Current shows:

Italia 'n' Caledonia

Italia 'n' Caledonia, written and performed by Mike Maran and Philip Contini , is on the road to various venues throughout Scotland where it will be performed by Mike Maran and David Vernon [accordion].

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 the show when performed at the Edinburgh Fringe.

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!’.