Wisconsin Roots Too; 1; Tramilia and Stasi

For many American immigrants preserving old world tradition provided them with a sense of identity in their new land. For the Italian community in Madison the history of the Bush is interwoven with generations of family memories. Some described it as a ghetto slums without houses but the Italian families that lived in the Bush would dispute that emphatically. For them it was a culturally rich and close knit community. Urban renewal changed all of that however. We've come to this home at 816 Regent Street which still stands as it did when Sam Lanielo, Joe Cerniglia, Rosario Stassi and Vince Tortarisi lived in the Green Bush edition. Joe the area was pretty lively rich in culture and Italian culture. Tell us about that. Well since our parents came over directly from the old country they brought all the Italian customs with them and they were, it was a very important part of our lives. And you have to

remember that many of these people didn't speak English and many of them didn't travel outside our own little community. They stuck to our you know community pretty much. And in addition the there was a a closer attachment to you know the religious life and the community and lot of our Italian customs had a religious you know basis you know like different feasts and and so forth. Like there's one lady in the neighborhood who every St. Joseph's Day would put on up a beautiful feast. She, her husband was critically ill and she had made em, she prayed to St. Joseph for her husband's recovery and her husband made a recovery and she vowed that if her husband didn't make this recovery she would

lay out a feast for him every St Joseph's day and she did that for years and years and years. How did the church influence the community. Well there were two churches. Two churches that the Italian community you know attended. One was St. Joseph's church which was a Catholic church and the other was the Italian Methodist Church and they were both very important you know to the community. St. Joseph's had a school where many of the neighborhoods children were educated and there were a lot of social activity connected with the church. The the ahh Italian Methodist Church had a minister who was very active in the community and had a lot of connections outside the Italian community and helped a lot of people with you know various personal problems whether it be

finding a job or or you know just anything that might come up that a person might have trouble dealing with because of his inability to speak English or not knowing what the community resources were. So there was no real conflict between the two. No not real conflict. See we had Italians broken really broken into three different groups. There was the Albanian Italians and there was the Sicilian Italians and there was the Northern Italians and for some reason or other the Albanian Italians in their country and they came from Sicily, a little town [unclear]. They were orthodox Catholics. There was the priest married and so forth. So when they came here the first church was a Grace Episcopal and so was really easy for them to be become Methodist and most of them went to the Methodist Church to the mission there. But like Joe says it was back and forth. I can remember my mother my father going to both churches.

Many people in the community would go to both churches. Many felt like they were obligated to both and didn't feel lost in either one. The community also provided...sort of an insurance policy or insurance coverage to the community. Can you tell us about that? Well the two clubs that we had the fact there was three. There was another club called [unclear] [unclear] and the Italian workerman's club and we had our own insurance programs for men was had to have surgery his surgery was paid for. If he was laid up he was paid a dollar a day for the time he was laid up. So we took care of our own. And the funerals we paid paid for part of his funerals. If a man was destitute we paid for all his funerals. We're obligated to take care of them and to bury him properly. So we paid for the whole thing in those days if the man was destitute. Why did you do that? Why did you have to do it?

Well there was no way for us to get hospital insurances, no way for us to get any type of protection. We made our own our own regulations our own plans. We had our sort of had our own laws in the community. We took care of our own. I man was sick we took care of him. We didn't let a man go down and die by himself. Can you tell us a little bit about the culture in the community. There was Italians bands. We had Italian bands. That was one of the neighborhoods it's meant and I've played it for myself for about four years and the band was there from probably early 1920s and so the War Second World War there was in the house we just didn't have somebody that played a guitar a mandolin and accordion. There was all kinds of the music that has been lost. We don't have hardly anybody now that has taken up this kind of talents. But there was nothing to get clubhouse and have a

dance and bring up 3, 4 musicians just to play and run in the neighborhood. We didn't have to go out and look for it and play all night. Music. We had people who were artistic even though we at that time we didn't think they were artistic. You are talking about people who would make in their yards and front yards trying to beautify their yards and their bank edge or make fountains and displays religious displays on the concrete and glass and junk. And it was really an art but to be an art today with those days we thought it was just a lot of junk but it was really and. So we really we didn't have any writers or poets. We had singers. We had a tremendous amount of singers. People who could sing. I mean some are still alive today. And but the area is gone, the community is gone so we don't you don't see or hear of them anymore. I'm not I love the [unclear] just thought it was a great place to grow up and to live. It was it was a very...

It was a very secure feeling to you know to be part of a neighborhood like that. It was like a city within a city and it was all so convenient to everything and and we had so many advantages you know that weren't material but you know that there were more important. What I thought was a great place to live. You know if I could turn the clock back and move back there I would in a minute. Like the other day we're talking and I mention to the group of older guys you know like [unclear] age and that we were sitting around and talking and and they were the first in the neighborhood to get a college education and you know and and to move out when they got back from the service after the Second World War and everybody said everybody agreed that that most of the guys when we were younger couldn't wait to get out of the neighborhood. You know this is a sign of making it

you know the American dream. Now we you know all give our right arm to get back in. Good. Thank you very much Joe. You're nearly at Andrews are you. Stassi.