By: Andraya Juresic
Introduction
Throughout my entire life, I have been exposed to Italian culture through big family gatherings and of course delicious food. I have always heard stories about my Zio Enrico being incredibly talented and the life of the party.
Throughout the month of October 2025, I conducted interviews with 2 family members that all cherished Enrico and the person he was to them. Both Pina and Mary discussed how important Enrico became to each of them and how he allowed Italian culture to flourish in their family life. Their own personal stories became of importance as both are women living in Canada but have differences in their stories. This oral history became one of interest, as they all encompass the history of a male singer in their lives, while all being women themselves. While all sharing their own perspectives, they all placed importance on Enrico sharing stories, pictures and trophies/awards he won throughout his life. His accomplishments were nothing short of extraordinary and the memorabilia that Mary still has today, truly shows how successful he is. From sitting with Pina to interviewing Mary on teams their emotion and stories showcased how important family truly is to them.
Project Methods
This project contained various steps. The first part was conducting oral histories through interviews, which was filmed then edited and also has a transcript which is included below. This was a structured interview process using pre-determined questions, but then asking follow up questions and discussion to get the true emotions and events. The full interview can be found in the University of Guelph archives.
The Photos that were shared were from various family members used below in helps to preserve the history of Enrico Farina. The final piece of the project can be found below including an analysis of findings as well as a personal reflection about the process.
Interviews
These Interviews took place on October 10th, 2025 with Mary in Etobicoke, Ontario and on October 14th, 2025 in Oakville, Ontario with Pina. They both discuss the impact of Enrico Farina in their lives. Please find the transcript and videos below. All these pieces create my input to the Italian Communities in Canada: Heritage, Cultural and Ethnographic Studies.
Interview Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD6jSX-mqZg
Analysis
Throughout the interview process with both Pina and Mary it was astounding to hear how their stories related to the big ideas of this course. While being cousins, both had different stories to share and ways of explaining their life through the eyes of Enrico.
One of the large themes in these interviews was the importance of Italian community and family. No matter what life threw at them, they all kept their family and culture at the forefront. In Robert F. Harney’s works, it is evident that many Italians began work in Canada by doing manual labour. Enrico did just that, building his way up in the tailor company. He even pushed this a step further and then began hiring other Italian workers alongside himself. Both Mary and Pina talked about Italian owned businesses such as “barber shops” and other small stores that brought Italians together allowing a place where they felt welcome while also having somewhere to work. These family-owned businesses showed the importance of community and helping one another. The idea of Italians sharing their passions and joys at “Festas” is something that became of great importance, especially as newcomers to Canada. Enrico’s music allowed for Italians to let loose and be stress free even just for a minute while he sang.
Both Mary and Pina mentioned St. Clair Street and how Enrico sang to the crowd when Italy won the world cup. Enrico brought a sense of “home” to Canada for Italians creating communities where Italian immigrants felt welcome in their new country. He was truly emersed in Italian Canadian culture by even having an Italian record store on St.Clair Avenue in Toronto adding on to Italian “commercial areas” as discussed in lecture 3. He not only built onto the Italian community through singing, but also through his own store. This store created a space where Italians could come and either buy records, or simply just have a conversation with others. Furthermore, Pina discussed the idea of her community being “familial” and Mary discussed hers as being “very united” both of these depictions show the importance of strong bonds and family ties to Italian communities and how these helped many Italians flourish in Canada.
Enrico truly created “home” when “home” could not be here. While not psychically being home his music brought everyone together singing and dancing. Enrico did face some challenges being an Italian Canadian singer in Canada such as one radio station trying to make his life very challenging, but instead of giving up, he kept pushing to make it in the “big world” using resiliency at the base of everything he did. He did this not only for his family but for all Italians. This was truly an accomplishment no short of extraordinary.
When asking Mary and Pina about speaking Italian, their answers were truly capturing. Pina discussed that she even took a minor in Italian and continues to speak it with her parents today. Mary’s response was one of interest as she said she first refused to speak Italian wanting to confide with “Canadian” identity, but later picked up language and still speaks it today. Today they are both incredibly proud to be able to speak in Italian. This shows the connectedness to family and the strong bonds they continue to have.
Determination, love and passion were all important values that were expressed throughout the interviews. These values share common themes with those discussed in our course about Italian immigrant experiences and how Italians navigated Canada when they arrived. Pina and Mary’s oral histories and personal stories share how even both growing up with parents who are siblings, they have many different “core-memories” that they remember. This shows that identity comes from within, taking things their parents had taught them and showing their strength through becoming their own people working incredibly hard in Canada. Mary encompassed her father’s life and how Italian cultures is “in her blood” where Pina discussed more about her family today and how she wanted to allow her daughter to create her own identity. Thus, through Enrico’s story the true raw emotion of Italian immigration and life being Italian is shown.
Reflection
I truly cherished this process as both of these interviews allowed to understand more about my own family’s history. I had never known how largely Enrico contributed to the Italian Canadian culture in Canada. Listening to his music while doing my research and hearings stories was extremely impactful. While not necessarily understanding what the various articles written by him said, or what he was saying in his songs, the way I felt when looking into his life made me so incredibly grateful that I continue to be exposed to Italian culture today. I can only image how it would’ve been to have him sitting at Christmas eve dinner with me and all my cousins and the joy and upbeat energy he would’ve brought to the table.
This experience was a new one to me. I have never interviewed any family members, so I often found myself trying to ask questions that I knew the answers too which was a strange feeling. Regardless, I felt so comfortable and at ease with both Mary and Pina and the interviews instead felt like a conversation learning more about my family than conducting it for an assignment.
One thing that I found astonishing, was Enrico’s confidence. Regardless of the outside world or what others thought of him, he was proud to be Italian and loved singing and he was not afraid. This was something I cherish about him as he didn’t care about what others thought, but instead focused on his loved ones. Our family is one that is tight knit and full of the love. The kindness and willingness of all the family members I asked for help through this assignment was tremendous. This experience brought me closer to my other family members not depicted on screen. My Nonna even brought out old pictures and a binder full of Enrico’s articles to show me.
As a future teacher, getting to know the histories of each student and where they came from is of extreme importance to me. Incorporating representation and culture into all classroom tasks and allowing students to take part in similar projects where they too can learn more about their families’ histories is something I will not cherish and hope to bring into my own classroom.
Through this process, I learned that sometimes interview do not have to be filled with questions, but instead just require listening and often this will allow for anecdotes and authenticity. Through this, following questions will be answered allowing for an interview that flows well with less interruptions. Furthermore, I also learned it is important to break questions up and not give the interviewees too much at once so they can answer each part of the question and not worry that they are missing something. This process was a great learning experience and I hope to take part in something like this again.
Gallery
All images have been provided from the archives of family members including Mary Farina, Pina Juresic and sister of Enrico Elena Petitti.
Bibliography
All photographs have. been approved fro sharing from the private archives of Enrico Farina by his family.
Flohil, Richard. “Enrico Farina:” From Rome to Toronto in 76 singles and five albums.” Canadian Composer, 1976.
Juresic, Andraya. “The History of Enrico Farina Through the Eyes of the Women in his Life.” YouTube, 18 Oct. 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD6jSX-mqZg; access at Italian Communities in Canada; Heritage, Cultural and Ethnographic Studies as of November 2025, https://www.italianheritage.ca/.
Harney, Robert F. “Italian Immigration and the Frontiers of Western Civilization.” Canadian Italian Historical Association. 1988, pp. 1-24.
Museum of Canadian Music. “Farina, Enrico.” https://citizenfreak.com/artists/94906-farina-enrico
How to cite this page
Juresic, Andraya. “The History of Enrico Farina through the eyes of the Women in his Life” Italian Communities in Canada: Heritage, Cultural and Ethnographic Studies, suprv. Teresa Russo. University of Guelph, 2 November, 2025, Guelph. Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (ICNS)