Welsh-Italian Cafés and Ice Cream Parlours
Here are a selection of cafés and ice cream parlours established in the Swansea area by Italian migrant families. A number of these Italians came here from the Picinisco region of southern Italy, with some families migrating as far back as the 1880s in search of a better life. Initially, it was seasonal work that brought them to Wales but over the following decades a number of Italians set about establishing their own businesses: ice cream parlours, cafes and fish and chips shops and to take up permanent residency. A number of these original businesses survived into the 1940s, and then, following a call to action by the government of the day for workers from abroad to fill posts in industry, another wave of Italians came to Wales in the 1950s, opening more cafes. Descendants of these immigrant still live and work here.
