The Quilietti Family

Ian George Quilietti was born in April 1950 in Edinburgh.  He is  the son of Giulio [Sonny]  Quilietti born 1919 and Teresa Harper born 1926.

Ian’s, and our,  line extends back to when records began in the Church of Saint Nicolo’ which was build  in the 1650s.  Here we find precious books with  records of our family history.  We have many connected surnames which include the Conti, Brucciani and Giovanelli families from the villages of Castelvecchio and Barga.

Ian was brought up in the South Side of Edinburgh where the family lived in a ‘single end’ until he was about nine years old.  Early tenement life was tough, sharing one toilet with four different families, no electricity, hot running water or central heating, but a great sense of community and togetherness.  These single end flats were just as the name suggests a small room, generally measuring 15 feet by 11 feet,  which was situated on the corner of the old tenements.  One room where everyone lived.  The family would eat, sleep and live from one small table, one or two beds and a cooker if you were lucky.   Sometimes there would be a small recess where the bed was situated.     There would be one coal fire and often the cooking would be done over this and the washing would hang above the fire on a string .  One sink might be situated in front of the window, where all the family would wash.  The toilet was often communal and was situated in the ‘stair’.   In a world without television, computers or mobiles, families still had each other.   But it was no wonder there were so many tragic accidents at home.

From here the family moved downhill to The Lawnmarket.  This  is the general designation of that part of the town which is a continuation of the High Street, but lies between the head of the old West Bow and St. Giles’s Church, and is about 510 feet in length.  This auld description of the Lawnmarket still stands today.  It is just down from Edinburgh Castle, about three minutes on foot.

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Ian’s formative years were tough and he quickly learned how to look after himself in the ‘mean’ streets of Edinburgh in the 50s and 60s.  Early tenement life was tough, but he and his siblings soon learned how to look after themselves.   Their dad Sonny had also been brought up in and around the tenements, but of old Greenside.  Sonny and his cousin Joe Quilietti would have sparring sessions on Calton Hill, real fist fighting, to make a shilling for themselves.  Greenside was their home.

The new generation of Quilietti boys were just as tough.

Before this time Ian’s great Grandparents Emilio Quilietti and Valentina Brattesani with their young family had worked and lived in many addresses in and around the Lawnmarket, the High Street, and nearby Greenside.  So the family were no strangers to the area.

Emilio had stayed in Cranston Street in 1892, the year he married Valentina Brattesani.  Ian’s grandad Juilio Quilietti was born here.   Emilio went on to run a small ice-cream empire.    A factory in St. Mary’s Street, and two other addresses along the High Street itself where they were described as refreshment rooms. Eight premises in all before he died prematurely in 1898.   Jiulio followed on the tradition and he also ran a business further down at the Canongate.

Ian had a tough upbringing and his fair share of sweethearts as well.  His first marriage was at the tender age of 20 and he was divorced 2 years later.  After this disastrous coupling Ian moved on and met an English girl but again this relationship was short lived.

Ian was in and out of work, and work was plentiful at this time, but he was restless and keen to get away, to move on from the tough life he had known from a boy.  He made the decision and joined the Army.

This ia where he met the love of his life, Alison Struthers, who was a lass from Aberdeen.

Alison was at this time a Lance Corporal of the Women’s Royal Army Corps [Royal Signals].  Ian’s title was a signalman.  They married 15th January 1977 with his parents Giulio and Teresa as witnesses.

For a while they moved abroad and it was in South Africa where their beautiful daughter Fallon was born, returning home to Scotland some years later.

Over the years and more recently we have grown closer as a family.   Ian has embraced his heritage and family roots and is most passionate about this.

In 2014 when his daughter Fallon married it was back’ home’ in Italy where they chose the venue, back in the old village of Castelvecchio Pascoli in the Church of Saint Nicolo’ where his paternal  family had been  born, baptised, married and also buried from, so many years before.

It was an emotional journey for us all  and the memories will of course be deep in our thoughts for many years to come.