Showing @ Valvona & Crolla, Edinburgh until Sat 23 Aug (not 14-18, 20, 22) @ times vary
Valvona & Crolla, the deli in Elm Row, is the Scottish Italian community’s ground zero. The surrounding neighbourhood was once the city’s Little Italy. Italia ‘n’ Caledonia is a swift reminder of that history from the talented Mike Maran accompanied by David Vernon on accordion. It opens with 1936 home movies of the community’s once-a-year alfresco gathering with everyone in Sunday best, drinking chianti, singing and enjoying tug-of-war – in the show all are recreated in the proverbial room above the shop.
Italian emigres who came seeking their fortune can be traced back as far as the late-19th century when they supplied Robert Louis Stevenson with parmesan. But this is a 20th-century story of Italians – who made such a huge success setting up chippys and cafes to assuage the Scottish appetite and sweet tooth – featuring their family life, love of Italy and even their flirtations with the fascism of Mussolini. This is all very jolly – the sort of thing you might expect Uncle Luigi to do at Christmas to delight his nearest and dearest. But it’s much more than that. The history is fascinating. During the early days of WW2 the Valvona paterfamilias Alfonso was killed when the ship in which he was being deported was torpedoed. It’s an engrossing family story – touching, tender and true – from hardscrabble beginnings to pillars of the community. Will the same be said of today’s Polish and Romanian immigrants 100 years from now?