THEY were among the early generations of what is now one of Scotland's most vibrant and successful communities, but for years their descendants have had to live with a pain all but forgotten by the rest of the world.
Now, six decades after an inglorious episode in Britain's wartime history which claimed the lives of more than 700 civilians and prisoners of war, Scots-Italians will finally have a place to remember the plight of their forebears.
Standing alongs
ide Alex Salmond, the First Minister, and Mario Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow, at the launch of an appeal to raise funds for a memorial garden to the Arandora Star tragedy, Rando Bertoia remembered the morning of 11 June, 1940 as if it were last week. Aged 20, he heard the knock at the door of his home in the Gorbals. It was two police officers, waiting to take him and his father away.
The day before, Mussolini had declared war on the Allies. The 20,000 Italians, like the Bertoias who were resident in Britain, could no longer hope for an offer of sanctuary.
Instead, under a contentious policy of internment designed to root out so-called "enemy aliens", Rando and his father were among countless Italian men between the ages of 18 and 70 arrested and rounded up.
Three weeks later, Winston Churchill having decided that the dominions were the best place to send them, the men were herded aboard the SS Arandora Star. Mr Bertoia was one of 1,673 bodies crammed on to the converted cruise ship, which left Liverpool bound for Canada.
He was alongside his cousin Luigi, when, off the west coast of Co Donegal, a German U-boat struck, its torpedoes sending the Star to the ocean floor.
Having found space in a lifeboat, Mr Bertoia was picked up by a Canadian destroyer and taken to Greenock, where a roll-call determined who had survived. His cousin's name went unanswered. Luigi was dead. Some 445 other Italians suffered the same fate, among them Alfonso Crolla, the original partner in the Edinburgh delicatessen Valvona & Crolla, and generations of relatives of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, the esteemed sculptor.
At the age of 88, Mr Bertoia is the last Scots-Italian survivor from the ill-fated crossing. In the time that has passed, there has been no permanent memorial, and neither apology nor compensation from the British government. As the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported, the Star appeared to have been "swallowed up by the silence of history".
Nowadays, Mr Bertoia feels no bitterness. "These things happen in war," the retired watch repairer said yesterday. All that mattered, he added, was being able to witness the start of a project that will give Scots-Italians a place to grieve.
The appeal, launched yesterday, aims to raise £1.5 million to build an Italian-style cloister garden in Glasgow. Already, 2,000 letters have gone out to the city's considerable Scots-Italian community asking for donations, with the chance to have their relatives commemorated in a wall.
"The garden will be more than a place for relaxation and meditation," said Mr Salmond.
"It will serve as a memorial to those men who were taken away from their homes, families and lives in Scotland following Italy's entry into the war."
'An oasis of tranquillity amid the city bustle – a place to sit and reflect'CREATING a memorial garden to the victims of the Arandora Star tragedy will cement the historic bond between Scotland and Italy, Mario Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow, said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of the appeal to raise funds for the Italian cloister garden, he said it would be "a fitting symbol of the great bonds of friendship between Scotland and Italy".
He added: "The cloister garden will quickly become a much-loved oasis of tranquillity amid the city bustle, a place to come alone or with friends, to reflect, to sit awhile and to remember."
The garden is part of a number of refurbishment works planned for St Andrew's Cathedral, the mother church of Glasgow's Catholic community. It will be sited next to the cathedral in Clyde Street and will include a café, exhibition space and meeting room.
The cathedral will be given new floors, lighting, pews, decoration and heating.
The full article contains 723 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
