Current shows:

Italia 'n' Caledonia

Written and performed by Mike Maran and Philip Contini

Mike Maran and Philip Contini return to the Fringe with a new version of a
show they first produced 17 years ago.

It's called Italia 'n' Caledonia and
it celebrates Scots and Italians.
It's a new look at the story of our grandparents.

Italians started coming to Scotland towards the end of the nineteenth century. They were craftsmen, musicians, and small businessmen. One of these businesses, the Italian delicatessen, Valvona & Crolla, is the venue for this show.

Italians fought alongside Scots in the 1914 –18 war but when Mussolini declared war on Britain in 1940 these same Italians were labelled as ‘enemy aliens.’ It was a tragic time for Italian families who had made their homes in Scotland.

The postwar years were a time of rebuilding. In every town and village there was an Italian café – a window onto a southern Mediterranean culture. Happy the boys like Mike Maran and Philip Contini who grew up in a community where their aunts and uncles served ice cream and fish and chips! Happy indeed to belong to a community with a heritage of wonderful stories. And proud to be two of the Scottish Italians working today in diverse businesses, universities, services and industries throughout Scotland

Listening to Mike and Philip The Scotsman reviewer said, ‘I thought I had died and gone to heaven!’
The venue, Valvona & Crolla is known as ‘the deli from heaven!’

Don’t miss it!

17 performances only
Box office. 0131 556 7800
www.valvonacrolla.co.uk