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by Adriana Albi Davies, Ph.D.
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 While the Congress viewed itself as an "umbrella" with its board being
made up of presidents of other societies, its pre-eminence was not readily accepted by
some organizations. This was particularly true for the
Italian Cultural Society, founded
in the same year by a group of individuals largely from the Veneto. Founding directors
included Mario Cancian, Gino Antonello, Jack Parpinel, Lorenzo Giacobbo and Giovanni
Bragaglia. They were successful in building a cultural centre with funding support from
the governments of Edmonton, Alberta and Canada. They have housed societies such as
the Dante Alighieri Society,
Fogular Furlan and the
Bocciofila Club of Edmonton.
 As
a result of vision on the part of various community leaders, four
centres were built in the 1980s: the Italian Cultural Centre,
the new Santa Maria Goretti Centre, the Italian Seniors Centre and
Piazza Italia Seniors apartments. The first is located in the
Peter Lougheed Multicultural Village off the St. Albert Trail; the
latter three are in Edmonton's Little Italy. All but the Santa
Maria Goretti Centre benefited from government funding programs
including civic, provincial and federal. The centres give the
social life of the community a focus and anchor, and are popular
venues for a range of Italian society activities and social
events. The food is Italian and substantial and draws bookings
from non-Italian sources. The centres, as other Italian
societies, have resulted in a generation of community leaders who are
skilled in financial management and operations. There is also a
camaraderie and collegiality in spite of regional differences.
On the other hand, the Congress became a programming entity and, under
its various presidents (including Carlo Amodio,
Rudy Cavaliere, Tony
Mazucca, Fausta Marazzo, Adriana Albi Davies and Sam
Amelio), the organization undertook outreach activities with the community-at-large. It is responsible for the Italian pavilion at the popular
Heritage Days Festival, which
has over 400,000 participants and about 50 ethnocultural groups at its celebration of food and dance at Hawrelak Park the
July/August holiday long weekend.
 The
Congress was also instrumental in the founding of the Il Congresso newspaper in
April, 1984 - the longest-existing Italian paper in Alberta. The Congress, as well as
undertaking talent shows, plays, concerts, exhibits at the Provincial Museum of Alberta on
Christmas traditions and the University of Alberta Hospital, McMullen Gallery, and other
recognition events, has also provided support to a range of worthwhile activities. It led fundraising efforts for
Eritrean
 and Italian earthquake relief, and also donated funds to commemorate Edmonton's 75th
anniversary. The city was building its new Convention Centre and
the NCIC, led by Carlo Amodio, suggested that it incorporate a
fountain in its design. The community would have preferred a
stand-alone fountain but the architects chose to make the fountain the
central architectural feature cascading as a waterfall down the centre
of the building.
The relationship with the Government of Italy must be discussed. We have seen that in the
Fascist era, consular agents saw "Italians abroad" as citizens and actively
courted them. However, in the process of acculturation and assimilation, the loyalty
shifts from the homeland to the host country. This certainly has happened with Edmonton's
Italian community. Edmonton has had a series of consular agents including
Pietro
Colbertaldo, Victor Losa, Salvatore and Luigi
Biamonte,
Angelo Biasutto and
Peter Caffaro, Q.C. Mr. Justice Caffaro was the last honorary consul.
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