​Luigi Sarno, from the Consulate General of Italy (Vancouver) will be at our club house from January 13th to 15th to accept Italian passport applications. If you would like to apply, fill out the appropriate form (links provided below). There is one for those over 18 years of age and one for those under 18 years of age. These have to be completed and sent by email as soon as possible. Send them to [email protected]. The passport office has informed us that they already have a number of applications, so submission of the application may not guarantee an appointment. 

Applications are open only for those who already are Italian citizens and only need a passport (NOT obtaining citizenship). 

The club has transitioned away from Shaw and moved our WiFi to Telus. This means that all our email addresses have changed. We have set up our emails independently of our service provider, so we're not dependent on them. This gives us much more control and also allows us to set up some communication features we didn't have before. Also, the Club WiFi is much faster than before!  The Shaw emails and WiFi will continue to operate until September 8th, when our contract with Shaw ends.

Details on the new WiFi are posted in the club near the AV Equipment at the front.

​The new emails listed below are now functional. Please use these from this point forward. We will be adding a few new ones in the next month or so and will notify you when these are available:

[email protected] – Rosann Nanci
[email protected] – Cinzia Zotta Wendland
[email protected] – Mary Bazzana
[email protected] – Graziana Hoce
[email protected] – Jill Hotchkiss
[email protected] – Gord Hotchkiss
[email protected] – David Hawkins
[email protected] – Tina Vigilante
[email protected] – Janet Gagnon
[email protected] – Main
[email protected] – Patti DiMaria
[email protected] – Jenny Cooper

His Worship, Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas joined us for our Festa della Repubblica celebration and proclaimed June Italian Heritage Month in Kelowna. Mayor Dyas recognized the contribution of the Italian community over the past 140 years. An excerpt from the proclamation says:

"Kelowna is a city of unique cultural make up and thrives as a community of many ethnicities, cross-cultural understanding, inclusiveness and respect for one's traditions. It is a city where the Italian community settled and continues to passionately share and celebrate its culture, values and heritage with other communities to bring a vibrant and colourful Italian flavour throughout Kelowna's multicultural mosaic. "

After his official duties were done, the Mayor stayed to enjoy some celebratory cake, along with councillor Maxine Dehart. 

The full proclamation is shown below:

Two LNFI Legacy Projects have been recognized by Heritage BC for excellence in Education, Communications and Awareness. The La Nostra Famiglia Italiana Museum Exhibit and the documentary The Casorsos: La Prima Famiglia have received a Recognition Award for 2024.

Heritage BC recognized the importance of the two projects in creating awareness and highlighting the contribution of the Italian community to Kelowna and the Centra Okanagan:

"The Kelowna Canadian Italian Club's Legacy Project combines an exhibit and documentary to highlight Italian immigrant families' arrival and impact in Kelowna . The documentary follows the journey of the first Italian family in the Okanagan, while the Kelowna Museum exhibit showcases artifacts and articles from the Casorso family and others. The exhibit, utilizing multimedia elements like video, audio recordings, and physical artifacts, offers insight into the challenges and successes of Italian immigrants integrating into Kelowna society. By blending various media and firsthand accounts, the Legacy Project vividly portrays the Italian immigrant experience, fostering a deeper appreciation for their cultural heritage and contributions. Together they beautifully underscore the significance of the initial Italian families in Kelowna, fulfilling its objectives."

This marks the 3rd award picked up by the Legacy Project. Earlier this year The Casorso documentary was one of two special heritage projects honoured as outstanding by the Central Okanagan Heritage Society and last year Don and Gord won the Heritage BC Award for outstanding impact volunteers. 

"We're honoured to be recognized by Heritage BC. These two projects have really gained exposure beyond Kelowna, signifying that the Italian experience is an integral part of the building of Canada as a strong, unified yet diverse nation," said LNFI co-chairs Don and Gord.

Don Rampone was able to attend the award ceremony in Nelson, BC and accepted the awards on behalf of the LNFI Committee. 

The past few days have been busy ones for the LNFI Heritage Committee. It's been a great wrap up to our various projects that have been taking place over the past few months. Here's a summary of what we've been doing:

Saturday, Feb 17

We had over 270 attendees at our Family Day Weekend screening of our documentary The Casorsos: La Prima Famiglia. This great turn out was thanks in large part to media coverage we received from both Castanet and CBC Radio. The crowd response was overwhelmingly positive.

Monday, Feb 19

We were in not one but two places for the kick off of Heritage Week. Don Rampone and Gord Hotchkiss were at the Okanagan Heritage Museum for the final day of the La Nostra Famiglia Italiana: Our Legacy in Kelowna exhibit. Again, we had an amazing turn out, with almost 300 guests coming and touring the exhibit. 

Then, Tina Vigilante and Jane Rampone manned our table at the Kelowna Community Theatre for the Heritage Fair. Thanks to all for spreading the word about our Club and our activities. We had a lot of enthusiastic interest!

Tuesday, Feb 20

It was bittersweet, but we went down to the Museum to take pictures of all the artifacts when we took down the exhibit. It was a fantastic partnership with the team and Kelowna Museums. For those that loaned us artifacts, we'll be in touch in the next few days to coordinate returns.

Wednesday, Feb 21

Then, we attended the COHS Heritage Awards where the Casorso documentary took home one of two awards for Special Heritage Project for the Casorso documentary (two awards in this category were given. Our friends at the Kelowna and District Genealogical Society also won for their amazing Cemetery Recording project).

The next video we're working on in our Legacy Series will tell the story of our own Club. We're looking for any photos you might have from the early days of the Club (especially the 60's & 70's). Also, if you happen to have video or film footage, we'd love to know about it! 

You can contact us by emailing [email protected]

WE WANT YOUR STORIES!
                               
Five years ago, the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club began to collect stories of the early Italian families in the Kelowna area. Each year we published 30 stories, one each day in June, which is Italian Heritage Month. At the end of June we put them into print form. In 2019 the stories focussed on those families that arrived here before 1919,  in 2020 it was families arriving here in the 20s and 30s, in 2021 the 40s and 50s, in 2022 the 1960s founding families of the KCIC, and in 2023 those that were born here in the 20s and 30s. All 150 of these stories are on the KCIC website:

 https://www.kelownaitalianclub.com/kelownas-first-families

This year we are collecting 30 stories from families that have been in this area for 50 years or more…. Deadline for submissions is February 29, 2024. Stories need only be one page in length and include at least one photo (preferably two).

Would you please help us by passing this message on to any family member you believe could help us with these stories. If needed, I can send you an outline that others have found useful in writing their stories. 

​Reply directly to Don Rampone at [email protected]

This month's View over Italy is special in a couple of ways. First of all, Tonco, in the province of Asti in the Piemonte region. is the hometown of Giovanni and Rosa Casorzo, so this beautiful footage from Luca Lanari gives us a sneak peek into their story, debuting later this month in a full-length documentary. 

Secondly, it's also close to the hometown of the Rampone family (who come from Frinco) and our own Don Rampone is over there right now, doing some family tree research. 

There are not a lot of people in Tonco, which according to Wikipedia has a population of about 900 people. It's about 40 kilometres east of Torino, which would be the nearest major city.  Agriculture is the primary industry and the Casorzo family still has a factory in Tonco which manufactures farming equipment. 

The 13th annual ICAP conference will be held in Kelowna, BC and will highlight a project undertaken by one of ICAP’s Institutional Members, The Kelowna Canadian Italian Club. The theme for the conference this year is “LEGACY: From Personal Stories to A Community Narrative.” 

KCIC Members can register for the conference for free. For more information about the conference, the program and registration link, visit the ICAP site by clicking the link below. You can also contact us at [email protected]...