The Romanos
The Romano family, minus son John who was in the service, sits in front of their gardens. (photo 1946)
Raffaele Romano and Anna Cardorapoli were married in Naples, Italy. In 1920 Raffaele immigrated to the US. Eight years later Anna and their nine year old son John joined him. They first lived in Thompsonville, Conn. where Raffaele worked at the Bigelow carpet mill. By 1941 the family moved across the river to East Suffield where they purchased over an acre of land and where their son, now a master carpenter, built them a new home.
The Romanos enjoyed gardening and started a seasonal stand in front of their house. Though the area was rural, traffic in this area was busy due to the nearby Thompsonville-Suffield bridge and this is what supported their enterprise. This supplementary income paid their taxes and heating oil.
Raffaele and Anna’s daughter, Louise and her husband Amedio “Mimi” Sarno reside here today. They still cultivate a garden and prepare the recipes their parents brought with them to this country.
The land that Raffaele purchased was a long lot that reached down his street. It was once part of “the patch”: parcels of land where people from both Suffield and Thompsonville kept gardens. Italian immigrants from heavily populated Thompsonville could be seen pulling their wooden carts by hand across the bridge. They would fill the carts with produce from the lots they gardened in Suffield and then pull the heavy loads back home. Women brought home wild mushrooms in baskets carried on their heads as well. This 1950 photo of sons John and Joe, with John’s son, shows them wheeling greens back to the house.
The Romano’s young grandson Ralph is pictured here watering the raised beds of greens. As you can see in the background tomatoes were the main crop. Hundreds of plants were cultivated and processed into sauce and paste, some of which was sold at their stand.
A portion of the stand is shown here. Along with tomatoes, the family grew and sold peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Their cottage business lasted from 1941 up to the 1960s.
In 1943 ten year old Louise snacks on a tomato. The children John, Louise and Joe, helped with the garden chores. During the winter seeds for the plants were started in the house and cellar. Everything was planted by Memorial Day. Green tomatoes were also picked after the frost. They were kept in the cellar or garage covered with blankets and would ripen through the winter
Anna Romano brought a wealth of medicinal, herbal folklore to her adopted country. Unlike now when people go to the doctor for everything that ails them, it was common to call on the old ways to treat a variety of ailments. Some of Anna’s most commonly sought-after treatments were poultices and compresses to prevent or cure infections. The remedies that she prepared were from old world herbal recipes and practices. A few of her treatments are listed below but unfortunately most of her knowledge, never documented, has been lost.
• Wide-leaved grasses were used in a compress to cure boils
• Compresses made from tomatoes and sugar stopped infections
• Rubbing your stomach with olive oil relieved stomach aches
In their family garden they grew escarole, savoy cabbage and carrots which they harvested in the fall and stored in the back yard under tarps to protect from frost. Unheard of today, tires were also burned to keep the freeze away from the tender plants. Pictured here, tomato baskets are used to protect the tomatoes from the cold New England nights.
Raffaele stoops to pick wild dandelion greens near a field across the street. They also picked large and varied amounts of wild mushrooms and cardoon from the local woods and fields. (photo late 1940s)
The Romano family poses by their home. For the most part they grew vegetables but also maintained two fig trees and a plum tree. The plums were put “in spirit” (100 proof vodka) to marinate. This was for the house. Cherries were also marinated in alcohol and served as a liqueur. (photo 1946)
Anna Cardorapoli Romano leans on her front porch in 1945. Would she be surprised to know that her daughter Louise is has been living in this house for 81 years now?
Stored away in their cellar is the Hanson Market Scale used so many years ago at their roadside stand.
The Romano’s son-in-law Mimi enjoys the shade under the grapevines that Raffaele planted many years ago. Raffaele brought the vines over from Italy when he came to this country. At one time the entire lot was surrounded with them. Concord wine was made in the cellar with a large press. They would fill three large oak barrels for the house.
In 2019 the Sarnos celebrate Mimi’s 90th birthday. They have been married 68 years and continue to garden, sharing their Italian recipes and hospitality with friends and family.
Mimi makes Friselle, Italian pepper biscuits, with a family friend and neighbor.
Friselle
(Italian Pepper Biscuits)
3.5 Cup Flour
4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Tblspn. Fennel Seed
2 Tblspn. coarse Black Pepper
1 Cup Cold Water
3/4 Cups Vegetable Oil or Lard
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Roll into long inch-thick ropes; cut into 1” thick slices. Place cut side down on thin baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turn biscuits over, and bake 15 minutes more, or until golden brown.
Can be frozen.