ROBERTO PIO CASSANELLI, dall'Italia a Tripoli a Londra

Roberto Pio Cassanelli, Master Body Builder and Dance Teacher

FROM ITALY TO TRIPOLI TO LONDON
THEN ON TO CAMP 43 ON ST. HELEN’S ISLAND
                                                                                                      Pietro Corsi

It was in the Spring of 1959 that I first heard of the internment of Italo-Canadians at the onset of WW2. I had recently arrived in Montreal, via Halifax, to work at the weekly newspaper Il Cittadino Canadese, then on St. Lawrence Blvd., across from Dante Street, in what was, and still is by all means, the heart of the Italian community.                                                                                                    

Founded in 1941 by Antonino Spada, the Italian language newspaper had recently been sold to Nick Ciamarra and, together with the travel agency and the print shop, to Emilio Putalivo, printer extraordinaire. Already well into his sixties, Antonino Spada was not one to sit idle and do nothing. His visits to the newspapers were a daily routine. So much so that, while dreading his presence, we would worry when he didn’t show up before noon.