ItsaZappathing
12-10-2008, 09:36 PM
How about some good news for a change....As some of you know Mrs "itsaZappathing" has her book out called Liverpools Italian Families (see Little Italy thread in Pool of Life).
Anyway you can read the Echo Report for yourself.
Dec 6 2008 by Paddy Shennan, Liverpool Echo
Paddy Shennan reports on a new book about Liverpool?s historic Little Italy community
DEBRA D?Annunzio?s labour of love will help bring back to life that little piece of Liverpool known affectionately as Little Italy.
Liverpool?s Italian Families tells the stories of her ancestors and their fellow immigrants who made new lives for themselves around the Scotland Road area of the city.
?It wasn?t a chore,? says Debra, 40. ?I just wanted to do more and more. I would stay up writing until 4am and then be back up again at 7am typing away.?
Her Italian/Liverpool connection began in 1878, which means she is part of one of the longest-established Italian families in the city.
Michele and Fortunata D?Annunzio arrived in Liverpool from Atina, which is in the Comino Valley in Italy?s Lazio region, with their children, Felice, Maria-Grazia and Filipo. Michele bought no. 55 Gerard Street and converted it into a welcoming hostel for other Italian immigrants.
Filipo later married Mary Swindley and their son, Laurence, married Agnes Saunderson, whose daughter, Patricia, now 63, had one child ? Debra.
And Debra has dedicated her book to the memory of her Irish grandmother and Italian grandfather, saying that ?their devotion to each other has been an inspiration throughout my life.?
She adds: ?Being part-Italian, I am so enthusiastic about the subject. I grew up hearing so many stories about Little Italy, while one of the things that inspired me to write the book was a trip I made to Atina ? I could picture Michele leaving it for the last time.
?I also love the idea of being able to tell people what the Italians did in Liverpool. I wanted to get away from the idea that they all had an ice cream in one hand and an accordion in the other!?
Regarding the community they quickly built up, she says: ?One question that is often overlooked is why Gerard Street became the centre of Little Italy. It?s quite simple ? Italians chose to base themselves there because it was so close to Liverpool?s most prestigious street.
?William Brown Street?s beautiful cultural buildings offered plenty of work opportunities for the Italian craftsmen. They also worked at other famous buildings, like Liverpool Town Hall and The Philharmonic pub.?
At its peak, there were a couple of hundred Italian families in Little Italy and the family names included Albertini, Baccino, Capaldi, Frediani, Gianelli, Minghella, Podesta, Sabatini, Tremarco, Valerio and Volante.
The cluster of cobbled streets off Scotland Road which made up Little Italy included Gerard Street, Hunter Street, Circus Street, Christian Street, Clare Street and Lionel Street, as Debra explains: ?People gravitated towards Gerard Street because there were bigger houses there, and lodging houses.?
Debra, herself, spent the first three years of her life in Blackstock Gardens, 10 minutes walk from Little Italy ? ?Before work on the Kingsway Tunnel led to us moving out to Norris Green.?
Six years ago, the ECHO featured a book entitled Little Italy: A History of Liverpool?s Italian Community, by Terry Cooke, who was born in William Moult Street, off Scotland Road and Debra says: ?Terry is a good friend and he has supported me all the way with my book.
?Now I am so happy with the connection people make between Italy and myself. When I Google my name it comes up with ?Little Italy? next to it and I?m quite proud of that!?
Liverpool?s Italian Families by Debra D?Annunzio will be published on December 12 at ?10.99 by AJH Publishing. Available in bookshops. For information, email dmdanunz@hotmail.co.uk or go to Liverpool Authors (http://www.liverpoolauthors.com)
(A big thank you to all involved):handclap:
Anyway you can read the Echo Report for yourself.
Dec 6 2008 by Paddy Shennan, Liverpool Echo
Paddy Shennan reports on a new book about Liverpool?s historic Little Italy community
DEBRA D?Annunzio?s labour of love will help bring back to life that little piece of Liverpool known affectionately as Little Italy.
Liverpool?s Italian Families tells the stories of her ancestors and their fellow immigrants who made new lives for themselves around the Scotland Road area of the city.
?It wasn?t a chore,? says Debra, 40. ?I just wanted to do more and more. I would stay up writing until 4am and then be back up again at 7am typing away.?
Her Italian/Liverpool connection began in 1878, which means she is part of one of the longest-established Italian families in the city.
Michele and Fortunata D?Annunzio arrived in Liverpool from Atina, which is in the Comino Valley in Italy?s Lazio region, with their children, Felice, Maria-Grazia and Filipo. Michele bought no. 55 Gerard Street and converted it into a welcoming hostel for other Italian immigrants.
Filipo later married Mary Swindley and their son, Laurence, married Agnes Saunderson, whose daughter, Patricia, now 63, had one child ? Debra.
And Debra has dedicated her book to the memory of her Irish grandmother and Italian grandfather, saying that ?their devotion to each other has been an inspiration throughout my life.?
She adds: ?Being part-Italian, I am so enthusiastic about the subject. I grew up hearing so many stories about Little Italy, while one of the things that inspired me to write the book was a trip I made to Atina ? I could picture Michele leaving it for the last time.
?I also love the idea of being able to tell people what the Italians did in Liverpool. I wanted to get away from the idea that they all had an ice cream in one hand and an accordion in the other!?
Regarding the community they quickly built up, she says: ?One question that is often overlooked is why Gerard Street became the centre of Little Italy. It?s quite simple ? Italians chose to base themselves there because it was so close to Liverpool?s most prestigious street.
?William Brown Street?s beautiful cultural buildings offered plenty of work opportunities for the Italian craftsmen. They also worked at other famous buildings, like Liverpool Town Hall and The Philharmonic pub.?
At its peak, there were a couple of hundred Italian families in Little Italy and the family names included Albertini, Baccino, Capaldi, Frediani, Gianelli, Minghella, Podesta, Sabatini, Tremarco, Valerio and Volante.
The cluster of cobbled streets off Scotland Road which made up Little Italy included Gerard Street, Hunter Street, Circus Street, Christian Street, Clare Street and Lionel Street, as Debra explains: ?People gravitated towards Gerard Street because there were bigger houses there, and lodging houses.?
Debra, herself, spent the first three years of her life in Blackstock Gardens, 10 minutes walk from Little Italy ? ?Before work on the Kingsway Tunnel led to us moving out to Norris Green.?
Six years ago, the ECHO featured a book entitled Little Italy: A History of Liverpool?s Italian Community, by Terry Cooke, who was born in William Moult Street, off Scotland Road and Debra says: ?Terry is a good friend and he has supported me all the way with my book.
?Now I am so happy with the connection people make between Italy and myself. When I Google my name it comes up with ?Little Italy? next to it and I?m quite proud of that!?
Liverpool?s Italian Families by Debra D?Annunzio will be published on December 12 at ?10.99 by AJH Publishing. Available in bookshops. For information, email dmdanunz@hotmail.co.uk or go to Liverpool Authors (http://www.liverpoolauthors.com)
(A big thank you to all involved):handclap: