A) Interview and transcription conducted by Matteo Rampini on March 22nd, 2019.

B) This interview was conducted in person at my house, using my phone to record it. After using the website descript.com to transcribe my interview, there was a lot of editing I had to do in order to make my transcript match my audio. I believe these errors were because of my dad’s thick Italian accent and fairly quiet voice. I did the interview in my living room, and it is completely quiet except for one moment where my mom opened a door. However, there were not many obstacles that hindered my progress an extreme amount.

C) My dad, Massimo Gianluigi Rampini, was born in Torino, Italy on June 7th, 1956. He attended a private parochial middle school until 8th grade when he then started attending his local public high school. After high school, my dad went to college at the Polytechnic University of Torino and later received his doctorate in architecture in 1982. He was then drafted in the army in 1983. After this, he moved to Virginia in 1984 and eventually settles down in Charlottesville. It took time before my father could use English effectively, but after he did, he was able to work at two architectural companies before creating his own in 1989, named European Homes of Albemarle. In 1996, my dad officially became a legal U.S. citizen, and now lives in Ivy, which is about 10 minutes from Charlottesville, with his wife Marcy, his daughter Marta, and his son (me) Matteo.

D) Research

• Italy in the 1960’s- early 80’s:
  • 1960: Riots occurred. Between DC and post-fascist Italian Social Movement
  • 1963: Bomb intended for mafia member kills 7 police officers
  • 1968: Government is reconstituted to center-left
  • 1969: Far-right terrorists bomb plaza in Milan, killing 17 people and hurting 88
  • 1978: Former prime minister is kidnapped
• U.S. in the mid-to-late 80’s- late 90’s:
  • 1987: U.S. and Canada sign free trade agreement
  • 1987: U.S. stock market drops on Black Monday
  • 1988: George Bush Sr. elected president
  • 1991: Gulf war begins
  • 1992: Riots in Los Angeles; 60 deaths and $1 million in damage
  • 1993: Bill Clinton becomes president
  • 1993: Truck Bomb explodes in World Trade Center killing 6 and injuring 1000+
  • Bombing in Oklahoma City kills 168 and injures 800
  • 1995-96: Budges crisis causes government to shut down

Sources

HISTORY OF ITALY, www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac52.

“Italy Profile – Timeline.” BBC News, BBC, 7 Feb. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17435616

“U.S. History and Historical Documents.” USAGov, www.usa.gov/history.

E) Transcription

Matteo: So, the first question is: What were your initial hopes when first coming to the United States?

Massimo: Well, to work, to find a nice place where I could practice architecture and, uh, to find a, you know, find a nice place to live.

Matteo: Alright, um, at any point after leaving Italy, do you regret, like, leaving it?

Massimo: Sometimes, yeah, most definitely. You know, it has been you know, when I first came to this country, you know, I didn’t speak a word in English, I had to learn and um, yes sometimes it was hard. But, uh, you know, I could never ever go back because you know, I would have been a fader if I was gonna go back home.

Matteo: Yeah, uh, how difficult was learning English?

Massimo: It was difficult. You know, I went to, there was a school off Preston Avenue where they were teaching English, there were a bunch of, at the time there were a bunch of, uh, Chinese and Oriental, it was funny because they cannot pronounce the “R” instead of the “R” they were pronouncing “L” so it was funny like that. And I was also watching a lot of TV. TV is the best the best way to, to, because all of a sudden, you know, it’s not a sound anymore you know, there are words that which you don’t know the meaning of the time but unless you can start to…

Matteo: Yeah learn them.

Massimo: Yeah.

Matteo: All right, did you ever feel like a disadvantage like trying to establish yourself in a new like place?

Massimo: No, it was okay. I think in this country if you work hard you have the opportunity to do everything you want.

Matteo: How did being drafted the military like, uh affect or like sway your life?

Massimo: It was, It was awful. Yeah, I just a wasted a year of my life. Uh, but you know now in Italy I think that now uh, the draft doesn’t exist anymore, but then it was still a part of what you had to do.

Matteo: What was some of the stuff that you had to do for that?

Massimo: Huh?

Matteo: What was some of the stuff that you had to do for the army?

Massimo: Oh god, I was in, uh, an Army base in Como. They can call him a which is north of Milano, and uh I remember, just to tell you, we were shooting rifles that they were, they were called garants and they were part of the Korean War that this country did in the 50s and, uh, we we’re on one side of the Hill, there was a valley going up and another valley on the other side. All the targets were on the other side, and, uh, one of the officers said, okay who gets better, you know, shoots the best is gonna, we’re gonna let him go home for the weekend or whatever. So, there was this kid that was really homesick and everything, so everybody start to shoot at his target to send him home. And at the end there was a guy on the other side that was just counting the you know, the bullets and everything, and it didn’t mean anything because everybody was saying three to one yeah, [laughing].

Matteo: [laughing] Yeah that’s funny.

Massimo: Yeah, so, and after I went to work in, uh, an army hospital and I was doing electrocardiogram, I was in the, you know, heart department

Matteo: That’s cool. How would you describe the politics in Italy when you were a kid?

Massimo: Uh, well, um. Italy had, uh, several several parties that they were all fighting with each other to try to, uh, take advantage of, to become, uh, to govern but there were so many that they could never have a coalition, so they always had to put together six or seven different parties to reach the 51% and they were, you know, elections in Italy. They were elections probably every two to three years and you know, Italy is a very corrupt, um, you know, uh, and it is still now is very corrupt, it’s not like here.

Matteo: Yeah, uh, were there any instances of violence from the mafia or anything when you were younger?

Massimo: Yeah, and also terrorism, you know, I don’t know if I ever told you, um, we were doing, I was working for this architect while I was going to school, and it was during the period of the red brigades, it was, you know, very very dangerous and very violent time in Italy and he, we were doing a renovation in this Army Barracks that it was to be converted into a place where they could put, um, all the terrorists that they were capturing on trial…

Matteo: Mhmm.

Massimo: And, uh, his name wasn’t supposed to be put to be, you know, knowledge.

Matteo: Yeah.

Massimo: And, uh, you know this? I already told you about it?

Matteo: No.

Massimo: And uh, so instead, you know, they put a big big sign to publicize the project and they put his name as an architect. So, during the time we were also doing work on a cluster Covent for nuns. And they were very very very mean. They were just, didn’t, they were not liking all those… Nuns they didn’t like the people working there, they will try to make their life miserable. So, that particular day, he always went to buy stuff for lunch around 12. And after he used to go home to have lunch and then coming back. And the particular day he was late because there were some students, they came over and they asked him a couple of questions. So, meanwhile, meanwhile he was out, the phone rings, I answer the phone, and there was this weird voice which I thought that I was one of the nuns of Mother Superior asking for him, I said he’s not here at the moment can I take a message and they hang up. I never thought on anything. So that afternoon I was supposed to go back to work, but I… I had to go to change a tire on my car, so it took much longer, and so by the time that I was done and everything it was already too late, and so I said I’m not going to go I’m just going to go tomorrow. So, by six o’clock seven o’clock on the news and on TV on the radio, entering into the office, actually mama saw it because I took her over there we went to Italy, they spray all the walls and everything with red paint the red brigades communist whatever and they shoot him. They shoot him on the shoulder and on the knee to cripple him and it was you know, very scary because, you know, during the day in the morning there were a lot of people in the office working and, uh, and, two to three days later they went to do the same thing to another office, they set it on fire and a bunch of people died.

Matteo: Really? Wow, that’s crazy.

Massimo: Yeah, it is, it is, yeah during that time Italy was very, very dangerous, yeah, you know once they called my uncle and they said that if you don’t pay, you know, we’re going to sequester your son Massimo [my dad] but it was Nonno’s [my grandfather] brother, you know, and he said Massimo is not my son he is my brother’s son. So, he told Nonno of that and he told me that. I didn’t want to just alternate all my, my way of living because of that so I put a siren, a cop siren, on my, on my car. So, if they were chasing me, I could turn on the siren and, uh and thank god nothing happened, but I had several friends that they were kidnapped for ransom.

Matteo: That’s crazy.

Massimo: Yeah, it is, it is. Yeah, this is Italy. This is why I came to this country [laughter].

Matteo: Yeah, I bet. Can you describe, like, the naturalization process that you had to go through?

Massimo: Uh, it’s just, um, It’s a very long process, you need to prove that you can maintain yourself, that you can work, that we are a good person and, uh, and after the 5 years that you have a green card, um, I had to, I had to go out to Washington to get the test to become a citizen, to get a test to you know, with a bunch of question about Constitution all these things. And mama [my mom] got me a book at the library. It was this thick, and I start to study, study, study, but it was confusing, so I went over there, I thought that it was much easier. So, I didn’t pass it and the guy told me to get the booklet from the daughter of American Revolution, which is old bunch of old ladies, whatever, and at the time I knew, um, I was renting a house before we bought Nonno’s house. I was renting a house in town and the landlord, she was a sweet old lady, and she was a daughter of American Revolution. So, I call her, and she gave me this booklet, which it was just probably 30-40 pages. So, I studied, and I went back to Washington and I pass it and after I got back, I became a citizen at Monticello

Matteo: Monticello? That’s cool!

Massimo: There was, uh, the guy from the cola. He was in the presidency of Coca-Cola that made the speech and everything, and actually they show me, I was on, was Tom Brokaw on NBC that was talking about that and meanwhile he was talking about that, the speaker called my name, it was on TV, National TV, called my name and they show me walking up to the steps, you can ask Mama, to the steps to, because you are all over there with a bunch of other immigrants and, uh, and they just make you swear that you are going to be defend the constitution of the stuff.

Matteo. That’s funny. What were, um, some of your biggest challenges when you were first moving to this country?

Massimo: Well, language and after architecture and you know, in Italy everything is made on with concrete, and also was doing a lot of City Planning when I was there and when you design a house, an apartment building, design something, you design it and after you send the drawings to engineer an engineer sides the steel the concrete wall and everything. Over here, everything is done with wood, a bunch of stick of wood that you have to put together. So, it was like a mechanic pretty much, learning how to, plus you know over here everything is in inches and over there it’s all metric.

Matteo: Yeah, what made you initially want to become an architect?

Massimo: I just, um, I just liked it. You know, I just started just like you, you go you go to school. I went to school of art. So, I started to do that, and I started to do drawings and I liked it, and uh…

Matteo: Did you did you have any experience with it before you went to college for it, or you just picked it up?

Massimo: Yeah, I just picked it up.

Matteo: Uh, if you ever had a chance to move back to Italy, would you?

Massimo: Uh, not really.

Matteo: Why not?

Massimo: Uhh, I would move south of France [laughter].

Matteo: Yeah that’d be nice.

Massimo: Yeah but, no, right now Italy has a lot, a lot of problems. Europe has a lot of problems. But um no, I think that United States is a nice place to stay, to live.

F) I feel like overall, this interview went well. I feel like I asked good questions that prompted my dad to give detailed and intriguing answers about his past. If I could change some things, I would make a better introduction and conclusion for my interview, which would make my interview sound a bit more professional, but I still feel like my main information is very good.