Mr. Mike Biollo was interviewed to discuss the life of his father, Mr. Olivo John Biollo.
Mr. Olivo John Biollo was born in 1886, in Venice, Italy. He arrived in Winnipeg around 1900, where he married and started a couple of businesses with two of his brothers. They proved unsuccessful, so he moved to Edmonton from whence a number of Italian families got together to form a farming colony near Lac La Biche, approximately 200 km. north-east of Edmonton. In 1916, O.J. Biollo was the first postmaster of the hamlet he named Venice after his home city. A nearby lake is named after Mr. Biollo.
Mary Biollo-Doyle Photo Album
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Olivo John Biollo's life in Winnipeg
Mike Biollo describes the naming of the Venice, Alberta