NUOVE PROCEDURE DI RILASCIO DEL PASSAPORTO BIOMETRICO

14.04.2010

Avviso importante

PASSAPORTI CON IMPRONTE DIGITALI

Dal 20 maggio 2010 tutti gli Uffici consolari italiani, compreso il Consolato Generale di Londra, emetteranno esclusivamente i nuovi passaporti contenenti le impronte digitali del titolare.

In ottemperanza al regolamento CE 2252/2004 a partire dal 20 maggio 2010 il nuovo passaporto biometrico conterra’ oltre all’immagine del volto anche le impronte digitali del titolare. Quindi i richiedenti il passaporto dovranno presentarsi personalmente presso il Consolato Generale d’Italia a Londra per la rilevazione delle impronte; dal 30 aprile prossimo non sara’ piu’ possibile fare domanda di passaporto per posta.

Pertanto i connazionali che desiderano presentare domanda di passaporto dovranno necessariamente prendere un appuntamento attraverso il sito del Consolato (www.conslondra.esteri.it) e dovranno personalmente recarsi presso l’ Uff. Passaporti del Consolato per il rilevamento delle impronte mediante scansione elettronica.

Per i minori di anni 12 la rilevazione delle impronte non e’ prevista, si rimanda pertanto all’apposita sezione nel sito del Consolato per la relativa procedura.

Si ricorda infine che i passaporti emessi prima dell’entrata in vigore del passaporto elettronico con impronte digitali rimangono validi fino alla loro scadenza.

Per tutte le informazioni relative alla procedura per il rilascio del passaporto si sara’ grati di voler consultare il sito www.conslondra.esteri.it

An article by Bruna Chezzi published on www.parmaepiacenzaonline.it. View the article here.

Sento la nostalgia del mio passato…, a Natale, nel Galles si festeggia pensando all’Italia… di Bruna Chezzi, Cardiff. (articolo sulla cena natalizia del 29 Dicembre).

Ore 18, partenza da Cardiff. Comincia l’avventura…Un minibus pieno di studenti d’italiano, una canzone da imparare per scaldarci un po’ e prepararci alla serata…Volare, oh oh, cantare, oh oh oh…Impariamo qualche parola nuova di italiano, mentre con entusiasmo arriviamo a Blacwood,una piccola cittadina gallese a nord di Cardiff.

Finalmente eccoci, davanti a noi uno splendido albergo in stile georgiano, sulla cima di una collina; un quadretto pittoresco tra il buio dei boschi tutt’intorno e le luci della citta` a valle. Pare gia` un presepio! Siamo tra i primi ad arrivare…un bicchiere in compagnia davanti al caminetto del bar, un ospite un po’ speciale dall’Italia ci intrattiene e conversa piacevolmente con gli studenti mentre gli ospiti arrivano piano piano, sorridono, si abbracciano e si salutano in italiano! Per un momento pare d’essere in Italia! Si scalda l’atmosfera e comincia la festa!

La serata e` all’insegna dell’ospitalita` e la simpatia degli Amici Valceno Galles, la buona e semplice cucina emiliana…alcuni membri del comitato si son fatti cuochi per una sera (un evento raro e da sfruttare senza dubbio, soprattutto per le mogli di alcuni di loro!), l’estrazione dei premi della lotteria, e per finire tutti a ballare il ballo liscio con la sua allegria e un tocco di nostalgia!

E` ormai una tradizione consolidata per gli Amici Val Ceno Galles riunirsi alla fine di novembre e celebrare l’avvento del Natale ricordando le proprie origini emiliane con una cena nataliza a cui partecipano piu` di cento persone. Alle loro feste c’e` sempre spazio per chiunque dimostri curiosita`, interesse e simpatia per la comunita` italo-gallese e le iniziative del gruppo. Spesso i pomeriggi e le serate con gli amici Val Ceno sono un’opportunita` per risfoderare qualche vecchia abitudine, come il gioco della briscola o le bocce, e incontrare vecchi e nuovi amici che hanno in comune un legame con l’Italia e con il Galles.

Da 9 anni insegno la lingua e la cultura italiana all’Universita` di Cardiff, faccio ricerca e mi occupo di vari aspetti della comunita` italiana nel Galles meridionale. Adoro sentirmi parte di due culture e mi piace poter trasmettere la ricchezza di questo connubio agli studenti che vengono alle mie lezioni per imparare l’italiano,la storia e la cultura dell’Italia. E cosi`, anche quest’anno ho portato un gruppo di ragazzi e adulti di diverse nazionalita` alla tradizionale cena natalizia degli Amici Val Ceno.

Durante la serata abbiamo assaporato un pezzo di storia dell’immigazione italiana nel Galles, la cultura italiana attraverso il cibo, le danze, la canzone popolare e il folclore del dialetto bardigiano che assume un accento gallese, quel senso di cameratismo e impegno sociale nei confronti di due paesi, quello di origine e quello di adozione.

Io e i miei studenti abbiamo veramente apprezzato tutto questo e per noi il Natale e` gia`cominciato in compagnia degli Amici Val Ceno Galles, nel segno della pace tra Paesi e culture diverse!
Buon Natale al Galles e agli amici italiani nel mondo! Spero che sia per tutti un Natale tranquillo, che guarda alle cose semplici e buone di una volta, per preservarle e trasmetterle alle generazioni future. Buon Natale a tutti con l’amicizia e l’affetto delle persone vicine e quelle lontane per la distanza, ma vicine nel cuore!

The AVC have teamed up with Bologna based Italian language school, Madrelingua, to offer free Italian lessons.

What is on offer exactly?
- One weeks free Italian lessons in Bologna. That’s 20 hours of lessons 4 hours a day, usually priced at 200 euro.
- Students would need to pay for their own accommodation (the school can find accommodation for around 112 euros per week).

Visit the Madrelingua website here.

There’s a second chance to hear Liz Brown’s documentary about the origins of Rhondda Cynon Taf’s Italian community this Sunday (6th September) at 3pm.

Tune in on 107.9fm or listen online at www.gtfm.co.uk.

Born in 1937, Aldo spent most of his life serving the people of Rhondda in Bacchetta’s Restaurant and delicattessen in Porth.
In the 1950′s he served, with twin brother Mario, in Berlin with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Returning to Wales, he continued in the family business and became involved in many activities outside the shop.
He joined Players Anonymous, performing in many of their productions.
His interest in local history led him to co-publish books on old rhondda.
He was a keen and active member of the Amici Val Ceno Galles and Trustee of the Vision Foundation.
A member of the Cwmbach Male Voice Choir, he performed with them in Bardi, on their visit there last year.
More recently, even when struggling with his illness, he was a founder member of the newly formed Arandora Star Memorial fund for Wales.
Throughout his life he maintained a strong love for his family and for his church, where he was chairman of the Parish Advisory Council.
For some years Aldo and I gave talks across South Wales on the Italian connection and we also worked together in helping arrange the Choir’s visit to Italy.
In all our activities he was positive and enthusiastic to the end.
Along with the rest of the Amici Val Ceno Galles committee – I can only say – “Aldo, thanks for the memories!”.
Romeo Basini

Date: 15th April
Location: Chapter Theatre Cardiff.

“La Casa di Dio” will show in afternoon and at 6:30pm – the 6:30 screening will be introduced by the producer. Just turn up or visit www.chapter.org for full details.

This is about Hellan Chapel and the Italian POW people

Daniel Sidoli wrote a short article about speedflying at the Lakes Charity Classic 2008 for SkyWing magazine. His flying pilot profile also featured in the same edition.

Speedflying at the Lakes Classic

By Daniel Sidoli

In February I received a surprise e-mail from fellow speedflyer and BHPA instructor Gordie Oliver inviting me up to the Lake District with the promise of a party, food and local ale, but above all a scary helicopter ride to a mountain top along with the paraglider acro boys. My side of the bargain? I had to speedfly down the 2,500ft face of High Crag to put on a show for the spectators. Life is hard. Who was I to refuse wish an invitation? It’s not every day I get a lift to launch.

What can I say about the Lakes Charity Classic? Ten out of ten! It’s set in some of the most breathtaking terrain I have seen in the UK. The weather played ball, giving us glorious sunshine and light winds in the evening for the displays. If you have not been to this event in the past I would strongly recommend going – it was definitely worth the 600-mile round trip from South Wales.

Just picture it – a chopper ride for the display pilots to the mountain top, and 2,500ft vertical height over a crystal-clear lake for the acro boys to do their thing in the evening sun. Among them were the Lucky Clowns from Switzerland (if you haven’t seen them fly just check out YouTube!). Some launched from the mountain-top itself; others D-bagged from tandems piloted by equally crazy people! Stalls, spins and SATs… and the UK’s first-ever tumble performed by Scotland’s Terry Stubbs on his Apco Twister.

The speed flying display put on by Gordie and I went down well with the crowds too. Such a long flight, descending the mountain face within metres at some points doing 60-70km/h, feeling very close to nature and more alive than I can describe. If you have to ask you will never understand. All this was topped off with a big party in the evening full of the most hospitable people, making Laura and I feel very welcome. Cumbrian hospitality rules!

Big thanks to all the people I met and all the acro pilots, but particularly Patrik Homes at UK Airsports for the pictures and his continued support, also Gordie Oliver for the invitation to take part in a great event. The Lakes Charity Classic raised £2,500 for local charities, and speed flying has landed in the UK! I will be along next year for sure, but in the mean time I think an August speed flying trip to the Lakes is needed.

Pilot Profile No 177: Daniel Sidoli

Daniel started flying on sailplanes in 1998 and soon after gained a PPL in Florida, where he took the opportunity to do a tandem skydive. He was also involved in freediving and twice took part in the UK Freediving Championships. After leaving university, paragliding took over from skydiving and he flew in south Wales for several years before becoming disenchanted by the long days spent waiting for the right conditions. In 2006 a passing comment from a former instructor got in him interested in the use of smaller wings to get more airtime. He bought a 12m wing and quickly realised it was too small to ridge soar, but found a new direction in skimming down hills at speed. “It’s all about the line down a hill… it’s not about ridge soaring in high winds. Flying down the faces of hills and mountains is simply exhilarating and makes me feel alive.” The slow learning curve led him to set up www.speedfly.co.uk to help others find out about the sport, although his advice is often to forget it and take up something else. In June Dan gave a spirited speed fly demonstration at the Lakes Charity Classic at Buttermere. He plans to try his hand at speed riding competitions next year, and he and some BASE-jumping friends are working on a speed wing D-bag system. We will be hearing more from him soon!

Age? 29.

Marital status? In a long-term relationship with the long-suffering Laura.

Born? Caerphilly, South Wales.

Where do you live now? Cardiff.

Occupation? Building surveyor, I’m respectable from 9 to 5, but then it’s me-time!

Previous occupations? CAD technician, barman, factory worker, the list really is endless.

How and when did you start flying? I always wanted to be a military pilot. I learned to fly sailplanes at 10, then did my PPL at 19 with the intention of going into the RAF but failed selection a few years later with the comment, “You’re not quite outdoors or adventurous enough”. I got into paragliding five or six years ago while at university as I didn’t like all the red tape associated with light aircraft.

How and when did you start flying? Speed flying for me was a natural progression from paragliding. Had I taken up skydiving the progression would have been into BASE-jumping. I needed something new with more excitement, and speed flying came along at the right time. Two years ago it was so hard to get a speed wing – there was no info about wing loads, sizes etc. Now there is lots of info out there.

Which pilots most influenced you? Rob Whittall, just for the memory I have of him. I was trying to decide between paragliding and skydiving and watching the video Super Fly Hard. It was seeing Rob that sold me on paragliding – he was smiling and laughing and looked like he was having so much fun. I also admire a number of other pioneering pilots in skydiving and BASE-jumping and of course speed flying, but in general it’s anyone who is not afraid to be different and push the envelope of what can be done.

Where and what was your most memorable flying experience? The invitation to demo speed flying at this year’s Lakes Charity Classic, no contest. How often do you get offered a helicopter ride to the top of a 2,500ft mountain, to then blast down the face of it in the clam, warm evening air? Such a buzz. The Lake District is speed flying heaven. The people really made the event for me and the misses, they are so welcoming.

What is your favourite flying site in Britain? The Lake District now, but closer to home the Brecon Beacons are great.

What is your favourite site in Europe? I’ve only been speed riding in the Alps, but will be taking my speed wing to Italy in August. Mount Baldo over Lake Garda has a gondola to the top which I think is about 6,000ft. It should be interesting!

What is your favourite site in the world? Any place big, wild and with some sort of lift to launch.

Who do you most admire in the sport? I admire anyone who speed flies or speed rides. It takes a certain type of person.

What trait do you most deplore in yourself? I change my mind a lot. No, wait… erm…

What trait do you most deplore in other people? Pompous people who believe the hype about themselves and talk down to others.

When not flying, what do you do for recreation? Camping with the misses. We always seem to end up camping near hills though. I have been downhill mountain biking recently but seem to fall off all the time.

What is your favourite piece of music? I like dance, trance, pop, rock, metal and classical. So whatever suits my mood at the time.

What is your favourite book? Any books on space and science. It’s so big up there I love thinking about the possibilities and the adventures our lucky great-great-great-great-great-grandkids will have once we get off this rock.

What is your favourite film? So many I can’t pick just one. Flight of the Navigator, Predator, Alien, Terminator, The Goonies – all the films I was raised on back in the 80s.

What is your greatest fear? Looking back on my life with regret. Trying things out, even if they go wrong, is what life is all about.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? A warm, calm, summer’s evening at the top of a 10,000ft mountain with a chair lift to launch and a bar in the landing field, with the misses at the counter waiting with a pint of Cumbrian ale!

What would your motto be? Don’t forget where you come from, and always have time for others – you might need help one day.

How would you liked to be remembered? As a decent person who enjoyed like in his own little way.

Each Summer the Welsh (and English and American) -Italians take time out of their busy schedules and return to Bardi. With more bars per square inch than San Antonio, Ibiza, festas like Festa del Imigrante or bands like Jam with Robina playing, there is always something to do.

Here are some pictures of Bardi and the surrounding villages taken by Delucia Sidoli during her Summer there.

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Article originally by Dave Edwards (walesonline.co.uk)

Dispite being 91 years old, Italian-born Luisa Carpanini loves nothing more than sitting in her cafe chatting to customers.

Luisa, who was born in Bardi, opened the Cardiff Arms Cafe, Bute Street, with her husband Ernesto in 1947.

Ernesto’s family owned a cafe in Abercynon and after getting married they returned to Italy before coming back to Wales and opening the cafe in the Rhondda.

Luisa said “I have lovely memories of those early years in the cafe. Treorchy was a very busy place then and we used to be open all hours, sometimes until two in the morning.

“Everyone would pop in for a gossip and there used to be lots of courting couples who would come here for a cup of coffee.

“Treorchy has gone a lot quieter now and I miss the old times

“The cafe was also known as Ernie’s after my late husband. Over the years I have served three generations of families while behind the counter.”

The cafe is now run by Luisa’s children Gianmarco, Irene, Francesco and Pietro.

Irene said “I should imagine that Luisa is the oldest surviving Italian in the Rhondda. The cafe has been her life and she loves nothing more than sitting here with a cup of coffe chatting to the customers.”

By Mario Basini

Location: Liverpool, England

Along with thousands of others in Italian families throughout Britain, part of my mother died beneath the cold waters of the Atlantic one grey morning in July 1940. She had arrived in Wales 16 years before, a wild-eyed peasant girl from the hamlet of Pietranera on the road north from Bardi, then in the Province of Piacenza, to Boccolo dei Tassi. She had come to help her brothers and their wives run the family’s series of cafes, fish and chip shops and grocery stores in the upper Rhondda Fawr. By the outbreak of World War II, she was a handsome woman in her early forties, still unmarried and apparently happy to remain a career business woman.

She, her three brothers – a fourth spent most of his time in Italy running the family farm – and their families had found themselves a place in the hearts of their Welsh neighbours. Sixty years after she had moved from the Rhondda to Merthyr Tydfil to start her own family, people in Trehebert and Tynewydd remembered her with affection. But in a few short hours in June, 1940, that relationship and much of the business the Basinis had spent decades creating had been destroyed.

On June 10, Mussolini in a long, ranting speech from the balcony of Rome’s Palazzo Venezia declared war on the UK. In an instant, Britain’s Italian community, perhaps 18,000 strong, became “enemy aliens” to be treated with suspicion, sometimes reviled and their property attacked. Anti-Italian riots broke out in cities including Swansea, Cardiff and Newport and in parts of the Rhondda.

At dawn the next morning the waves of arrests of Italian males destined for internment began. Four thousand two hundred were taken, 300 of whom were British citizens. Among those who were still Italian were my father, then a widower in Merthyr Tydfil struggling to bring up three young children, and two of my mother’s brothers. The eldest, my uncle Giuseppe, Jack, and my father, Marco – another Basini – were lucky. They were interned for a few brief months on the Isle of Man before the authorities realised the absurdity of their decision and sent them home. My mother’s youngest brother, her beloved Bartolomeo, Bert, had no such luck. Aged 31 and startlingly handsome with huge brown eyes and a winning smile, he had married gentle, gracious Anna, from the village of Grezzo, two miles down the road from Pietranera. Their twins, Johnny and Mary, had been born the previous November. Caught up in a process that even British politicians and civil servants at the time labelled unjust and “chaotic”, he found himself among 1500 Italians destined for interment camps in Canada. The list was supposed to contain “the desperate characters” representing a particular danger to Britain.

The selection process was hopelessly bungled by the British security service, MI5. Its criterion for determining whether an Italian represented a significant risk to Britain was membership of the “fascio”, a series of clubs set up around the country by Mussolini’s government. But for many, anxious to protect their families and property back home in Italy, membership of the fascio was obligatory. In most cases membership was merely an expression of a patriotism and pride in Italian culture. While convinced fascists remained at home unmolested, famous anti-fascists were earmarked for deportation. When the authorities arrived at their camps to pick them up, many of those not chosen swapped places with others on the list in order to remain with brothers, fathers, sons, uncles. Some were victims of mistaken identity. When nowhere near the intended 1500 could be found, people were plucked at random from the camps.

The Arandora Star, a luxury cruise liner converted for war use, sailed from Liverpool for Canada early on July 1, 1940. It carried 478 Germans and Austrians as well as around 250 escort soldiers and 180 crew members. By far the biggest contingent was the estimated 712 Italians, most, like my uncle, entirely innocent café proprietors, waiters, fish and chip shop owners. At around 7am the following day it was sited and sunk by a German submarine, U- 47, 125 miles off the northern Irish coast. One hundred and seventy five Germans and Austrians died, 58 crew and 91 soldiers. The Italians bore the brunt of the tragedy. Around 446 died, more than 60 per cent of those on board. Among them was my uncle Bartolomeo.

For those they left behind it was the beginning of a lifetime’s pain. Overwhelmed by feelings of loss and confusion, their grief was deepened by the British government’s callous indifference. Families were informed of their loved ones’ fate by a perfunctory telegram sent many weeks after the sinking. Their healing was impeded by the fact that for most there could be no funeral and the closure that comes with it. Almost none of the few bodies recovered could be identified. The resounding silence in which the British government shrouded the tragedy continued after the war. The Arandora Star and its victims had, for all intents and purposes, been consigned to oblivion.

For those most intimately affected – wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters grandchildren- this lack of recognition meant that they have since lived in a limbo of loss and frustrated emotion. “It is as if we have been wrapped in a thick fog,” explains Mary, Bartolomeo’s daughter, now living in Bridgend. For the rest of her life my mother cried when she remembered her baby brother.

At last, things have begun to change and official recognition of their loss has begun. On June 30 a day of remembrance was held on the Scottish island of Colonsay where some of the bodies and wreckage from the Arandora Star washed up in 1940. A memorial to those who died was unveiled there three years ago. On July 2, the 68th anniversary of the sinking of the Arandora Star, Liverpool, the port from which the ship sailed, hosted a series of events to commemorate its victims. A moving service at Our Lady and St Nicholas, the “sailor’s church” was addressed by the Most Reverend Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow who also unveiled a plaque that will eventually stand on the Pierhead at Liverpool. The Italian ambassador, H.E. Dr Giancarlo Aragona, read from The Book of Wisdom. A representative of the German Embassy read from the First Letter of John. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Steve Rotheram, also attended.

Among the most moving aspects of a memorable service was the contribution of the superb Cwmbach Male Choir who held the congregation spellbound. The presence of the choir at the service and the ceremonies that followed was an indication of the particularly heavy price the Italians of South Wales- especially those from Bardi- paid in the tragedy. Representatives of the provinces of Parma, Piacenza and Lucca, where many of the victims originated, also attended. The service was followed by a buffet lunch and the launch of a new book, by Maria Serena Ballestracci who is rapidly becoming the most important historian of the tragedy.

But the highlight for the relatives was a ceremony on the River Mersey at the spot where many of the internees would have had a final glimpse of the famous Liverpool shoreline as the ship steamed for the open sea. Wreaths in memory of the German, Austrian and British victims, as well as one for the Italians, were laid on the water.

At the dinner in the evening a moving speech from Graziella Feraboli, the daughter of victim, Ettore Feraboli, summed up what the day had meant for the loved ones. “It is as if the door of a tomb had at last been opened and some light let in.”

* Relatives of victims who wish to have the names of their loved ones entered in a Book of Remembrance for those who died at sea can contact the Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, Liverpool’s Parish Church where the book is kept.