“I was there when the cops raided the shop,” Dante said. “They scared me. There was a right commotion.”
“That was in 1938,” Fred said.
“Yes.”
The police entered the shop looking for Fascists and Italian propaganda. All they found were old editions of Italian newspapers: Il Secolo, published in Genoa; La Nazione, the La Spezia daily. Near the wine racks they found bottles of Val Polcevera, Colli di Luni del Tugullio, and Riviera Ligure di Ponenti Golfo wrapped in ancient broadsheets of La Stampa and Corriera della Sera. They left the wine and removed the newsprint.
Most Italians in Scotland took little interest in politics in the homeland; they were glad to have done well and planned to stay in Scotland. But the British popular press described them as traitors. Some families recently ar
