Infanzia in Italia- Childhood in Italy

Ed Paraggio as a young boy in his hometown of Toppo, Italy ca. 1930.

As he recounts in this oral history clip, Ed and his fellow paesani (countrymen) of Toppo were not strangers to hardship.  Subsisting on the animals and crops under their cultivation, Ed's family quite literally relied on the fruits of its labor until Ed's father chooses to pursue financial security in America.  Thanks to his father's efforts in Pittsburgh, Pa., Ed was fortunate enough to attend school well beyond the elementary level. Listen as Mr. Paraggio talks of his childhood in Italy and how it compared to and diverged from the childhood experiences of his fellow Toppo paesani.