Giovanni (Johnny) Di Ciacca
Giovanni (Johnny) Di Ciacca was born in Picinisco, a small town in the mountains of Lazio, Italy, which is now one of the gateways to the National Park of Abruzzi, Molise and Lazio.
While still a young child he was brought by his parents to live in Cockenzie, a fishing village on the Firth of Forth outside Edinburgh. There, other than 4 years interned as an Italian National in the Isle of Man, where shortly after his arrival he learned of the death of his father on the Arandora Star, he spent the rest of his life.
The contrast between these two places can hardly have been greater. Schooling depended on family success – good trading years in the Ice Cream shop brought a move to a better school, while a poor year meant a shift to another more local – this was a regular disruption.
This experience and the people he met while interned undoubtedly shaped his undestanding of the value of education and he and his wife Gertrude Hilley (herself a daughter of an Irish father and an Italian mother from the village of Figliniano in Molise (not 15 kilometers from Picinisco) dedicated their working lives to ensure the education of each of their eight children.
Seven were awarded degrees or the equivalent (in law, teaching, biology, surveying, land management and Hotel and Catering Management) while one joined the Civil Service. “Education will provide you with opportunities and choice, which your mother and I cannot provide.”
Johnny was respected throughout the community, being appointed honorary members of many local clubs and associations, but was never “yin o’ oo” (“one of us”). That did not stop him seeking to maintain the culture of the land of his birth while absorbing and celebrating that in which he became a naturalised citizen.
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