Book details local Italian immigration experience

A new book by UWindsor professor emeritus Walter Temelini intertwines personal and family stories to offer new historical insights into the social, economic, and psychological causes and effects of Italian immigration in Leamington.

book cover of The Leamington Italian CommunityIn The Leamington Italian Community: Ethnicity and Identity in Canada, Dr. Temelini presents a study of pre- and post-Second World War settlement in southern Ontario from the Italian regions of Lazio, Molise, and Sicily. Temelini was a founding faculty member of the UWindsor Italian studies program.

Published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, his book draws on testimonial and documentary evidence gathered from interviews with hundreds of residents, as well as original archival information and Italian-language histories translated by Temelini, previously unavailable to English-speaking audiences.

The book was made possible by a Heritage Canada grant awarded to the Roma Club of Leamington in the 1970s. It enjoyed a formal launch in July.