I have never plotted out my family tree; I never felt the need to. From being a little girl, my parents and Italian grandfather considered that it was very important that I knew who I was and where I came from. They thought that I should be proud of my Italian roots and my Scottish connection and the sacrifices and hardships that my ancestors suffered which somehow paved the way for me to have a better life.

What is more important to me apart from the frayed documents and dog-eared photographs are the stories told to me by my father, his anecdotes and recollections of our family history, which were passed down through the generations.

He reminded me on numerous occasions that our Italian ancestors walked all the way from Vallegrande, in Italy. Vallegrande is a pretty little village in Valle di Comino near Monte Cassino. The locals refer to it as; ‘Piccola Svizzera’ or ‘Little Switzerland’. My ancestors travelled from there to Britain in search of a new life. They had to leave to escape poverty and starvation. At first I thought our story was unique as I had not heard of other peasants walking all that way, but after some research it seems it wasn’t uncommon. However, I understand that my ancestors were migrating back and forth between Britain and Italy since the 1870s and 80s. And I conclude this because some off-spring was born in England, some Scotland, and others in Italy. My great grandfather, Giuseppe Capaldi was supposedly born in England although I do not know when or where. But I am aware that there are very distant family members (whom I do not know) who live in; Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dover and the southeast. Giuseppe Capaldi was a very tall handsome man, at one time part of the ‘bersaglieri’.

I was told that the Capaldi family originated from Picinisco, another village in the Val di Comino and that the name roughly translated means ‘high head’. At one point in history the Capaldis were reported to have been educated professionals in medicine, law, art and music, but I have no evidence to sustain this. I am under no illusions and understand that I am descended from hard-working ‘contadini’, or ‘ciosciari’.

My grandfather was Marco Capaldi, who was born in Portsmouth, England in 1902. He had dual nationality and possessed a British as well as an Italian passport. My Italian grandmother was Antonia Capaldi, his first cousin; she was born in Portsmouth in 1901. The quirk of fate of being born in England was to prove fortuitous in 1940 when Italian nationals were
declared ‘enemy aliens’. They lived in Glasgow from the 1920s onwards and were married in 1926. They had four children who were all born and raised in Glasgow; Romeo, Giulia, my father Mario and the youngest, Bruno. It wasn’t until the 1950s that my grandfather made the decision to relocate the family to Middlesbrough, a small industrial town near the northeast coast
of England, where the family began a new ice-cream business.

My Italian great great grandparents and great grandparents made several journeys from Italy. They would leave in the late spring, when the weather was conducive to travelling and they could escape the oncoming ravages of heat of the oppressive summer. They bundled together their children and few belongings and set out walking. It would take several months, and they would meander along the way, pick up casual work or offer a day’s labour in return for some accommodation and sustenance.

They made their journey to Rome and then northwards up to the beautiful Val d’Aosta before passing the dazzling snow- capped peak of Mont Blanc and arriving in France. My Italian grandfather could read and write in Italian and English and spoke some French, (and even a few words of German). He was never formally educated; he taught himself or appealed to
others to help him. He also knew how to play the accordion.

They travelled to Paris and then headed north to Calais, before ‘scrambling on a tug boat’ to cross the English Channel, arriving late in August just in time for the hop-picking season beginning in September in Kent.

When I was writing my book about my father, Mario: A Biography in Poetry, I drew on all this information as the source of my very first poem in my book entitled ‘Family History’.  I felt it was important to put my father’s life in context and explain why he was Italian, but was born in Scotland, and why his forebears had migrated there.  I found it interesting to research why they had left Italy and also to learn at that same time that Britain was booming; it was expanding rapidly with industry, factories and commerce and welcomed foreigners who were in search of work:

‘In 1870’s Italy, his ancestors lived in misery,
starving in poverty with dried-up crops;
For Victoria’s Great Britain, they soon became smitten
and driven to migrate and pick English hops.’

(lines 5-8)

I also learned that Glasgow was the second biggest city in Britain outside of London, again with a thriving economy of industry and ship-building.  My family like many other Italians migrated up to Scotland ‘for more prosperity’ where they were engaged in some aspect of catering:

‘Good at making ice-cream, good at running fish shops,
good at running cafés in Glasgow society.’

My grandfather, Marco Capaldi, had a variety of jobs in Glasgow.  He was; a terrazzo polisher, a market-gardener, ran a general dealer’s shop, he made and sold ice-cream and later ran his own fish and chip shop.  At one time he lived in a tenement building at 141, Cathedral Street; at another time he lived in Hamilton where he had some land to cultivate vegetables and raised hens.  He was hard-working and always busy.  I have paid homage to him in another poem called; ’Father’s Hands’:

‘Father’s hands are rarely still;
engrained lines tell many tales of milking goats
and feeding hens, tending crops and vegetables.

(lines 1-3)

Marco Capaldi’s father, my great grandfather was Giuseppe Capaldi who married Concetta Franchitti. He had two brothersand two sisters; Michele, Carmine, Carolina and Christina. Carolina lived in Glasgow and married David Sambucci, they had two children, (my dad’s favourite cousins; Enrico and Mary). Christina married Charles English and they had a son called Charles. I don’t know what happened to Carmine, but Michele suffered from the great outbreak of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and died in Italy because of it, (he would have been a young man of around 18 or 20 years old). My great great grandfather was Domenico Capaldi who was supposedly also to have been born in England and reputed to live till he was 109! But he died in Italy and I believe that his tomb is in the cemetery at Villa Latina, where many of my ancestors are also buried. Domenico married Anna Franchittii and they had four children; Giovanni (who married Marta Fortuna) Filippo who married* and had three children, (Harry, Rosaria and Riccucio) Concetta who married Giuseppe and Giacinta who married* and had a son Pepino.

My great great great grandfather was Michelangelo Capaldi. Giuseppe Capaldi (my great grandfather on my grandfather’s side) sadly died en route outside of Paris on one of the journeys
to Britain in 1907. His widow Concetta and their five children continued their journey and lived for a time on the southeast coast. They moved up to Scotland and settled in Glasgow after the First World War. It seems that Concetta in her latter years lived in Italy and she re-married a gentle mild-mannered man called Francesco Franchitti, affectionately known as ‘Tadone’.

I know less about my Italian grandmother, I felt I never really knew her and only met her a few times. My grandparents retired to Italy in 1963 and my grandmother died there in 1969. However, her father was Giovanni Capaldi and he was married to Marta Fortuna in 1900. They had two sons, Tony and Jimmy and four girls; Antonia, Angelina, Rosina and Maria. Marta Fortuna had two siblings, Luisa and Francesco Fortuna. Her parents (my great great grandparents) were Carmela Fabrizio and Francesco Fortuna.

I am unsure whether Marta and Giovanni Capaldi lived in Edinburgh. I think that they may have spent more time in Italy as Giovanni Capaldi died there in 1946, but his widow Marta lived in Edinburgh after that time. His daughter Antonia married Marco Capaldi, (my grandfather) Angelina married George and had a son Giuseppe who married Ruth. Maria married Jock and had Francesco and Carmela. I do not know and have never met any relatives from my grandmother’s side of the family and I have no other information except that my father always sent a Christmas card to his cousin Joe Capaldi in Edinburgh.

Although my father relocated to Middlesbrough where he lived out his adult life, he always had very fond memories of growing up in Glasgow, even though he had many difficulties to deal with. He loved the camaraderie of being part of the Scots-Italian community, with its food, language, culture and music. He loved the bustle of the city with its lovely Victorian and art deco buildings, with wide boulevards. He always celebrated Hogmanay, and he never ever lost his lovely soft Scottish accent, something that I dearly miss.

Mario: A Biography in Poetry is an inspiring, dramatic, coming-of-age story about my father, the artist Mario Capaldi, which is set in Glasgow and Middlesbrough from the years 1935-60. It is available directly from my website www.vandacapaldi.co.uk and currently available in WHSmith, 53-55, Argyle Street, Glasgow.

For my part, I feel proud of who I am and I am ever respectful of my Italian ancestors who travelled such a long way armed with only; a fortitude of spirit, an eagerness to work hard and the ability to seize any opportunity that came their way. And, although I am not a Scot, I feel I do have a connection and I hold a deep affection, warmth and admiration for the industrious Scottish race.

Vanda Capaldi

10 July 2013

Mario Capaldi (1935-2004) is a little known Scots-Italian artist who resided in the northeast of
England. He achieved an extensive and varied art career for forty-four years, but due to his quiet nature,hardly anyone in the public domain has ever heard of him.

He showed early talent as a child and was always painting, drawing and reading. He was bright with a lively imagination, although this artistic streak was never encouraged by his Italian parents. He was born in Glasgow in 1935 where he grew up. He attended the Glasgow School of Art in the ‘50s, but only for a few sessions. Many years later when he lived in Middlesbrough he attended the art college known as the Constantine College.

Mario’s early career began in 1959 with comics; he worked on many publications for Fleetway/IPC Magazines, London and DC Thomson of Dundee.  He worked on; Roy of the Rovers, Battle, Hurricane, Eagle, Bunty, Mandy, Tammy, Jinty and Misty.  He worked on publications for Marvel in the UK and USA drawing; Zorro, James Bond Junior, ThunderCats, Robo Transformers, Care Bears and even Rupert Bear.  He illustrated children’s books like Enid Blyton’s The Little Bear’s Adventure and The Wonderful Torch, and Ladybird’s The Princess and the Frog.

The fact that Mario was of Italian descent played a part in the type of art he was interested in.  He loved the Renaissance artists like Da Vinci and Michelangelo, which inspired him to paint richly coloured biblical scenes in heavy oil.  He also loved Victorian art which inspired him to paint winter snow scenes.  Some of these images were used by Sharpe’s for their Classic Christmas card collection.  He had many art heroes but most of all he admired the work of the Italian artist who settled in Britain; Fortunino Matania (1888-1963).

Mario loved to paint scenes showing human emotion and he loved drawing horses.  This is evident with his painting of ‘Scotland Forever!’ (after Lady Butler) – a great example of one of his watercolour paintings.  The painting also featured on the front cover of the ‘RISK’ board game in the early ‘90s.  This painting conveys the exhilarating charge by the Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 – the horses look as if they are charging right at you!

Mario Capaldi drew and painted a wide variety of subject matter and was skilled in many different mediums such as oils, watercolours, acrylics, pencils and inks. He was very interested in his family history and decided to paint a nostalgic, imaginative although incongruous family portrait. The scene of the painting is an old Italian square which could be Vallegrande set in the late 1890s. He meticulously researched every aspect of this painting; the clothes, the water-fountain, the characters and the position of the horse. He took many photographs when he was in Italy to help him and I had to dress up and pose with a basket on my head! He began detailed sketches in the 1980s and began painting around 1986, but it was something that he knew would never be commercial, so he would only work on it from time to time, and sadly the oil painting remains unfinished, although I do have a detailed finished drawing.

He placed me centre stage as the young girl with the basket of ‘verdura’; the man on the horse is the dashing Giuseppe Capaldi (my great grandfather); my grandfather Marco Capaldi is in front of the door on the right smoking a pipe, with his wife holding a child with her back to the audience. The old woman on the left is my Great Auntie Carolina, whilst my father Mario is the cheeky little lad in the foreground on the left-hand side near the water-jug. He even painted a version of his wife Emily as a young girl holding the cat. The young lady in the window may be Marta Fortuna. ‘The Capaldi Family Portrait’ is a quirky, quaint little piece of Capaldi family nostalgia.

Vanda Capaldi

 July 2013