Fortieth anniversary celebration of Hamilton’s Italian and Sicilian clubs

Joe Volpe June 25, 2025

HAMILTON – We are close to the end of Italian Heritage Month and I regret to admit we are only now beginning to scratch the surface of the Italian Canadian experience/contribution to the development of the “Canadian ethos”. As the only Italian language daily newspaper in North America, we are uniquely positioned to convey that story – and what a story it is! – to those who have lived it and to the larger community that has profited from it.

This last weekend, the Italfest in Hamilton, hosted by the Racalmutese community, burst into a vibrant two-day celebration of who “we are” that verged on the “magical” as per the observation of Joe Baiardo and Sam Cino two of the organizers. I hope you will agree as you pour over the few pictures (selected from more than 100 the three of us snapped) to tell that tale.

At the turn of 19th century (late 1800s), Hamilton was both a transportation hub and destination point for a burgeoning Italian immigration looking for opportunities in agrifood business, transportation, heavy industry and the construction that accompanied those activities.

The steel plants (Stelco and Dofasco), the Burlington Bay Skyway and the St Lawrence Seaway became iconic representations of what the future might promise. Through it all, those hardy Italian souls “weathered adversity”: they joined and shaped an emerging labour movement, enterprises capitalizing on the agrifood processing and other light manufacturing activities and of course in trade.

I started my career in Stoney Creek, at the eastern extremity of Hamilton. By the time I left, in 1975, the community had already edged into construction and professional careers in a big way.

In the intervening half century, it has accomplished enviable feats. From my humble perspective, they have set standards for others to follow and commissioned statues, monuments, plaques and studies commemorating those achievements as well as crediting those who came before them, here and in their towns of origin.

We cannot do justice in this short piece to the Sicilian component of the Italian Diaspora that calls Greater Hamilton its home. Nonetheless, the fact that its premier town of origin commissioned a carrozza siciliana, a statue of Leonardo Sciascia, a monument to the internees under the Enemy Aliens Act, another to their unsung heroes of the 20th century, the “wall art”, the maintenance of the Maria Santissima del Monte attests their affinity to ongoing cultural identity.

Did I mention they also conduct street parties that welcome one and all?

Here below is a photogallery (pics by Corriere Canadese and Vivi Racalmuto)