From Potential Returnees into Settlers: Nottingham's Older Italians

This paper analyses the circumstances that played a part in the transformation of some of the older Italians living in Nottingham from would-be returnees into non-return migrants, in other words settlers. Interviews conducted among older Italian immigrants who settled in Britain in the period after the Second World War indicated that going back to their place of origin was initially part of their migratory project. Nevertheless, the full accomplishment of this objective was prevented by a series of circumstances, among which the role of the family appears pre-eminent. The final sections of the paper are devoted to an examination of two examples of attempted return and to discussion of the hypothesis of the renovation of the ‘myth of return’ through the cyclic nature of the immigrants’ return visits to their places of origin.