 Mattia Culos came to Canada in 1912. He farmed a fourteen acre lot on Gordon Road. Cestilia Bazzana came to Canada in 1923 to marry Mattia, in the Immaculate Conception Church, on September 27 1923. They raised Antonia (John Schmidt), Reno (Elizabeth Kalenchuk), Louis (Sharron Wilson), Gertie (Phillip Bachmann) and Lena (Sonny Herbst). They lived happily on the farm until 1960 when they retired to the city. Sadly, Mattia passed away one year after retirement. Cestilia passed away 1973.
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 Left: Ambrogio, Nolda, Lydia, Concetta, Thelma and Paul Ambrogio Ciaccia made his first trip to America in 1902 at age 16. Subsequent trips were made in 1908 and in 1913 with his wife Concetta Ciancone. Their destination was recorded as Kamloops. They had a small farm near the train station at the north end of Kelowna, where they raised Paul (Helen Molnar), Thelma (Jack Varcoe), Nolda (Ineo Rantucci) and Lydia (Robert Slaboden). Son Roberto and daughter Melba died at early ages. Ambrogio also worked on several neighbouring farms in the north end.
 Four of Germano Dapavo and Enrichetta Rampone’s children, Maria, Rosa, Catarina and Dino, were early residents of Kelowna. Catarina was the first to arrive in 1904. She was followed by Rosa and Maria in 1905 and finally Davide Michele (Dino) in 1927. Each of them married other early Kelowna families: Maria (Samuele Turri), Rosa (Giovachino Lanfranco), Catarina (Louis Casorso) and Dino (Rosa Gaspardone). The Italian community was centred around the hall they built at the corner of Casorso and Gordon Roads which is now the White Heather Rest home. Pictured here is Dino Dapavo (centre) with Gaspar Risso (left) and Tony Borgnetta (right).
 There were six girls in the Lanfranco family: Catherine (1909), Katie (1910), Mary (1913), Louisa (1919), Delphine (1924) and Margaret (1927). They all married locals and continue to have families residing here: Catherine (Tony Welder), Katie (Luigi Francescutti), Mary (Ted Toombs), Louisa (Mike Marchuck), Delphine (Wayne Slyter) and Margaret (Carl Hewitt). All of the Lanfranco children attended Mission Creek School with many of them captured in photographs of track and field teams.
Dominic, Peter, Camillo and Paul were all born in Kelowna between 1906 and 1922. While none of their families currently reside in the Kelowna area they are all Kelowna pioneers. Camillo was a master leather worker and remained on the Lanfranco farm before moving to the Falkland area. Peter was involved with mining operations around the province. Dominic (Alice Canty) became a taxi driver in the Qualicum region and Paul (Mary Duggan) moved to Abbotsford where he was a border guard. Camillo and Peter were never married.
Giovanni and Rosa Casorso’s children, Carolina, Tony and Charles, accompanied Rosa when she made her journey to Kelowna in 1884. After their arrival, sons Joe, Louie, Pete, Felix, Leo and August were born in the Okanagan Mission. Carolina married Charles Fritz and lived in the Spokane area. Tony (Marguerite McGarrity), Charles (Mary McCunnin), Joe (Ethel Winship), Louie (Catarina Dapavo), Pete (Alice Canty), Felix (Veronica Reiter), Leo (Marian Prowse), August (Mary Millar) all worked in conjunction with Giovanni’s original farm while setting up their own farms, butcher shops and shipping operations.
 Louis Constantini arrived in the US in 1903. He worked as a water boy in Philadelphia where rail lines were being constructed. He continued affiliation with railways supplying timber for a railroad being built to the copper mine at Princeton. By 1914 he made his way to Kelowna with Joseph Alimonti. In 1924 he married Joseph’s younger sister, Lucia. In his early years he assisted with both the KVR and Belgo dam construction projects before buying his own farm in the Ellison area. Louis and Lucia’s family consists of Armand (West Kelowna), Ida (Las Vegas), and Diana, Albert and Alfy (Vancouver).
 Eduardo Gabriele Quirico married Maria Pierna Boerio in 1913 before making his way to Kelowna, with his cousin Pasquale Barrera and in-law, Giovachino Lanfranco, in 1914. He established a dairy and mixed farm across from Casorso Road Elementary School. Here Gabriele and Pierina raised daughters Rosa and Mary and son Eduardo. After Gabriele’s sudden passing in 1945 Pierina and her daughters moved to California to join Gabriele’s family. Son Eduardo remained in BC with family members now residing in Alberta.
 In 1914 Giovachino Lanfranco accompanied cousins Pasquale Barrera and Gabriele Quirico from Villa San Secondo, Italy, to Kelowna. Pasquale’s first known job was working at a railway construction camp in the Princeton area. From here he made his way back to Kelowna with fellow worker Joseph Alimonti. After several years of working on the Alimonti farm Pasquale married Francesca, one of the two Alimonti daughters. By 1926 they acquired their own farm on Lakeshore Road where they raised their family of Luigi, Rose, Camillo and Pio.
 Leaving home at about age 12, Joseph Alimonti was unable to purchase his own ticket to America so he jumped on a ship and worked his way over. His name first appears in the 1910 Ohio census residing at a boarding house. By 1914 he was working at a railway construction camp in the Princeton area. When that job was completed, Joseph and his friends Pasquale Barrera and Louis Constantini, joined his father, Pasquale Alimonti, in Kelowna. They worked together on Pasquale’s farm before each one buying their own farms. In 1917 Joseph was drafted into the Canadian forces, serving in France. He returned wounded, to Kelowna in 1919, and by 1925 married Rosa Culos. They farmed in the Mission Creek and Ellison areas where they raised their family Katie, Nick and Gina.
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