Collections | Migrations | North–South movements | A little-known story: Italian workers in Tunisia [14 Objects]

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Introduction to the Chapter

Register listing 'all of the subjects of the Grand Duke of Tuscany [Italy] residing in Tunisia'

1850

State Archives of Livorno

Livorno, Italy

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 Justification for this item

Tuscan subjects residing in Tunisia were officially recorded by the Consulate. The register included age, place of birth, place of residence, conjugal status and profession. Such registration was necessary in order for the Tuscan immigrants to remain under the jurisdiction and protection of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

A Tunisian decoration (on the right) and an Italian decoration (on the left) awarded to a member of the Moreno family

1870–74 (the Tunisian decoration); 1884–1906 (the Italian decoration)

State Archives of Livorno

Livorno, Italy

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 Justification for this item

The most successful and influential Italian immigrants in Tunisia were awarded honours by both the Italian king (Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Corona d’Italia) and the Bey of Tunis (Nichan Iftikhar). Some were Jews from Livorno, such as the Moreno brothers, who had immigrated to Tunis in the early 19th century, and Giacomo Castelnuovo, who became the Bey of Tunis’s personal physician.

A Tunisian decoration (on the right) and an Italian decoration (on the left) awarded to a member of the Moreno family

1870–74 (the Tunisian decoration); 1884–1906 (the Italian decoration)

State Archives of Livorno

Livorno, Italy

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The European neighbourhood of Tunis and the Northern Suburbs

1875

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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A very early photo of the city of Tunis, taken during an expedition of the Società Geografica Italiana in Tunisia.

Circular letter by the Italian Director General of Police to all the Italian Prefects, regarding 'Italian migration to Tunis and Bona (Algeria)'

Rome, 6 December 1878

State Archives of Catania

Catania, Italy

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 Justification for this item

The Italian government had learnt that there were large numbers of unemployed Italians in Tunis and Bona (Algeria), who were so poor that many ended up begging in the streets. The Director General of Police instructed prefects to inform citizens of this situation and to “assiduously prevent clandestine migration and repress its promoters”.

Villa Maria, in Tunis, the mansion of Luigi Rey, the son of a migrant from Piedmont (Italy)

Photograph: first years of the 20th century; building: late 19th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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This imposing villa testifies to the economic success achieved by second-generation immigrant Luigi Rey. With his brothers he ran a construction company that built important public buildings such as the slaughterhouse near Tunis. He was awarded honours by both the Italian king (Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Corona d’Italia) and the Bey of Tunis (Nichan Iftikhar).

Villa Maria, in Tunis, the mansion of Luigi Rey, the son of a migrant from Piedmont (Italy)

Photograph: first years of the 20th century; building: late 19th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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Grand Bazar Arabe. A late-19th-century bazaar built in Tunis by the construction company of G. Di Vittorio, an Italian immigrant in Tunisia

Photograph: first years of the 20th century; building: late 19th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

Three shop signs are visible on this building: at the centre “Grand Bazar Kassar Said”, on the left “Grand Bazar Arab” and on the right “I. Piperno”. The name of the shop owner – Piperno - is an unmistakably Italian Jewish name.

Grand Bazar Arabe. A late-19th-century bazaar built in Tunis by the construction company of G. Di Vittorio, an Italian immigrant in Tunisia

Photograph: first years of the 20th century; building: late 19th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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Au Palais Arabe. A furniture shop of the Italians Eugenio and Alfredo Coen in Tunis

Photograph: first years of the 20th century; building: late 19th–early 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

Eugenio and Alfredo Coen, two Jewish brothers from Livorno in Italy, immigrated to Tunisia in the 1880s and started a furniture factory that in 1906 employed about 100 carpenters, cabinet-makers and other workers, most of them Italian. Their furniture shop in Tunis was the foremost in town.

Au Palais Arabe. A furniture shop of the Italians Eugenio and Alfredo Coen in Tunis

Photograph: first years of the 20th century; building: late 19th–early 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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A map of Tunisia (1:1,600,000) showing Italian agricultural settlements, mines, coral- and sponge-fishing areas and boat lines

1906

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

This map was published as an annex to a book dedicated to the Italian community in Tunisia. Significantly, it includes not only Tunisia but also the islands from which most of the Italian workers came: Sicily predominantly, but also Sardinia and the small islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa, closer to Tunisia than to Sicily.

The stand of the Italian Community in Tunisia at the International Exhibition held in Turin in 1911

1911

State Archives of Livorno

Livorno, Italy

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 Justification for this item

At the centre of the photo, the sign reading E. & A. Coen (Tunis, Susa, Sfax) refers to Eugenio and Alfredo Coen, Jewish brothers from Livorno in Italy, who were the owners of a furniture factory in Tunis and its foremost furniture shop “Au Palais Arabe”.

Little Sicily

Early 20th century

Institut Supérieur d’Histoire Contemporaine de la Tunisie

Tunis, Tunisia

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 Justification for this item

This neighbourhood developed near the port of Tunis in the late 19th century, along with the settlement of a booming Italian immigrant population, predominantly from Sicily.

Little Sicily

Early 20th century

Institut Supérieur d’Histoire Contemporaine de la Tunisie

Tunis, Tunisia

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An Italian Pasta Factory in Tunisia

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

Migrants brought with them their food culture and their technical skills. On the Southern Mediterranean shores, Italians immigrants created several food industries, at times – as in this case –aimed mostly at meeting the needs of their own community.

An Italian Pasta Factory in Tunisia

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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Italian and Tunisian miners at work

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

By 1906, there were 5,850 Italian miners working in Tunisia. Many of them came from Sardinia and worked in the phosphates mines. At the time, Tunisia was Europe’s main supplier of phosphates, used for the production of fertilisers and detergents.

Italian and Tunisian miners at work

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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Italian stonecutters in Tunisia

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

During the first half of the 19th century many Italian immigrants to Tunisia came from a middle-class background, but in the second half of the century, immigrants were predominantly poor people from Sicily. Many of them found employment in public work projects carried out during the French Protectorate (1881–1956).

Italian stonecutters in Tunisia

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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An olive oil factory run by an Italian migrant in Monastir (Tunisia)

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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 Justification for this item

Tunisia, like Italy and other Mediterranean countries, has been a land of olive oil production since time immemorial. Italian immigrants who engaged in its production had thus to compete with local producers. The consumption of olive oil was not confined to the Italian immigrant community, but was shared by other immigrants and by the Tunisians.

An olive oil factory run by an Italian migrant in Monastir (Tunisia)

First years of the 20th century

Italian Geographical Society (SGI)

Rome, Italy

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Introduction to the Chapter