Italian South Africans


Italian South Africans are South African-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who immigrated to South Africa during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in South Africa. They are primarily descended from Italians who immigrated to South Africa during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

History

Apart from a few Catholic missionaries, Italian immigration to South Africa was very limited until the end of the 19th century. Some Italian traders, such as Theresa Viglione, were present in small numbers alongside the Boers, when they made their Great Trek towards the Transvaal and Natal, but only in the early 20th century did the Italians form a small community of about 5,000 people, concentrated in the major cities of the Union of South Africa.
In 1900, there were 200 Italians in the Cape Colony and before 1910 about 1,200 in the Transvaal which was hugely reduced after the support given by Camillo Ricchiardi's Italian Volunteer Legion to the Boer insurgents. Many were miners, traders and builders. However, already in 1915, there were almost 4,000 Italians in all of South Africa, and among them many were professionals such as engineers, doctors and lawyers. Italian immigrants mainly found employment as stonemasons, bricklayers, craftsmen, carpenters, metal workers and railway workers.
During Fascism there was almost no Italian emigration to South Africa, and at the outbreak of World War II about 800 Italian South Africans were interned for security reasons.
At the end of the 1940s, many thousands of Italian ex-internees, who had established working relationships with South Africans during their imprisonment, decided to immigrate to South Africa. This was the case of the father of Italian South African runner Marcello Fiasconaro, an Italian pilot shot down during a bombing in Kenya and interned in Zonderwater. Numerous families of Istrian-Dalmatian exiles reached South Africa.
In the 1950s, the South African government began to favor the immigration of Italians, who settled mainly in the Cape Province. Subsequently, with the beginning of Apartheid, a selected flow of Italians was promoted, also with the aim of increasing the white population in South Africa.
In the early 1970s, there were over 40,000 Italians in South Africa, scattered throughout the provinces but concentrated in the main cities. Some of these Italians had taken refuge in South Africa, escaping the decolonization of Rhodesia and other African states.
In the 1990s, a period of crisis began for Italian South Africans and many returned to Europe; however, the majority successfully integrated into the multiracial society of contemporary South Africa.
The Italian community consists of over 77,400 people, half of whom have Italian citizenship. Those of Venetian origin number about 5,000, mainly residing in Johannesburg, while the most numerous Italian regional communities are the southern ones. The official Italian registry records 28,059 Italians residing in South Africa in 2007, excluding South Africans with dual citizenship.

Italian press and institutions in South Africa

The Italian-language press in South Africa essentially consists of three publications:La Gazzetta del Sudafrica, daily newspaper, publisher Ciro Migliore.Insieme, bimonthly, publisher Comites Kwazulu Natal and Consulate of Italy in Durban.La Voce, weekly, publisher Pier Luigi Porciani.
The most important Italian associations and institutions in South Africa are:
  • The Associazione Assistenziale Italiana of Johannesburg, the Unitas of Durban and the Fondo Assistenza Italiana of Cape Town.
  • The Circolo Ricreativo Anziani Italiani of Johannesburg and the Circolo Anziani of Cape Town.
  • The Johannesburg Italian Ladies Society of Italian-South African women.Casa Serena, a rest home for the elderly, wanted and built with direct funding from Italians from South Africa and partially supported by the Italian and South African governments.
  • The Scuola italiana del Capo in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
  • The Dante Alighieri Society, present in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pietermaritzburg which spreads the Italian culture and language in South Africa.
  • The Circolo Culturale Italo Sudafricano and other Italian social clubs in: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Benoni, Nigel, Vereeniging, Umkomaas, Ladysmith, Port Elizabeth and East London.

Notable Italian South Africans

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