Luigi Salvi: A Lifetime in Canada

by Isabel Ariagno

Picture of Luigi Salvi in Italy. Taken from Luigi Salvi’s private collection.

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Introduction

I had the pleasure to interview Luigi Salvi, known to many as “Gino”, in his home in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on November 1^st, 2024. The purpose of my assignment to interview Gino was to study how his integration and the opportunities he had upon immigrating to Canada changed his life and his loved ones. The methods used were to ask nine pre-determined questions and ten follow-up questions. The interview was recorded to preserve the oral history as a way to collect and document data. The interview can be viewed digitally via the link below to the YouTube video and the summary.

Years prior to the interview

Luigi and his wife Anna had an article published about their experience living in Canada for 60 years in the newspaper L’Eco di Bergamo. Below is a PDF of the news article.

Interview

The video recording of the interview with Luigi Salvi can be accessed below. The interview is unedited.

Summary of Interview

Below is a summary of the nine pre-determined questions and 10 follow-up questions responses.

Analysis

Luigi Salvi, known to many as Gino, was born in February 1932 in Albino, Bergamo, Italy.  Searching for a better life, he immigrated to Canada in 1964. His life story is one of aspiration, hope, work, love, family, multiculturalism and integration into Canada. While I was interviewing Luigi, there were connections with what we discussed in Dr Teresa Russo’s class, HUMN3800* Italian Heritage and Digital Applications.

The integration had some ups and downs, and Luigi did have some culture shocks when he came here. He did not know how to speak English and had to learn it. However, because he arrived in Montreal and knew how to speak french, this allowed him to focus on adjusting to his new life without the additional stress of learning English quickly. Another culture shock that Luigi highlights he found most shocking happened during Church in Windsor. The men and the women were separated! They would enter in different sections, but sit down together whilst in Montreal and Italy that was not the case. Luigi coined it as Canadian style. Bapsi Sidhwa’s chapter “Two Way Culture Shock” from her 2019 novel Landscapes of Writings: Collected Essays came to mind immediately. Her experience of culture shock is an important aspect within her new life as an immigrant. She describes having difficult daily interactions with the public, and having to come to terms that she would have to learn to do things differently in the United States. Luigi’s shock was one he became used to; he had to adapt. He had to integrate. Even if in Montreal men and women were not separating in Church, he had to get used the fact that in Windsor, they did. This is interesting as it seems that even if Windsor and Montreal are only a few hours apart, they have completely different policies and cultures. Luigi is good at adapting; after immigrating to Switzerland in 1951 and France in 1954 before finally settling down in Canada in 1964, culture shocks were not new. Luigi knew he would need to get used to the Canadian style of living, and fast; so he did.

Luigi was worried the climate would be hard to get used to, as well as the time change. Therefore, he was overjoyed when he, and his wife Anna and two children, Manuela and Manola, were offered to sail across the Atlantic, and take the time they needed to adjust. Another culture shock Luigi experienced was when he went for his job interview in Montreal. He did not know the location of the garage he was going to and was surprised to find it to be extremely small as he was used to big manufacturers. He describes the interview as a casual meeting. Dressed in his finest clothes, he was shocked that they were offering the job and asking him to work right then and there, without a change of clothing! This was unexpected—in France and Italy he would have had to wait an unspecified amount of time to be hired and begin working. With the help of another Italian worker, Luigi was given a change of clothes and was able to call to tell Anna he would be home later that day. Luigi decided right then and there that Canada was wonderful—nowhere he had been before did he receive such hospitality.

Luigi lives a multicultural life in Canada. He watches Italian news, he writes and reads in Italian, he talked in Italian every day to his wife Anna, and even his children too. Traditions were not lost, and connections to family in Italy thrived. To Luigi, knowing your Italian heritage, and knowing where you come from is very important. Although he comes from Italy, Luigi knows that he is fully Canadian. Multiculturalism is essential in immigrants like Luigi and their lives in the new places they’ve decided to settle down. For some, they do not want to remember (or in dire cases are not permitted to discuss) their traditions and what makes their ethnicity, but in many cases like Luigi, Italian-Canadians have integrated their past into all parts of society. During a lecture of Italian heritage, Dr Russo highlighted the importance of multiculturalism and how it even transcends the traditional Canadian holidays. Thanksgiving in Italian households are found with many different pasta dishes and sometimes they will not include the traditional Canadian meals. However, multiculturalism shines through with the acceptance of the holiday by Italian Canadians celebrating it, as it is not a holiday in Italy itself.

 Luigi, like many other Italians, was in demand in Canada for his profession. Robert Harney describes this “boom” of demand as something simple in his chapter “Italian Immigration and the Frontier of Western Civilization” from The Italian Immigration Experience—there were too many people of the same profession, and there were no jobs available. There was, therefore, no other option, than to travel to attain livelihood (Harney 6-7). This collected experience of Italians wanting to better their lives resulted often in hardships due to a language barrier and low paying jobs. Luigi was able to get his job quickly in Montreal due to his ability to speak French and his specific skills in the industrial plants, as well as his charm.

The culture shocks of integration and multiculturalism are essential to Luigi’s story. His voyage to Canada was made smooth due to the Canadian Government taking care of him by providing him and his family with first-class tickets on a Cruise, housing when he arrived in Canada, and a job—the hospitality of others made his new life full of wonder. Luigi is a stellar example of how leaving your birthplace does not automatically mean you’re losing who you are. You adapt; you overcome; you thrive.

Reflection

Speaking with Luigi made me reflect on a lot of things on my drive home to Guelph. My role at the beginning was one of neutrality; I was there to ask questions and not put in my own opinions. But as time went on I found Luigi’s infectious personality to bring out questions as I went and I learnt more about him than I ever knew before. The interview went as I had thought it would, perhaps even better. Luigi shared with me positives and negatives throughout his life, which I’m grateful he shared with us.

I learnt so many things! I did not know that Luigi travelled all over the world, or how he came to Canada, let alone Windsor. It was interesting to see his story play out on a timeline. One thing I learnt is that you should never be afraid to ask questions, and that it’s okay to be apprehensive before bringing your whole family somewhere you’ve never been to start a new life. It takes courage and wanting to do it because if you don’t put your mind to it, often it won’t have a great outcome. For me personally, I can use this knowledge within my own academic pursuit and professional life. Luigi made me reflect on job opportunities I’ve had so far throughout my existence; being only 21 years old at the time of this interview, I haven’t had that many. But what I will apply to all future employment and academic opportunities is my ability to show up knowing that I want this, and that as long as I know what I’m doing, there’s an endless world of possibilities. You just need to be brave enough to say, “I can do this.”

Many Italians like Luigi came to Canada for a better life, and with all that I’ve learnt from him with the time I had, I could see it clear as day. Luigi got the better life; he loves Canada, and Canada loves him. He prospered. As an individual, I am excited about the idea of documenting Italian-Canadian stories and making them a permanent part of our written and oral history. As a student, I am thankful for the opportunities to grow my development in aiding research and furthering my skills as an academic. It has been a wonderful opportunity to participate in this project and I am delighted to help others in their future research of Italian-Canadian immigrant stories.

I am so grateful and lucky to have spent the time I did with Luigi. His stories and quick wit made me reflect often on my own connection to Italy. I want to discover more about my own family, much of which is unknown to me. Embracing the kindness of others and allowing yourself to fully experience life are values I’m committed to put into everything I do. Luigi has enjoyed his life very much, and what a beautiful life he has lived! I aspire to reach for the stars and grasp them, just like Luigi did with his life in Canada.

Photo Gallery

Photographs taken from the private collection of Luigi Salvi, used with permission.

Bibliography

Ariagno, Isabel. “HUMN3800: Italian Heritage Project. Interview of Luigi Salvi.” Youtube, uploaded by Isabel Ariagno, 8 November 2024, https://youtu.be/M3wQJ_ng7KI?si=lJUpzdp3Ypyax7kt ; access at Italian Communities in Canada: Heritage, Cultural, and Ethnographic Studies as of November 2024.

Di Cio, Gigi. “In Canada Da 60 Anni ‘Arrivati in 4, Ora Siamo in 19.’” L’Eco Di Bergamo, L’Eco di Bergamo, 21 Apr. 2021, www.ecodibergamo.it/stories/BergamoSenzaConfini/in-canada-da-60-anniarrivati-in-4-ora-siamo-in-19_1393134_11/.

Harney, Robert F. “Italian Immigration and the Frontier of Western Civilization.” The Italian Immigration Experience, 1988, pp. 1-24.     

Russo, Teresa. “Lecture and Discussion on Canadian Multiculturalism and Pluriculturalism.” HUMN*3800 Italian Heritage and Digital Applications, 7 October 2024, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario. Lecture.  

Sidhwa, Bapsi. “Two-Way Culture Shock.” Landscapes of Writings: Collected Essays by Bapsi Sidhwa, 2019, pp. 61-64.

How to cite this page

MLA STYLE: Author. “Title.” Title of container, Other contributors, Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs and/or URL, DOI or permalink). 2^nd container’s title, Other contributors.

Ariagno, Isabel. “Luigi Salvi: A Lifetime in Canada.” In Italian Communities in Canada: Heritage, Cultural and Ethnographic Studies, suprv. Teresa Russo. University of Guelph, 11 November 2024, Guelph, https://www.italianheritage.ca/2024/11/11/l-2/. Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (ICNS), Sandra Parmegianni.