With up to 500,000 residents of Italian origin, Toronto has one of the largest Italian populations of any city outside of Italy. Most immigrants came in the years following the second World War, adding to the significant sum who had already settled within the city's three Little Italies.
As this large influx began to age, community members sought a way to address their changing needs. In 1971, a group of Italian-Canadian Torontans formed the Italian Canadian Benevolent Corporation. Five years later, they opened Villa Colombo Toronto, a long-term care facility for seniors.
Today known as Villa Charities, the organization has expanded its mission to fund, develop, administer, and coordinate health, social, cultural, and educational projects. The group honors both Italian and Italian-Canadian culture, recognizing that the two have evolved in parallel over time. In addition to its Columbus Centre amenities, the organization hosts a wide range of events and activities, including classes for toddlers, book launches, art exhibitions, concerts, and dance programs.
I spoke with Villa Charities Executive Director of Cultural Programming Giulio Recchioni, who shared more about the organization, its offerings, and its aims.
What inspired the founding of Villa Charities, and how has its mission evolved over the years?
It was founded by a group of community leaders who put together their willingness to leave a mark in town and have a structure where Italians could gather and be at home away from home. The first structure that was born was Villa Colombo, which is currently a nursing home for seniors.
In the beginning, when the bulk of the migrants were here and aging like everybody else, there was this idea: What do you do once you reach an age when you're not independent anymore? Are you going to be dispersed through the English-speaking nursing homes throughout Ontario?
They decided to create something that was not there before, a structure that could be the reference point for the entire Italian community here in Toronto. And 50 years later, this is still what we do. Today, the Columbus Centre is the largest Italian cultural center in Canada, and we're still quite well respected within the community. We are still the center of what happens to the Italian-Canadian community.
Villa Charities hosts a Summer Sagra event outside of its Columbus Centre.
What makes Villa Charities unique in what it offers?
Several organizations work with Italian culture in Toronto. Some of them are government-owned. But what really makes us different from everybody else is that we deal not only with Italian culture but also Italian-Canadian culture.
We not only recognize Italian culture but also try to bring modern, contemporary Italian culture to the public's attention while also catering to Italian Canadians and representing their culture and values. It's a culture that crystallized in the fifties and then evolved on its own, far away from the culture of Italy.
Progress in technology allows us to be close to Italian culture nowadays, but up to 30 years ago, what we see today to watch Italian television, take a phone, and speak to our people in Italy was kind of unusual, if not unthinkable or very expensive. So, the Italian-Canadian culture grew and became something different—looking at Italy but from far away.
Members roast speducci at a Summer Solstice event.
Tell us more about your events and activities.
We have a wide range of events, as we have to cater to the biggest number of people possible. We truly have an approach from cradle to rocking chair. We have events for toddlers; we have Italian classes for toddlers where the teacher sings so that the toddlers get used to the Italian language. We have book launches, and we manage an art gallery, so we have art exhibitions. We work with musicians to do concerts. We have a dance school.
We offer quite a wide variety of programs. The Columbus Centre has a gym and swimming pool with a variety of activities typical of a community center.
During summertime, we have large events outside. They're inspired by the idea of the sagra in Italy. So we have chosen in the past an aspect of Italian cuisine. For example, in July, we have what in Canada is called speducci [grilled meat skewers], originally in Abruzzo, they're called arrosticini, so we celebrate those in July. Then, in August, we celebrate Ferragosto with a very large outdoor party.
We make tomato sauce with our seniors in September and distribute it to the public. We also offer a plate of pasta to complement the tomato sauce. Then, in October and November, we have events that speak to the art of wine making. So we press grapes in October together with a local Italian-Canadian winery. And then, in April, we have a little taste of the wine we made ourselves.
We echo some of the most popular Italian holidays and make them our own. For example, we have a Sagra della Castagna in November, when in Italy it's a tradition to have vino novello e castagne [new wine and chestnuts], because that's when you bottle the first wine to see how it is and you get to taste it. We can't quite do the same because Canada's alcohol laws differ from Italy's. But we did keep the part of the castagne. So we cook castagne and distribute them for free to the community during the event.
Food really attracts people more than anything else, so we have these events as a community-building exercise. They're quite fun to attend, so it's a pleasure to keep presenting them and offering them to the community.
Members celebrate the preparation of their own wine.
What do you hope to share with members and the community?
Italian culture in Toronto is quite lively. A wealth of Italian activities and organizations are bubbling up. It's wonderful when people see what's happening and attend.
As a person who organizes events, it's nice when you spend so much time and energy creating something and you see a lot of people recognizing the event coming and having a good time. At the end of the day, Italian culture is all about changing life for the better, and that's what I would invite them to do. Just come out and participate in what's happening in the city. There is a lot of Italian stuff going on.
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