Lime, Lemon and Sarsaparilla

This book evokes the life of the Italian community in south Wales from the end of the 19th century to the end of the Second World War, when the Italian cafe was central to the social life of many small communities in the industrialized valleys. It follows the fortunes of Italian families like the Bracchis, the Bernis, the Contis, and the Sidolis and explores their influence on Welsh society. Hughes explains why so many Italian immigrants from the Bardi region came to settle in south Wales. The rise of Italian temperance bars in nonconformist Wales and the economic and social factors that lie behind the rise and fall of the Italian cafe are discussed. Also included is information on the treatment of Italian internees during the war and the tragic case of the "Andorra Star, the ship carrying many of them to Canada that was torpedoed by a U-boat. Included are archive photographs that produce a revealing and accessible history of the recent past.