CCC (Calabria Centro Culturale) are a social group that commenced on September 25th, 2001. Around June of that year two friends from the group, Turo Chiodo and Luigi Villella, had a conversation about finding a way to promote the Calabrian Culture. They wanted to form a group that represented the Calabrian Region of Italy. At that particular time there were other groups that were established and many of them for years, though they were mostly religious. The idea of a cultural group to promote a region, traditions and culture was different.
They reached out to other Italian groups to see if anyone was interested in joining them whilst still staying with their own respective groups and they had a reasonable response. Their understanding helped a lot with the constitutional rules and regulations ect and their experience helped immensely with the running of events. They had ideas of sharing cultural activities such as dinner dances, plays, traditional food picnic days and the like. Many gave input and the committee was formed. They elected a president, vice president and other members to take on certain roles. More than half the members were from other groups along with new people and fresh ideas.
Through brainstorming they came up with their first project, the holding of an expo. A project that took six months to coordinate. The expo was held in 2002 over a weekend at The Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow, in conjunction with Italian week. At the expo they showcased traditional clothing, photos, artefacts, homewares and the many items that migrants brought with them to Australia such as bedspreads, linen and of course the `BAULE`. The baule was the trunk that held everything they had along with their precious memories. Foods were also prepared such as salami, hard bread, olives, crostoli and other fried goods such as Zeppoli, grispelli and vrascioli (a type of fried meatball).
They displayed embroidery items that were synonymous with the traditions and skills that many women were taught in Calabrian villages all over. Delicate works of doilies and even bed dolls. The exhibition was held in the Monte Carlo room at the club and they had a great turnout. There was a lot of positive feedback and many people marvelled at the wonderful old items that so many still used and that were in great condition. A few people spoke at the expo of their experience/journey coming to Australia. One of those speakers was Domenica Risorto, whose family story was featured previously.
The inaugural president was Tullio Chiodo in 2001. The following presidents are so dated: Pina McPherson 2002, Nina Russo 2003 - 2004, Domenico Chieffe 2005 - 2007, Domenico Raschilla 2008 - 2011, Mary Zanotto 2012 -2015 and Rosa Cardamone Villella 2016 - current.
With the success of the exposition it gave the group greater motivation and they began to plan their next event and in 2003 the CCC, decided to hold a dinner dance. They came up with the idea of a `scialata` a dialect term for great fun. The motto of the scialata was “Nu tempu bellu non is scorda mai, mangiamu e bevimu alla salute de tutti quanti”, written in dialect it translates to” A beautiful time is never forgotten, let's eat and drink to everyone's health”.
At the first dinner dance the entertainment was a play demonstrating the Italian card game Briscola and young men who would sing, serenading a beautiful girl from the village. Each year they would focus on a different theme and the people loved it. They found it so relatable as it reminded them of their life and traditions. Many of those who performed in the scialata were also children and grandchildren of the local Italian community.
The response was overwhelming. Over the years attendance grew and between 400 - 500 people would attend yearly. It was a wonderful time for getting together with friends, making new acquaintances and enjoying and embracing all things Calabrese. They had a DJ at the dance playing both Italian and English music. The menu for the dinner dance was strictly Calabrian of course provided by the chefs at The Fraternity Club. The dinner dance would eventually become an annual event and they welcomed one and all, people of different nationalities, to share in their joy with the big emphasis of getting the younger ones involved.
Throughout the year they arranged bus trips to various places such as wineries and restaurants. They organised weekends away down the South Coast of NSW and further afar to Griffith, where the Salami Festival was held. One of the restaurants they visited, and on more than one occasion, was La Vigna, at Camden. La Vigna had placed an advertisement in the Italian newspaper La Fiamma, stating that they were having a tomato sauce making day. It was open for people to come along and watch the process and then one could purchase some sauce as well. Afterwards they dined in their restaurant. They also arranged a bus trip to nearby Leppington Valley Farm. The farm sold prickly pears, (also known as Indian figs) as well as fresh tree figs and other culinary delights. Customers could buy the freshly picked fruits.
The group would try an organise something every 3 - 4 months. Along with other Italian groups they also held a picnic day annually at Towradgi beach, attracting up to 150 people. When Italian week was held in Wollongong you would find the committee at their popular food stall selling delicious cannoli and home made crostoli. There were two and three generations involved with CCC connecting young and old.
As a group they also raised money and donated to local hospitals, sports men and women, the cancer council and the heart foundation. The CCC at their core were all about the community and helping them out.
In 2006, on a bus trip to a Griffith for a winery/good food weekend the group came up with their most ambitious project/idea yet. They thought of creating something as a permanent structure/symbol that represented the migrant community. The migrants who left their homeland for a better life with almost nothing but a suitcase. The migrant family who toiled and worked hard to create a new beginning and chapter of their life in this new country. The group’s first idea was a park bench with an inscription on it about migrants, but after much thought they conceded it wasn’t good enough. They wanted to do something better.
With the idea of the bench not being worthy they thought about a sculpture representing the contributions made by the migrants of the Illawarra. The committee became incredibly excited and enthusiastic about the possibility. Upon returning to Wollongong from their Griffith trip, the committee brainstormed their idea. With their idea now agreed upon they approached major companies like Blue Scope, BHP and other Italian engineering groups for support and even other Italian associations, but no one was interested. Their response was: these are tough times!
Feeling quite dismayed they then approached the Wollongong City Council and they were faced with many challenges. The council’s first concern was funding for the project. Representatives from the Wollongong Council and four people from CCC group, whom they nominated to represent them, held a meeting with Alex Darling who was the Lord Mayor. They expressed their desires and put forward their ideas about a sculpture that represented the migrants of the Illawarra.
They had their hearts set on something typical that depicted the Italian immigrant with perhaps a suitcase tied with a rope around, perhaps wife and children. The council didn’t seem to think this was a good idea as it could possibly have spurred on other ethnic groups to want their own sculpture and insisted it should be a sculpture to represent all migrants. This would be more favourable. A sculpture that represented all groups. The council also insisted that a representative from other ethnic groups be involved in the process and attend all future meetings.
When it came to the decision about the sculpture it had to be put out for tender. Various people who represented a cross section of the migrant community in the region were asked to join in the meetings to discuss and plan the proposed piece of art.
The tender went out to several artists in the state. Approximately five proposals with designs and costings came back. Through much deliberation a sculpture design was agreed upon. It was a steel structure that was shaped like a boat. The cost was $60,000.00. The project artist was Nerine Martini.
How were they going to raise the funds? That was the big question. Now that they had the backing of the Wollongong City Council, a design and a plan, they approached the same companies as they did initially. Hoping that with all the groundwork laid and with Council support now at the ready it may convince them to reconsider and to have their names associated with a sculpture depicting the history of the immigrants to the area. It could also give them community recognition. Yet, the answer remained the same and that was no.
CCC thought of other ways to try and raise the funds but with such a large amount of money it would take a long time, perhaps years. The process itself had already been years in the making and to extend it further didn’t sit well with them. Vice president of the group Domenico Chieffe made a call to his friend Tom Gallo about the project. Tom is head of the WGE Group. WGE are a local specialist construction company who have been in operation since 1976. Tom was only too happy to help and along with other groups and organisations the sculpture came to life.
As I spoke with Tom he said it was a collaboration between several companies that donated time, money, expertise and product. He also said that whilst WGE dealt with metal construction, this was the first time that they had done anything artistic. Nevertheless, they were confident in doing the project and they liaised with the design team on many occasions The sculpture was constructed at the WGE site taking a total of six months to complete.
From the time the tender was put out till the time the sculpture was finished it took 18 months. You will find the sculpture situated at George Dodd Reserve on the corner of Cliff Road and Georges Place Wollongong along the waterfront, overlooking the sea.
The location of the sculpture was significant as many migrants traveled to Australia by ship which was a journey of approximately 30 days. The sculpture is a frame of a ship made of steel and the majority of migrants` first jobs in the Illawarra was in the steel industry at Port Kembla. It was a bittersweet moment for the group after ten years! Quite the project indeed! The sculpture was unveiled on Friday January 2015 with the Lord Mayor of Wollongong Rev Gordon Bradbury, politicians, representatives from the local migrant groups and members of the public were all in attendance.
CCC held the scialata for thirteen years which brought together family generations from the Italian and other European communities. Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents through to Grandchildren were all there. Some of the themes for the scialata were the making of the pasta sauce, salami making day, music and traveling to Australia from Italy, where the translator on the ship informed the traveling migrants that if you see signs in the shop windows that say SALE, it doesn’t mean salt, it means that you can buy goods cheaper.
Though, as time went on the number of people attending the scialata declined and the young ones who were involved with the scialata were getting older and their lives and circumstances had changed. Some of the older generation were not as enthusiastic, some due to health or other reasons. The last scialata was in 2016 and it was held at the The Italian Centre, Wollongong. Over 100 people attended.
After the last scialata many people had lost interest in the group. CCC were still holding their picnic day and running their bus trips, but by 2018 it was very slow. Covid hit and everything came to a halt! The core group stayed in touch by spending time together. In 2023 CCC held a 20 year reunion of all committee members both past and present. Forty people in total attended a luncheon at The Fraternity Club. CCC are hoping to start again slowly with a bus trip to see the response and maybe, just maybe, we may see them running some great events again!
The current CCC committee are as follows:
Rosa Cardamone Villella - President
Domenica Risorto - Vice President
Domenico Chieffe - Vice President
Sara Risorto - Secretary
Mary Zanotto - Treasurer
Pasquale Sacco - Committee
Tullio Chiodo - Committee
The current CCC committee.
From left to right: Domenico Chieffe, Rosa Cardamone - Villella,
Pasquale Sacco, Domenica Risorto, Mary Zanotto & Tullio Chiodo.
Above image from the collection belonging to CCC group.
Collage of the main sculpture including the three poles.
The Migration Project and it`s contributors.
2016
2015
2014
2012
2011
2008.
You will find a variety of other videos of performances and photos.
Search `scialata` on the video channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@mycd1/featured
