Italian traditions do you still keep? I know you still make soppressata.
TB: We still make the vino, we make salami, soppressata, sausages, sauce…
MB: Salsa, and all the stuff in the jar – peperoni, melanzani, lots e lots stuff ya, faggiolini.
AD: How long does it take to make 1 soppressata?
TB: Well, ha ha, we make a whole bunch, we make them all at the same time. You don’t make them 1 by one. Before it dries, it takes about a month before it dries, ya. You buy the meat, you cut it, all the bad grease out of there, all the bad stuff, clean it up good. Then grind it – today you grind it, put all the salt and spices in, then leave it overnight. Then next day you feel the “come si chiamano?”
MB: Cosa? Alle budelle. It’s the skin, like you know you peel the skin, ya.
TB: Ya, the casings.
MB: Oh casings, ya, ya that’s what they call.
TB: Ha ha! And that’s it, then we hang them up – the ones you put in the freezer we let them dry for about 2 days and then we put them, vacuum packed them, and put them in the freezer. And whatever we wanna leave to dry we just leave them out until you know they’re ready.
AD: Yes, until they’re ready. You check them?
TB: Oh ya, ya.
AD: For your vino, did you used to mash the grapes yourself?
TB: I did. I used to way back. I used to buy the grapes, mash them and then ferment them and put it away.
AD: How did you mash them? With your feet?
TB: Ha ha ha! Oh ya, we used to do that in Sicily because we had lots, we had a place like a room like this kitchen and my uncle would chack, chack, chack with his big boots with all nails sticking out of them, and we just jump in because we’re kids, ha ha. But here, here we had a machine.
AD: You had a machine to squish the grapes?
TB: We had a machine, a grinding machine.
AD: So how do you make your vino?
TB: Just like that, you mash the grapes and then let it ferment for 3,4 days in a barrel and after that we put it in the press and squeeze the wine out.
AD: And then do you put it in the damiggiana when it’s ready?
TB: In the damiggiana ya, when it’s ya, after we squeeze it it’s sweet, then so then we put it in the damiggiana or in another barrel for 2,3 days, let it ferment – it ferments, boils and after a few days when the fermentation stops, it settles, you leave it there for a couple more days and then you put it away in the damiggiana. By then it’s kind of sour, not sour, but it’s not sweet anymore.
AD: So when do you put it in bottles?
TB: After 2 or 3 months. Make sure everything settles and it becomes clear. Ya, that’s when you change it over and put it in bottles or gallons or other damiggiana. Ya, then leave it there for maybe 3,4 months and then you can start drinking it.
AD: So do you have any other stories you can tell me?
TB: I don’t know, what stories?
AD: I’m sure you have lots of stories.
TB: I don’t remember them, ahaha, like what?
AD: A funny story maybe?
MB: Quando portavamo le kids at the beach..
TB: Oh, we used to go, well not camping, but every, no every Saturday, no mostly on Sundays, the kids were small, we used to go out to the park, a lake, and spend the day there, have fun with few friends, relatives and we would jump in the water, the lake, and or else we would be playing ball, or play cards and drink the vino, ha ha!
MB: Ya, we did lots of that. Ya, we used go always in the summer time, it was nice time. We bring the steaks and do barbecue.
TB: Oh ya, we bring the barbecue, we set it up.
MB: For lunch we cook here and then we go, but for dinner we do barbecue, ya.
TB: And then, ok that’s like us, her sister, maybe couple other relatives or friends…
MB: Ya, le compari.
AD: They had kids too probably?
MB: Ya, ya.
TB: Mmhmm. Oh ya, well the kids all play together, ya.
TB: It was right over here, it was close to here, no it wasn’t here. Malton, in the park there, a little lake, where the water thing is now. Indian Line water park – what’s it called? With the slides, ya.
AD: Ya Nonno, that’s a water park now – Wild Water Kingdom.
TB: Ya, it was right there. We went there, we were there, our compare was there, we just yapping, or whatever. That time, we went, we went to that, no that was another time when it started raining and we came here.
MB: Quella volta e stato pure.
TB: Was it here? That same time?
MB: The same time, ya.
TB: Anyway, then the weather got bad, it started raining, pouring rain and wind, and we were not far from where we lived so I said, ok well let’s go home – we’ll cook barbecue there. So everybody was there cooking barbecue by the house.
AD: That sounds like fun. I was wondering, did you have horses on your farm in Sicily?
TB: No, no horses. I had a donkey.
AD: Did you ride the donkey?
TB: Yes, it threw me down. It threw me down 2 times. One time, one time it was just running and galloping whatever and then you know, we used to put the clothes outside to dry after you wash them, and there was the line across there from one tree to another tree, so the donkey’s going through there and I got caught by the wire and “poof” fall down, ha ha!
AD: Oh wow!
TB: Another time, because we used to, after we cut the grapes down, we bring the horses there, or not the horses, we bring the cows, the cows or the donkey – we tie it to a tree or something – he’s there free, not free, he’s tied up, but he eats there and everything. So one time, I went to pick him up to bring him back home – it wasn’t far, it was from here to…. up the street over there. Anyways, I tried to get on him and he start kicking and jumping and everything and I couldn’t even get on, ha ha!
AD: He didn’t like you, ha ha!
TB: He didn’t like me that time, ha ha! And I used to work next door, not next door, next farm over where he had orange orchards, mandarine, all kinds of vegetables growing, lemon trees and all this stuff, so I used to go work over there for him and one time I was, he had a mule – he had 2 mules, ha ha, so I got on one of these mules and he’s just walking nice and then he didn’t threw me down, I fell down after I hit a tree branch; a branch from the lemon tree sticking out, he he. So ha, he just walk into it “boom” there and threw me down. So as I fell down, he stops right there. He didn’t move. So I fell down and then because the mule was tall right, so I couldn’t just get up on him, I had to go somewhere he would be in a lower spot where I could be higher so I could get on again, a ha ha ha, oh ya!
AD: So did you have to pick the lemons and the oranges? What would you do?
TB: Ya, we would pick them. Well, when it’s time to pick the oranges, they like they sell them on the tree. So there’s the people that come and they just pick them. Ya, a whole bunch of people maybe 10 and they come with the truck, just load them and take them away. But we could go over there anytime and pick whatever we want.
AD: Did you get in trouble?
TB: No, no, never, never. Well, as long as you only pick just 1 or 2. How may can you eat?
AD: Ya, as long as you don’t pick the whole tree.
TB: Ya, that’s it, it was fun.
AD: What other kinds of fun things did you do in Sicily?
TB: I would get on a bike when I started to learn the bike, then I learned by myself, nobody was teaching me, and it wasn’t like a little bike, it was a big bike. So you know how the bike has the top bar and then you know, so we just stick the foot in there and pedal like this a little bit ha ha ha, until I was able to get on top. Ya, then see because we were growing the grapes and other vegetables, tomatoes, melons and that stuff, we would take them to the town and sell them to – there was a store – and they would buy them. And eggs too – we had chickens ya, fresh – everybody usually asking for eggs, fresh eggs. And so I would go to town, I would load my bike. My father, after, my father bought me a new bike and I was what 15 – 14, 15 at the time, and I would go to town with the bike loaded with whatever stuff, bring them to the store.
AD: I hope you never fell.
TB: It was about 3 quarters of an hour ride or more. And rough road – not just nice – until I get to the asphalt road it was all rough. Many places I just had to push the bike, ha ha, ya. I had to go over rocks and stuff you know, farm roads.
AD: Did your family have a car?
TB: No car, no, the bicycle was the best car, he he. We’re lucky we had the bicycle, ya that’s about it. Go into town, stay there, I go to the movie or something. There was a strip in the town that in the night everybody was, people walking back, just people walking and yapping. That’s it. I was full every night.
AD: So you could watch a movie in a theatre, or outside?
TB: There was a theatre, there was 2 theatres that was open – the top was open and the other one was closed and we could watch a movie there or over there. Actually, the one that was open was in the ocean he he, they built them both right by the ocean, on top there.
AD: That’s so pretty.
TB: And there’s another funny thing. My brother, Uncle Joe and I, we would fight.
AD: Is Uncle Joe the oldest?
TB: Yes, he’s the oldest, and we would fight now and then you know, whatever, but this time we were skipping rope both together, so he’s taller and I’m a little shorter and skipping rope, skipping rope. All of a sudden my head hit his chin so one tooth fell out but it was good because he had a double tooth so that tooth that was stickin’ out, fell out, he he!
AD: So you did him a favour then?
TB: Ya, ya, he he he! And we, there was this tree in the back – it was a big tree but it had this big branch, like this going out nice and straight flat, so we made a swing there, but not with the rope or whatever, a big chain, big chain. We had some, I don’t know how we got it, we had it there, a big chain and this chain had links about this long, ya, so…
AD: Was it heavy?
TB: Ya, so it was about that thick, and Ok, on the top by the branch we put some rags and whatever so we tied the regular chain there and then coming down about half way and then we hang these big link chains so at the bottom we had this link about this much flat that you could sit on right, I used to swing there like crazy. You go up, hanging there, hanging on with my legs like a monkey.
MB: come nu big baby.
TB: We used to climb trees there like crazy. Ya, all the trees there wasn’t one tree that we couldn’t climb, he he. Oh ya, I used to swing there like crazy and my mother, actually my aunt, would yell “tony, don’t do that, you gonna fall” or something like that. And I say “oh don’t worry, I don’t fall. I hang there good, he he.
AD: Did you ever hurt yourself?
TB: No, no, not on the swing, no. One time my brother Nick, he’s walking up on the dirt road right and my aunt is walking that way exactly – she’s walking that way, he’s walking this way, so one place we meet so my brother is limping, and my aunt says “Hey Nick, what’s the matter, why you limping?” He says “my foot hurts”. She says “which foot is hurting?” He says “I don’t know if it’s this one or that one”, he he, he didn’t know which foot was hurting, but he was limping anyways, he he he, funny eh?
AD: Ahaha!
TB: We would go up the trees and catch the, the little birds in the nest, oh ya, we catch them.
AD: Catch them? What would you do with them?
TB: Oh, we would just get them, we would put them back – what are you gonna do with them?
AD: So you would just look at them and then put them back? That’s cute.
TB: Ya, but ya, if there was a nest in the tree, we had to check, he he he, ya. Another time, there was the olive trees, sometimes they were cut, this tree had the top cut off and then all the branches growing, anyway on the top there was like a hole and, in the trunk, so usually the birds would go there and nest inside there, so I put my stick I had in there to see if there was a nest or whatever, and instead there was a snake, he he he!
AD: Oh my! Oh no!
TB: It didn’t bite me, but…
AD: Did you grab it? How did you know it was a snake?
TB: I don’t remember what I did, but I knew it was a snake. It was cold and whatever and he he he
AD: Oh my, that’s crazy Nonno!
TB: And you know, the snakes, we had black snakes, white snakes, they were about this long, they were nothing. They weren’t dangerous, no. They have like a skin, a second skin, so in the summer time when it’s hot sometimes they just crawl wherever and they leave the skin, their outer skin, ya.
AD: They shed.
TB: Ya, but you see this piece, it’s all about that long, it’s all one piece – it’s just the snake skin, he he!
AD: Ya, we have them at work because we have snakes at work, so whenever they’re growing, they shed their skin and we keep them to see how small they started out and how big they’re getting.
TB: Oh ya, ya. We find this piece, this whole one piece, ya. You know, I had a sling shot right, well, we all had sling shots there – me, my brothers, my cousin whatever, ya.
AD: Did you have to make it yourself?
TB: Ya, ya. Oh ya, we go to the field and find this nice branch that has the curve like that you know and cut it, make a sling shot. And we would hunt birds or snakes, or lizards, you know there, he he!
AD: With a rock? What would you shoot?
TB: Rocks, little rocks. And, um, shooting anything – we’re good at it. I remember one time it was summer time, and I was just walking and looking for birds and if you get the birds, we eat them eh? We cook them and eat them. And then there’s this snake about this long, nice in the sun, on a rock wall and I say ya, it’s about from here to there, the corner, so I “ping” – get it right in the head. This thing just rolled down there, he he!
AD: Did you eat the snake?
TB: No, we don’t eat snakes, he he he, just kill them.
AD: Ha nice, that’s nice Nonno. Wow! Did you ever shoot the sling shots at each other?
TB: No I don’t think so, dangerous.
AD: Ya, that would hurt.
TB: That’s about it from there. I do miss the outdoors, I like the outdoor a lot. On Easter, on Easter Sunday – no, no Easter Monday, like we lived in a town and all the people from the town and whatever, they would go, they would go on the farms and stuff just to walk if usually it’s a nice day and it’s a lot of people go walking all over the fields and, from the town, they came from the town and they just go walking around the farm by the, on the roads just, ya, and that was a good day for us too because we would get on the bike and go around here and there, ya just going around, otherwise you had to work, he he, very nice.
AD: So, I know that you love your garden.
TB: Mhmm.
AD: So what’s your favourite thing to grow? Everything?
TB: Everything. I like to grow everything, but we grow broccoli that we eat, and lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, we grow all that. I like to do that, ya, radicchio, squash, cucumber.
AD: Is that a plum tree that you have there in the backyard?
TB: Yup, that’s a plum tree.
AD: And you don’t have the cherry tree anymore?
TB: No, the cherry tree’s gone. It got sick, I had to take it out. But the plum tree is still there.
AD: And it makes good plums?
TB: Used to.
AD: What’s wrong with them now?
TB: Well, it needs to be sprayed in the fall and the spring and I haven’t been doing that lately, so…
AD: For bugs?
TB: Ya, I have to do that, ya. I have to start doing it back again. There’s a cherry tree across there see? Next door, across the back.
AD: Oh really? That’s a big one.
TB: Ya.
AD: And you’re still working?
TB: I’m still working, I’m only 67… 76, only 76, he he!
AD: You’re so young. What are you doing now? What is your job?
TB: Trailer repair – transport trailer repair like straight frames and doing welding and all that kind of stuff, ya.
AD: And did you have to go to learn how to do that? Did you have to go to school for that?
TB: Actually no, I just learned it as I went along. Ya, I didn’t have to go to school.
AD: And do you like it or do you just do it because you have to?
TB: Oh ya, I kind of like it, ya. Well, that’s what I learned to do, ya, I kind of like it, I like it, I like it, or else I wouldn’t still be doing it, ha ha!
AD: That’s good Nonno.
TB: That’s it. Oh here, you know in the summer time, we used to go pick up tomatoes to make the sauce. Ya, we used to go in the farm, get up early in the morning and take off.
AD: Because you can’t grow enough tomatoes in your little garden…
TB: Ah hour, we drive for an hour, go to this big farm, there’s all these tomatoes all over, so you pick them.
AD: How many bushels do you usually do?
TB: Well, we used to go pick about 8 bushels, 10 bushels.
MB: Yes before because they was small but we did, ya, and then 10, 20 bushels ya. We used to do lots of roasted peppers and eggplant.
AD: You still do a little bit right?
TB: Ya, we used to do more, before ya, we’d go and pick them on the farm. I used to go pick rapini on the farm, oh faggioli, beets.
AD: Do you grow rapini at all, or no?
TB: I used to, I used to but I don’t have too much room now, but I did. When we lived in Malton, I used to grow rapini and even here, but not too much, and broccoli, kale, all kinds of vegetables. And then we, we eat what we eat and then we freeze it. In the summer time we freeze it, in the winter we eat it, he he he!
AD: And for the tomatoes, do we make sauce twice a year?
TB: Once, well sometimes twice, but you know I mean this week and then maybe next week.
AD: When do you usually make the sauce?
MB: Usually end of August. Sometimes we do 10, 20 bushels we do, ya.
AD: So August, September then?
TB: Ya, ya, end of August, beginning of September.
AD: Why at that time? Because the tomatoes are available then?
TB: That’s when they’re ready. That’s when they’re ripe, ya.
AD: So probably most people do it around the same time then?
TB: Oh ya, everybody does it then. That’s the only time for tomatoes.
AD: Are the tomatoes expensive?
TB: Well, used to be much less expensive, but now they getting more expensive, but still it’s worth it to do it.
AD: Yes, definitely.
TB: You pay about $21 dollars for a bushel, but that’s ok. You make good sauce out of it, he he!
AD: And it lasts about a year?
TB: It will last for the whole year or more, for the whole family see? You like tomato, or the tomato sauce that Nonna makes, ya?
AD: Ya, I don’t know what I would do without it Nonno, he he he! I would cry, I would cry every day.
TB: Nice, well you can buy them in the store.
AD: No, no that’s not the same.
TB: No, I know. Zia tried it once and nobody liked it.
AD: It’s gross, not good. You can tell and it tastes yuck.
TB: Ok, so that’s about it.
Portrait of Tony Bucci at 17 years old.
The Bucci’s Abstract
Adesso che noi gli conosciamo come individui, noi possiamo conoscerli meglio.
È stato sei anni dopo di quando Tony è trasferito a Canada che Mina è trasferito nella casa accanto lui e si hanno conosciuti. Lui ha aiutato a portare i suoi bagagli nella sua casa e cosi hanno cominciato a parlare insieme. Hanno celebrato la sua arrivo in Canada aprendo la bottiglia di Strega che mia nonna aveva imballato nel suo bagaglio, e lui ha detto a lei “you are my Stregato because you give me the Strega and so I fall in love with you” mi ha detto Mina.
Lui l’accompagnava alla fermata dell’autobus e al ritorno e parlavano insieme. Tony le portava i fiori regolarmente e le lasciava sul davanzale della sua finestra.
Era poco dopo che hanno deciso di sposarsi quasi un anno dopo in ottobre 1967. La famiglia di Mina non potevano volare dall’Italia a quel tempo però hanno mandati i soldi per la posta. Sei cento persone hanno venuto al loro matrimonio. Hanno celebrato loro viaggio di nozze in Acapulco, e abbittavano con i genitori di Tony per due anni prima di trasferirsi nella loro stessa casa e avere la loro prima figlia un anno dopo in 1968. Dopo si sono trasferiti a Malton per crescere le loro tre figlie per 32 anni. Si hanno divertiti di andare a la spiaggia all’estate e mangiare il grigliato vicino il lago. Circondato da altri italiani, Italia non si sentiva cosi lontano.
Loro adesso abbittano a Woodbridge, la più grande communita d’italiani in Ontario, e sono felicemente sposati per 52 anni. Sono tutte due cittadini canadese con doppia cittadinanza e loro viaggiavano ogni altro anno in Italia mentre la loro famiglia erano ancora in Italia.
Mi dicono che sono tutte due contenti e non vogliono più viaggiare a quel lungo viaggio e sono più contenti di rimanere in Canada adesso che tutti quelli che amano stano qui. Adesso, loro si godono a rilassarsi con le loro 7 nipotini e viaggiare in Florida quando possono andare ogni tanto.
Tony and Gelsomina Bucci on vacation in Punta Cana.
Portrait of Antonio and Gelsomina Bucci.
Gallery
Reflection
Come una nipotina, è difficile di vedere i nostri nonni come nient’altro che i nostri nonni. Ero davvero eccitata di fare queste interviste perché mi ha dato l’opportunità di prendere il tempo di conoscerli come persone. Ero non soltanto riuscita di partecipare nel l’esperienza della conversazione ma anche di osservare a loro stessi quando si ricordavano insieme tutte le ragioni di quando si hanno innamorati. Sento un legame più stretto con la mia eredita e a i miei nonni adesso dopo di sentire le loro storie e vorrei aver fatto lo stesso con i miei altri nonni.
Ho una grande apprezzamento per questo progetto e spero che altri lo apprezzano lo stesso.
Grazie mille perché state leggendo,
Alicia Davies
In English:
As a grandchild, it’s hard to see your grandparents as anything but grandparents. I was very excited to do these interviews because it gave me an opportunity to take the time and get to know mei nonni as more than that, and as people too. I was able to not only participate in the conversation experinece but I was also able to just observe and see them reminisce together and revisit the reasons they fell in love. I feel a closer connection to my familial heritage and to my grandparents now after going through all of this history and it makes me wish I could have done the same with my other grandparents.
I have a huge appreciation for this project and I hope that others will be able to appreciate this as well.
Thank you so much for reading.
Alicia Davies