The Alexandria Sporting Club was a meeting place for the European elite in Egypt.

Family gatherings helped immigrants to reaffirm and consolidate kin solidarity, which in turn provided crucial support when facing the difficulties of a new and alien environment. Religious festivals, marriages, births and other life-cycle events provided opportunities for extended families to get together and strengthen their ties.

Built in 1914, the Majestic Hotel in Tunis was a meeting place for the colonial elite. About a decade earlier, another Western-style imposing hotel had opened in town, the Tunisia Palace. The former with 200 rooms, and the latter with 150, such hotels testify to the increasing number of tourists and travellers in Tunis.

The Art Nouveau Municipal Theatre in Tunis was built by the French architect Resplandy and inaugurated in 1902. It hosted performances of dramas, tragedies, comedies and operas. Meanwhile, the city’s Casino Municipal (1902) specialised in operetta and variety and the Casino du Belvédère (1901) was dedicated to music hall performances.

The Italian community in Tunisia established its first theatre in Tunis as early as 1826 and several others in the following decades. The Politeama Rossini, inaugurated in 1903, was famous for its grand performances of the great classic operas.

This musical instrument provides a material example of dialogue between European and indigenous North African and Arab cultures. Typologically part of the European musical tradition, it was made in Tunis by an Italian immigrant who decorated it with Arab-style ornaments.

At the top of the page, one can see the advertisement of the shop of the Italian immigrant Cesare Trionfo, selling pianos, harmoniums and other musical instruments from 1 rue de l’Italie, Tunis.