This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Memories of Tino and the Treasures Among Us

An historic look at Italians in Naugatuck, and one writer's memory of a local Italian friend.

While many of the towns surrounding Naugatuck at the turn of the century were deeply seeped in Yankee sensibilities, Naugatuck was becoming a beautiful patchwork quilt made rich by the many nationalities that had settled here.

The first Italian immigrants came to Naugatuck around the 1880’s and brought with them many of the traditions of their home country. As the population grew, many settled in the High Street / South Main Street area of town also known as “Little Italy.” They became organized, forming many groups such as Sons of Italy and Cristoforo Colombo Italian Mutual Aid Society. The society provided aid to many families, widows and children.

My neighbor Tino was one of these Italian immigrants who made Naugatuck his home. Tino passed away many years ago but his wife Kay thankfully still lives next door.

Find out what's happening in Naugatuckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He was straight off the boat from Italy. He spoke only broken English and had many delightful "ways" from the old country that I loved to observe.

He had a huge vegetable garden, alternating his garden bed each year from one side of the yard to the other. The side not used was covered with old carpeting. He planted all his tomato plants side ways with just the tip coming out of the soil. He saved seeds from his plants each year; the originals were straight from his childhood farm in Italy.

Find out what's happening in Naugatuckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Tino was recycling long before it was the thing to do. He had barrels set up to catch rainwater for his garden and piles of milk containers waiting to be used as covers for tender vegetation.

One year, we took our family on a fall vacation. When we came home all of our tomato vines were hanging from the basement pipes covered in green tomatoes! A frost had come and he did not want to see the green tomatoes to go to waste. It was a wonderful treat to come home to.

I had a small grape vine growing on the front picket fence in the front yard. During fall and early spring, he would trim the vines as he walked by on his evening walks. He never asked, just trimmed away. My grapes were always so sweet and abundant!

At Christmas time one year, Frank and I went over for a visit and he insisted I eat his homemade jarred cherries. They were so delicious; I gobbled an entire bowl down, only to find myself quite tipsy! Turns out, they were preserved in alcohol, a custom this southern girl had never heard of.

When Tino passed away, I took care of my neighbor’s yard for a while. One day I found a tiny grape vine poking from the ground, a remnant of the once abundant grape arbor Tino had surrounding an outdoor table just outside of the Italian kitchen. (You know, the one in the basement)

I planted it in my yard and last year several clusters of grapes dripped from the branches that hung from the fence that divided our backyards. If Tino were here, the ground below would have been covered in bits of trimmed vines and this little cluster would have been a huge bumper crop!

 Here in Naugatuck we are blessed to have many of these first generation immigrants still among us. They have many memories to share of the Naugatuck of long ago.

If you live in one of the older neighborhoods in town, you are sure to have at least one home on the block with the telltale grapevines trailing an arbor or the metal rings that once held wooden wine barrels together, tucked away in a forgotten corner of the garden. Breath in and you might smell the sauce simmering on the stove or fresh bread ready to come out of the oven.

To understand the real essence of their life here and why they came, it cannot be Googled or found on YouTube.

It must be shared the old fashion way, sitting at the kitchen table over a cup of hot tea and biscotti or perhaps if you are lucky, over a bowl of jarred cherries, the way Tino made them of course.

 The older generation of immigrants from Italy and many other nationality's, whose very sweat was the grease that carried Naugatuck through its golden age, are truly the treasures among us.

Join me next week when we will remember another place in Naugatuck history.

Credits: History of Naugatuck by Constance Green, The Naugatuck Historical Society

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?