PARRAVANI Giuseppe

Giuseppe Parravani (ca1884 - 1931) was born in Broccostella, Frosinone, Italy in 1883-4. His parents were Agostino Parravani, a carrier, and Maria Concetta Ferri. Giuseppe looked after the horses. He had no schooling. His son Peter left us a description of Giuseppe's life: 'He would be sent out with a small piece of bread and a little goat's cheese and some milk, and that would have to last him all day. Often he would be so hungry he would milk the mares and drink the milk. He had to go up in the mountains and through two rivers, and he would ride on the horses' backs as they swam across. At this time he was only ten or eleven years old. He had two dogs for company as he needed protection against wolves. These were a real danger, as they used to hunt in pairs. The dogs used to have to wear wide leather collars with spikes in them because the wolves would try to single out one of the dogs and go for its throat. This did happen once when the dogs misunderstood a command. One dog came to my father and the other ran away from him. They never found the dog, they just found his collar on the hillside.'

Giuseppe made his way to England in 1896 after his father had remarried, to look for his brother Domenico, who lived in Norwich. He was 12 or 13 and illiterate. He only had a piece of paper with 'Parravani' written on it and managed to find Domenico.

After his arrival in Norwich he was expected to play the accordeon in the streets of Norwich. At first he didn't know how to play the instrument and passers-by gave him something out of pity, but after some time he became a good musician.

Two years later he bought an ice-cream cart and a pony and went into business with his brother, who had started off in the ice-cream trade in 1896. At the age of twenty Giuseppe used to go fourteen miles to Bungay with his pony cart and stay the night there. The following morning he made more ice-cream and went to Southwold. After a while he just went back to Norwich for the weekends. He built up quite a reputation and was known as 'Bungay Joe'.

On 8 July 1909 Giuseppe, also know as Joseph, was selling ice cream at Halesworth.(1) It was horse show day and several vendors were selling their goods in front of the King's Arms. The police ordered the vendors to clear the area, because they were blocking the road. As the vendors believed they had right of way, they didn't move and the case was taken before the Magistrates's Court. It was concluded that the defendants had a bona fide claim of right and the Court's jurisdiction was ousted.

Giuseppe married Caterina Giannasi (1885 - 1969) on 18 October 1909 in St John Baptist Catholic church - now the cathedral - in Norwich.

Caterina, Annie and Joe (Giuseppe) Bungay 1911

Repreduced with kind permission of Mick Parravani

Giuseppe and Caterina Parravani 1909

Reproduced with kind permission of Mick Parravani

They settled in South End Road, Bungay, where they had their first two children: Anna (1910 - 2007) and Agostino - 'Augie'- (1911 - 2001). On the 1911 census Giuseppe worked as an ice cream vendor. In Peter Parravani's words: 'They bought two cows for the milk for ice-cream and a bit of land. In those days my father had to go to the ice houses. They collected ice in the winter and stored it underground. They used to buy the blocks for about sixpence. Then the ice works started up at Lowestoft for the fishing industry, and they sold two-hundredweight blocks. My father used to collect the ice with a horse and cart. In those days ice-cream was made with ice and freezing salt, and you had to make it up by hand, spinning the tubs and cutting of off the sides and working it up until it was like silk. It took about two hours to make six gallons.'

A few years later the family moved to Ditchingham and nine more children were born: Pietro (1914 - 1996), Giovanni (1915 - 1972), Margherita (1917 - 2001), Domenico (1920 - ), Elena (1922 - 2001), a twin, Maria (1924 - ) and Concetta (1924 - ), Giuseppe (1927 - ca2007) and Patricia (1931 - 2006).

During WWI Giuseppe was in the Bedford Regiment. Caterina had to look after the children and the farm by herself.

The children went to school at St Edmunds, Bungay. 'We used to have to run across our meadows two and a half miles to school. In those days the Waveney used to flood quite often. (...) The footpath across the marshes came out at Ditichingham Dam. Nine times out of ten we would be late for school and used to get the stick from our cruel old head teacher.' When they left school the three eldest children used to go out with a pony each selling ice cream.

Reproduced with kind permission of Mick Parravani

The Parravanis 1929

From left to right:

Back row: Nicky (Domenico) - Della (Elena) - Rita (Margherita) - Pietro (Peter)

Middle row: John (Giovanni) - Augie (Agostino) - Caterina - Joe (Giuseppe) - Anna

Front row: Queenie (Concetta) - Joey (Giuseppe) - Maria

Giuseppe Parravani died on 2 October 1931 at the age of 47. His youngest child was only a few months old. After his premature death the ice cream business was continued by his wife and children. It was run by his eldest son Agostino, 'Augie', who was twenty at the time of Giuseppe's death.

Caterina Parravani, Giuseppe's wife, died on 28 October 1969, aged 84.

Parravani's is the only Italian ice cream business in Norfolk which has survived to the present day. It is still run by the Parravanis.

Notes:

(1) Framlingham Weekly News. (1909) Halesworth Market Rights. The Framlingham Weekly News. Railway Gazette and East Suffolk Advertiser. 14 August. p. 1 d-e. Find My Past.http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers?lastname=parravaoi : accessed 24 January 2016.
I am indebted to Mick Parravani for the family documents, photos and stories and to Gary Parravani for putting me in touch with Mick.
Peter Parravani, The Story of the Parravani Family, 1993. A copy is in store at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library
Giuseppe's family tree (Parravani Giuseppe of Norfolk) and his marriage and death records can be found on http://www.ancestry.co.uk
For more information on Parravani's go to http://www.parravanis.co.uk

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