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Jan 15,2006 - Jan 22,2006 |
24 - From Hamilton to Florida and Texas
Franco Silvestri conquers markets throughout the continent with his construction business
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2002-12-22
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Franco Silvestri
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In 1953 Franco Silvestri was 24 years old when he met up with his sister Nora in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He came from Brittoli, in the Italian province of Pescara, where he had held small jobs of no consequence. Then he had gone to Rome where he worked at the lounge of the Hotel Mediterraneo, but even there prospects weren't exactly bright. As a result, he decided to emigrate, like tens of thousands of Italians before him, who in those years looked abroad for something Italy couldn't give them.
"For us," remembers Franco Silvestri, who seven years ago was awarded the Knighthood of the Republic of Italy, "a place was like any other. Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, Canada. What did we know about these countries? They were 'abroad', which meant away from home, but you could 'make it' there. I came to Canada because my sister was here, in Nova Scotia, and she made the paperwork for the 'recall', as it was called. I arrived, and the following day I received a chilling shock."
Why, Mr. Silvestri?
"You know, Nova Scotia is a mining town; people spend their life underground. My uncle who was with my sister had come many years before and had worked in a mine for a long time. He had already retired at the time. I remember him coughing continuously because of silicosis. When he first saw me he chatted for some time, then he said 'Franco, you're strong and smart; I think that in a couple of years you'll get a job above.' He meant above the surface, not under it, where he had lost his health. Do you understand?"
What was your reaction?
"I was frightened. So, I thought, I have to spend two years underground? Me, accustomed to our sun? And what's more, in a place worse than Brittoli? To cut it short, within one week I had moved to Hamilton."
Did you choose Hamilton because the weather in the Niagara Peninsula was better and you could work above ground?
"Do you really think our choices were dictated by landscape or weather? All places were good for us then, as long as there was a job, and since I had heard that in Hamilton industries were hiring carpenters I came here. What I was looking for, as all immigrants at the time, was a job in a factory because it meant a sure paycheck; not like the countryside, where farmers were starving a lot. I also liked staying in Hamilton because there were many Italians and I wasn't that homesick. After a while I got hired by Ford, which in Oakville had, and it still has, a car assembly plant. At last I returned to Hamilton to work in a steel company mill. My career as a hired worker ended in 1967."
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