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Al Rizza 50 years of the Club Romano and it's associated football teams. Outline
As the 50th anniversary of the Club Romano is coming up we decided to highlight one of Scotland's longest serving Italian clubs.
The Club Romano was founded on the 2nd Tuesday in May 1956, at a meeting
called by Al Rizza in the Continental Ballroom, Dundee. The founding members
were Peter Ianetta, Flora Fugaccia, Michael Esposito, Philip Sciortino,
Joe Fugaccia, John Costella, and Al Rizza. John Costella was appointed
President, due to his position at the time as Italian vice-consul.
The purpose of the club was to unite the community through various social
functions, and to preserve the various ethnic activities.
A number of functions took place such as dance evenings, dinner dances and
general get-togethers. One such evening was the Charity Dance in aid of the
Hungarian Relief fund, chaired by Al Rizza, which included Ciano Soave,
Berto Vettraino, Joe Delnevo and realised over 2,000 pounds. Recently a
charity
dinner raised money for the cardiovascular unit at Ninewells Hospital in
Dundee.
The following piece and photograph comes courtesy of the Evening Telegraph "In the photo, the boys are pictured with FRANK CARLIN, who was secretary at that time with the well-known Club Romano outfit."
Alva Glen was first chosen as the premises for the Club Romano, but since then the club has acquired a new location, the future now is in the hands of the next generation. Prof. Julian Frullani (Italy) January 2002
 Prof
Julian Frullani, currently working in Florence has been kind enough to forward
me these interesting photographs.
This photograph on the left features Julian's father William Frullani with a Morris ice-cream van, ca. 1935. Julian tells me it was still is use in 1960 when he drove it himself ! (Click to enlarge)
This photograph on the right features Italian
immigrants in Gatehouse-of-Fleet ca. 1915
living in Swan Street. The older man in the photograph is Giulio
Frullani who worked in the copper mines
at Castramont, near Gatehouse.
A few years later he opened his fish and chip
shop.
He was interned on the Isle of Man with
his brother during the war years. He
thankfully was not involved in the Arandora Star
disaster. (Click to enlarge)
'Ha.penny a poke.' The exert on the left was featured in The Galloway News during the 1950's but features a photograph that is dated 1916. Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the article. (Don't forget to press Back on your browser to return to this page.)
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Peter Muccini Non era gran cosa This article recently appeared in The Times newspaper and have reproduced it with the kind permission of the author. "The Italians first came to Scotland in the late 1800s as peddlers selling plaster saints door-to-door to devout Irish Roman Catholic working class families in and around Glasgow and Edinburgh. These itinerant traders came mainly from Tuscany and Emilia -- regions that straddle the northern Apennine mountain range -- from towns and villages around major centres such as Parma, Piacenza, Lucca and Pisa where there has long been a tradition of craftsmanship in the plastic arts. They soon realised there was a more durable market in the shape of a catering service for a largely undernourished industrial working class. Scotland was rich in both fish and potatoes so the Italians went into the fish and chip trade. By 1900 they were prospering and bringing over relatives suffering dire poverty in the motherland. Business expanded with the introduction of mosaic and marble ice cream parlours and tea rooms where young couples of modest incomes could have a taste of luxury. This attracted immigrants from other parts of Italy, mainly from the south around Cassino and Naples who had traditionally gone to America. Scotland was nearer and the opportunities were just as good. More came after the United States closed the door to further Italian immigrants. In the meanwhile the Italians spread out all over Scotland and today every telephone directory from John O’Groats to Gretna Green has a goodly sprinkling of their names. Some retired back to their native villages in Italy where even today they startle British tourists by suddenly switching from a melodious Italian into English with a broad Glasgow accent." Read about Peter's recollection as a child of Italian parents living in Scotland during World War II.
Jules It's a small world........ I'm actually English - but who's perfect? I have a small business selling
holiday property around the Garfagnana area and was always amazed at the number
of apparent Glaswegians in the area. This was an accent I easily recognised as I
had a day job working for a large American company that was setting up a call
centre at the end of Bath Street, Glasgow at the time. I realised it was a small world when I stopped for lunch in Coreglia Antelminelli and met the young Scots-Italian lady who runs the hairdressers in the town. She told me that her father ran an Italian restaurant in Sauchiehall Street. I told her that I frequently visited Glasgow and what I was doing. She then correctly identified the building I worked in and told me her father's restaurant was next door. I realised I'd had dinner in there the week before !!!
Stevie Rodgers (Australia) June 2001
The above photographs have been kindly sent in by Stevie Rodgers a third generation Scots Italian now living in Australia. The early van belonged to his grandfather Leonello Giovannetti (featured) who originated from Barga but plied his trade in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats area between the '50s and '70s. The van for those of you who remember was a familiar sight on Ardrossan North Shore during the summer. (Click to enlarge) Many thanks Stevie for your contribution.
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Dr
Mark J Pierotti and the Dubai & Abu Dhabi Scottish Italian Society.
As if moving from Barga to Paisley was not traumatic enough a branch of the Peirotti family has moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, not to see if Scotsitalians can sell fish and chips and ice cream to the Arabs (they probably could), but to assist in aviation in the area. Dr. Mark Pierotti is the son of Alberto and Elizabeth Pierotti and Grandson of Guiseppe Pierotti and Olimpia Lamari from Barga. Today Mark is the manager for the private airline of Sheihk Kalifa Al Nahyan the ruler of Abu Dhabi & President of the UAE. Mark is also a professor of Air Transport Engineering & Air Transport Management and has published texts on Aircraft Maintenance Engineering. A far cry from the Paisley Pierotti family who ran numerous chip shops in Renfrewshire area. On this reflective note Mark comments that “It was a wonderful childhood being Scottish Italian in Paisley, thank God our Genitori had the pioneering spirit, can you imagine the fear of leaving poor from a small Tuscan village with nothing, to go to start a new life in Scotland???? My Nonno started pushing a wheelbarrow in Barrhead & Paisley selling home made ice cream. Here am I now in Abu Dhabi. I feel so humble.” Mark has lived & work in the UAE for 13 years and is the only member along with his four children of “The Abu Dhabi & Dubai Scottish Italian Club”, but he is hoping for more members. His wife Jane, refuses to join. Marks children have a great mix of Scottish and Italian names , Marco, Luke, Iona & Kristian.
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Nadia from Toronto's story
My grandpop's with his ice-cream bikes: He invented these bikes as I am told. They owned an ice cream shop in Glasgow.
His name was Loretto Jaconelli - My mother is
his daughter (1 of 9 children). My
name is Nadia and I reside in Toronto, Canada.
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An
email has reached me from Al Rizza of sunny Florida one of the founder members
of the Club Romano and main organiser of Dundee Juventus an offshoot football
team, first derived in 1968 (see photo above). Al used to own The Silvery
Tay fish and chip shop in Menziehill.
Football
seemed to always be a big part of the Club Romano. Indeed
Dundee Italians were always very active in the field of sport and in
the sports communities.
Ever since 1936,
they had a
competitive football team, and wore the Italian colours back then.
Follow
this
thrilling tale as Twelve-year-old Nunzio opens the boot of a wrecked
Pontiac Bonneville in his father's scrapyard. But who will believe the tale of
the horror that he has found there when all evidence is lost to the 
