Terri Colpi (TML Advisory Board)

Voci della Vara in Scozia is an audio collection of six interviews carried out with Scots Italians in 2016.  All six have family origins in the Val di Vara, La Spezia province of northern Italy.  The “voices” represent a numerically significant and culturally distinct group of migrants within the Scottish Italian community yet one which is often over-shadowed and less visible or vocal than the more dominant, principal historical clusters from Lucca and Frosinone provinces.

All six “voices” were born and have lived virtually all of their lives in Scotland, exemplified by the fact that only one person chose to speak in Italian. Four are elderly with two over ninety and two almost eighty years of age; one aim of the project was to record this generation.  Additionally, the compilation explores connections with Italian origins, captures memories of life both in Italy and in Scotland and taps into interpretations of identity.  The four older individuals offer retrospective narrative, often delineated by the Second World War, while the two younger ones, who are both over sixty, focus on family history, identity and capacity for cultural hybridity.

The conceptual framework of the interviews was set out before each recording by asking the individual simply to talk about his or her life, family and links with the Val di Vara.

The interviews were presented as a contribution to the cultural dimension of the Festa Scozzese at the hamlet of Stadomelli, Rocchetta di Vara, in July 2016. See here.