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Ariella DalFarra<br />
Hostetter<br />
Italian Immigrant<br />
Vulcania<br />
July of 1955<br />
July 2, 1955 Rina DalFarra, nee Lovat, in front of S.S. Vulcania, Naples<br />
wearing a new dress made for the occasion. As far as I can remember the<br />
dress was a grey and yellow print.
Marta on the left, Rina in the middle and Ariella on the right. July 2,<br />
1955. Marta and Ariella are dressed in outfits made especially for the<br />
voyage. These are navy sailor suits trimmed with white soutache braid,<br />
white anchors and white stars. Skirt is pleated. Both carried red leather<br />
bucket handbags and wore white cotton socks and shoes. Hair was cut<br />
fashionably short. Marta is seven and Ariella is eight. Rina is twentyeight<br />
years of age. Rina was trained as a tailor in Bolzano, Italy.<br />
Marta and Ariella with Albino, aged 40. Albino barely survived World War<br />
II and worked in Merano, Roma and East Africa as a machinist/tool and<br />
dye maker prior to emigrating to Canada.<br />
Naples again.
Marta and Ariella on board ship during the ship’s stop in Genoa.<br />
On shore in Barcelona. Photo taken in front of the monument to<br />
Christopher Columbus. Family went ashore. Don’t remember any of it.
On board ship passing the rock of Gibraltar. Note there are no immigrant<br />
ladies shrouded in black on deck.<br />
On board ship. Probably Genoa. Rina wears fashionable sunglasses<br />
purchased in Rome where the family lived from 1950 to 1955.<br />
Albino, Rina, Ariella and Marta were all born in the area around Sedico,<br />
Belluno, Italy, a province in northeastern Italy.
Genoa again<br />
On board ship Albino, Rina and Marta. Photo set up by Albino and taken<br />
by Ariella. Again ladies in black ground are not wearing black.
On board ship somewhere around Gibraltar.<br />
Rina, Ariella and Marta on board ship. Note the pants and shorts. Rina<br />
and her sisters wore trousers during the Second World War. Short outfits<br />
for Ariella and Marta were a khaki colour trimmed with edelweiss flower<br />
border. T-shirts had red and white stripes. Red leather shoes
complemented the entire ensemble. Barrettes with felt flowers in<br />
matching colours were worn to keep hair out of eyes.<br />
Ariella, Marta and Rina or board ship. Around Genoa?<br />
With friend on ship around Gibraltar.
Albino in mid-Atlantic in front of an aircraft carrier. It was the biggest<br />
ship encountered on the voyage. Another high light in the mid-Atlantic<br />
was the sighting of a huge whale.<br />
Genoa
Genoa<br />
On board ship with legs looking a lot like those of an octopus. Rina hung<br />
on to her children closely, most likely because of Ariella’s ability to get<br />
into trouble. Neither Ariella nor Marta fell overboard.
Genoa in the background again.<br />
On board ship with Albino giving photo taking instructions to Rina.
On board ship. There was always lot of company on deck. The friendly<br />
ship’s boatswain told Rina that she could avoid sea sickness is we stayed<br />
on deck. Which we did.<br />
Halifax. Ariella, Rina and Marta. It was cold, windy and grey. Only colour<br />
to be seen was a dull, heavy, green. Yuck! Halifax <strong>Pier</strong> <strong>21</strong> building in the<br />
lower background.
On deck with Albino and fellow travelers who were going on to the port of<br />
New York.<br />
Genoa again. Albino was a German prisoner of war and survived Stalag<br />
VIIIB and the Auschwitz sub-camp, Bismarckhuette where he was used<br />
as forced labour. He died of a heart attack in June 1960 in Toronto.
Genoa<br />
Genoa
The rock of Gibraltar, July 1955<br />
Dining room of the S.S. Vulcania. Carafe of wine and fresh flowers is on<br />
the table. Food was good and plentiful. A highlight was Sunkist oranges<br />
that were absolutely the best. The nostromo (boatswain) was generous<br />
with his gifts of Dentyne gum, which we didn’t particularly like. This was<br />
an easy trip because the sea was calm, the sun shone brightly and the<br />
ship carried only 260 some odd passengers rather than the 1,000, or so,<br />
that it could hold.
Inside the cabin. Bunk beds and a sink with taps and running water<br />
were a great novelty. When Rina and Albino went ashore for a day to visit<br />
Lisbon the nostromo (boatswain) offered to keep an eye on Ariella and<br />
Marta. They amused themselves aboard ship by doing laundry in the<br />
sink of their cabin and causing a minor flood.<br />
Gibraltar, locals sold tourist novelties to ship passengers from their<br />
rowboats. Bargaining was loud and animated. Ropes were thrown from
the dinghies to the ship’s passengers. Merchandise and payments were<br />
hauled up and down using these ropes. Marta and Ariella acquired<br />
castanets and furry monkey puppets on a stick. When she was grown up<br />
Marta learned Spanish, took up Flamenco dancing and visited Spain.<br />
Once off the ship we<br />
were reunited with the<br />
trunks and suitcases<br />
that contained just<br />
about everything we<br />
owned. There was the<br />
usual unease as<br />
customs officials sorted<br />
through the trunks and<br />
found themselves<br />
pulling out dolls by their<br />
legs. One of the<br />
treasures in the trunk,<br />
which is still in the<br />
family, is a Necchi<br />
treadle sewing machine.<br />
It was only after we<br />
reached Canada that we<br />
realized that Albino had<br />
left all his ties in the<br />
wardrobe in Rome and<br />
that the new shoes that<br />
he had bought were two<br />
different sizes.<br />
The trip from Halifax to<br />
Toronto proved to be long, tedious and terribly uncomfortable. Not at all<br />
like the trips from northern Italy to Rome taken where the train<br />
compartments had upholstery.<br />
After a sunny, beautiful trip across the Atlantic, train food had strange<br />
flavors and textures. Albino did not notice. The rest of the family did<br />
notice. There was certainly no expresso coffee served on the immigrant<br />
trains. That’s where we got our first introduction to spam and hard<br />
wooden seats.<br />
Note to accompany photos 1 to 30. Ariella DalFarra Hostetter’s trip to<br />
Canada aboard the S.S. Vulcania, July 1955.<br />
That gave a hint of where immigrants could expect to rank in Canadian<br />
society.
Rina continues live to Toronto, as does a third daughter Anna Maria who<br />
was born shortly after the father’s death. Rina earned a living for her<br />
family as a custom tailor and dressmaker. Now retired. She also worked<br />
as supplies Aide at Scarborough General Hospital.<br />
Marta passed away from heart disease on October 13, 2009 after a career<br />
teaching English as an additional language in Canada, Japan and<br />
Mexico. This followed a career as an innovative textile artist and teacher<br />
in Toronto where she taught at the Ontario College of Art, Sheridan<br />
College and Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.<br />
Ariella is married to Fred Hostetter, is the mother of their two daughters,<br />
Elizabeth Anna and Christine and the proud grandmother of Aidan<br />
Hostetter, Sophia and William Russell.
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