By Thomas Pigeon
Walking into the Italian Consulate on Beverley Street in downtown Toronto is a bit intimidating. It’s a beautiful example of Victorian architecture, an imposing structure that dates to 1872. Originally it served as a training centre for Italian immigrants before being renovated and was re-established as the Italian Consulate in 1977. Different than the frenetic pace of Toronto or indeed urban Italy, there’s a sense of reserved calm as you enter the grand doors of the consulate. There’s also a sense of the change the world has endured. Security is in place to scrutinize all visitors, a walk through the metal detector and careful review of your pocket contents and photo ID is a far cry from normal casual living in the consulate’s mother country and is a nod to the preciousness of the human assets that reside in this handsome abode.
I was here to meet the revered and much-loved Consul General Sig. Luca Zelioli. At 57 years young Sig. Zelioli was born in Reggio Emilia (Italy). From March 2018 to June 2022, he was Ambassador of Italy to Montenegro prior to his appointment as Italian Consul General here in Canada. He walked into our meeting room with the gate of an unassuming yet proud representative of his nation. He’s an impressively fit gentleman, tall by Italian standards and carries himself with a sense of confidence–yet with an underpinning of humility. He makes it clear on the consulate’s website the importance of promoting to Italians to continue to cherish their Italian values and traditions.
Signore Zelioli: Flexibility, creativity and fantasy in solving a problem is key to the Italian community. There’s a resilience, which is perfectly embodied by our Italian Canadian community here. They came here with nothing. They came here to look for opportunities. They were welcomed in a very different way than today’s immigrants are welcomed. They often lived in difficult conditions in the beginning. It is not by chance that every year there is a memorial to the Italian workers fallen during the war. They were working to build the railways in mines, and under very hard conditions. And so, the resilience is there. But their fantasy, creativity, capacity of adapting to new conditions, is what bonds them and is an important feature of the Italian people. They were able to become what they are today. And today, as I always describe this community, they are affluent and influent. Today it’s very well integrated. You know, there is this saying here in Toronto…Toronto was built by Italians, and now much of it is owned by Italians. Because they are the owners of so many of the construction companies who are working here. So, this was an evolution which was very positive, and this is a statement also on how Italians are capable of reacting to the conditions they find.
You don’t just find natural beauty in Italy—you find long history and culture.
— SIG. LUCA ZELIOLI
Building on the Italian presence in Toronto…there’s a mosaic that greets visitors as they enter the Royal Ontario Museum. In all the tourist guides about Toronto, when you find information about the Royal Ontario Museum, there is one thing that is underlined. There is a beautiful mosaic in the Byzantine-style, so golden, beautiful, splendid, on the ceiling of the main entrance from Queen’s Park.
It’s beautiful, it’s absolutely something that tourists coming in should look at because it’s strange to find a Byzantine-style mosaic here in Toronto. And why is that so? Because in 1933, some Italians from Friuli were expert mosaicists and they built it. And this is part of the heritage of Toronto now. Unfortunately, not every single mosaic has survived, because Toronto is a very lively town, and everything changes. But some features… some features, luckily, have been surviving, and the Italian mosaic at the Royal Ontario Museum is an excellent example.
(Author’s notes: Signore Zelioli’s love of Italian history and heritage was not lost on me. He speaks with pride).
A feature which I cherish very much and this is more linked also to, why I advise people always to visit Italy, is that you find not only natural beauty, which you can find also here in Canada, but you find also history, long history and culture in Italy. Italians who have migrated here have also brought a lot of that heritage and culture here.
(Author’s notes: Naturally the conversation moved to food and Italian cuisine which has been such a powerful force in the culinary development of Toronto’s restaurant industry).
Signore Zelioli: Italians brought a lot of their culinary traditions, which is reflected in the very high quality of the Italian restaurants here in Toronto. We have two restaurants who are quoted as being among the highest quality and respected restaurants in the world; Don Alfonso and Danico and the two chefs, both are Italian, have one Michelin star. So that, for me, is already setting the standard. The second value that was also a bit introduced here, or at least, let’s say, a bit underlined by the huge presence of Italians, is the family and family values, which are still present today.
There is a beautiful culinary school here at George Brown College. It is very highly regarded. And there is an exchange program for students of George Brown who want to specialize in Italian cuisine. And this is a program which Nick Di Donato, is always very supportive of. And it’s a program of exchanging students–but mainly it’s scholarship. Students go from George Brown to ALMA (La Scuola Internazionale di Cucina Italiana). ALMA is an internationally recognized culinary school around Parma, so in the heart of a very important region for the culinary tradition. Parma is very near by my own hometown, Reggio Emilia. So, this program is really an example of a fruitful exchange between our countries. I also find it beautiful, that students from Toronto, sometimes with no link at all with Italy, are studying Italian.
VeraVita: I don’t think there’s ever been a time that’s more important for the relationship between Canada and Italy, as trading partners or as business partners.
Signore Zelioli: This is another important part of the mandate of course, the priority for any consulate is to provide services to the community. This is the first and foremost important task, but of course there is culture, as I mentioned, and there is also developing further bilateral economic ties. We have a comparative advantage because of the size of the Italian community living here (approx. 500,000 Italians in the GTA). This means that there is the habit of use, of eating Italian products, from wine to ingredients for Italian cuisine, pasta, sauces, olive oil, etc. But we are working also on other sectors of reciprocal interest, for example, pharmaceuticals is an important sector in which we already have a very good cooperation. Machinery–in Brescia, where your Italian home is Thomas–this industry is vitally important. I think that Ontario is one of the main destinations for exporting our machinery, especially precision machinery. When Prime Minister Meloni was here recently, we signed an important agreement together with the Prime Minister of Canada. An agreement to develop our cooperation on critical raw materials. We are also involved in the research field, in physics, especially at the University of Waterloo.
Flexibility, creativity, and fantasy in solving a problem… there’s a resilience, perfectly embodied by our Italian Canadian community here.
— SIG. LUCA ZELIOLI
We are very much interested in AI. So, you can see that there are new sectors that can be developed, also considering, some strong points of both countries that are very much complementary”.
There are (many) Italian companies who have already invested here. Like Ferrero or Lavazza or less known Mapei, but Mapei is producing important chemicals and materials which are very important for construction. Toronto is one of the main buyers.
You mentioned Beretta, Thomas. Beretta has a company they built here in Ontario. Campari did the same. We have WeBuild, an Italian company presently working the huge project to renovate the subway here in Toronto. There is a lot more that I am not mentioning.
VeraVita: I mentioned that I’ve noted a willingness from Canadians and Canadian companies to invest more in Italy.
Signore Zelioli Yes, on April 9th, we organized with our trade group a seminar for economic operators, companies, etc. to present what are the incentives that Italy offers to investors willing to go to Italy and start a business or buy a business. CETA is the agreement for free trade between Canada and the European Union, which helps facilitate this.
VeraVita: Is there any work being done between the countries to enhance reciprocity? Several years ago I could buy a home anwhere in Italy, however today, I can only buy a home in Italy of a community of 10,000 people or less, because that’s what the Canadian government recently put in place here. Do you think that that might change in the future?
Signore Zelioli: Well, obviously I see a lot of people, Canadians, not always of Italian origin, for example, they continue to ask us these questions. If you want to buy real estate in Italy, in most cases you need some documents. It can be the fiscal code (codice fiscale). From what I see, there are a lot of requests which implies that a lot of people are looking to buy. When you speak about reciprocity, the Canada side at the federal level put some restraints on foreign investors as far as property is concerned. That obliged us to be reciprocal. But from what I see, there is really a huge interest and if you combine also the interest of tourists, sometimes the tourists fall in love with Italy and decide to buy property.
VeraVita: Visa issuance is an important part of the consulate’s daily operations. In Italy, while there is no visa requirement between Canada and Italy for short stays, as in all the combined Schengen countries in Europe, Canadians cannot stay more than 90 days in any one six-month period without first acquiring a visa. From student visas, to work visas, to elective residence visas to the newly introduced “digital nomad visa” and “golden visa”, there are many options that can be explored, and the consulate has always been very helpful to me in this regard.
Signore Zelioli: There are two categories of the visa, and it’s based on the duration of your stay. For short stays, up to 90 days, this is a Schengen visa. And it’s not something that Canadians need to ask for because they are free to go. If you are Canadian and you want to stay for longer than 90 days, then the other category of the visa kicks in, which are called national visas. Elective residence is one of the national visas. Sometimes it depends on the kind of visa. If you want to work in Italy, like here in Canada, you must have permits that are issued first by the authorities in Italy. When we receive the authorization, then you are free to apply for the visa. There are a lot of Canadian students who go every year to Italy to study in our universities and require a visa to do so. Many students, many young people would like to rediscover their roots, their language, their culture, and elect to do so through a period of study in Italy. We also have very high-quality universities or polytechnics.
Rome is famous for La Sapienza for archeology. If you want to be an archeologist, you should study at La Sapienza in Rome. It’s the best in the world. But also, for issues like business, the Bocconi University in Milan or the Polytechnic of Milan, and the Polytechnic of Rome are famous for engineering. Languages as well. We have some universities like in Siena, in Perugia, which specialize in languages. And they are very high quality. We have a constant flow of Canadian students asking for a visa. The tuition fees on average are lower than in North America, which is an attractive benefit.
VeraVita: There are great wineries in Toscana, there’s great architecture in Roma, you know, and the seaside in Puglia, Sicilia is fantastic. What are the unique stories you think you must tell about tourism in Italy and why Canadians should be flocking there instead of elsewhere? Salvatore Basile, Country Manager for ENIT, responsible for promoting travel to Italy in conjunction with the consulate was in attendance to respond.
Signore Basile: So that’s our focus, to spotlight the unknown parts of Italy. For example, Sermoneta or Spello, those small villages, we call them borghi. Our job is to showcase sustainable places to visit, they’re beautiful, enriched in history, they have traditions, the culinary traditions are unique. You can find recipes of the same dish that differ incredibly over 20 kilometres from one place to another, and you can have locals who fight over the right ingredients.
Through music, through cinema, we are able to draw the younger generations back to reconnect with their heritage
— SIG. LUCA ZELIOLI
The Trevi Fountain is a book of history, but we all know it. The exposure of that asset is so widespread that we don’t need to showcase it. Our job is to highlight the hidden stories, like Lunigiana, the natural resources of Italy, the parks. Canadians going to Italy for a national park? It seems to be counterintuitive, but it is not. We are very happy with how travel to Italy has been going in 2024. We hope it will be even better this year, because this year there is also the Jubilee in Rome. But recently we have experienced as other countries, a problem of over-tourism, especially in those well-known locations. Everyone wants to visit Rome, Venice…but Italy is not just those gems, it’s also hidden gems, and these are the places we are trying to make more known, those spots which have fantastic treasures, from the cultural point of view, or sometimes also the culinary point of view. There are wines that you probably haven’t heard of, but which are of exceptional quality and not from Tuscany. So sometimes it’s very rewarding to discover the lessor known places, normally in beautiful places, very small villages, and you can find their treasures that are important.
VeraVita: Many Canadians today are saying, maybe I won’t go to the U.S. this year, maybe I’ll vacation in Europe. So, likely, this is a great time to capitalize and focus on travel to Italy, isn’t it?
Signore Basile: Well, we have numbers now. We know that 70% of flight bookings are being canceled to the U.S. for the rest of 2025. It’s been reported through the world and others. This is a free decision of Canadians or Ontarians. We are very happy if, in this context, they decide to come to Italy. I have to say that we continue to work in that direction. It’s our mission, we are always promoting Italy.
Signore Zelioli: In the minds of Canadian tourists last year, there were a lot of new opportunities, also because ITA reopened direct flights, yes. But it’s not just ITA, I don’t know if you know, Neos Air, another smaller Italian company, opened direct flights from Toronto to Milan. And then of course there’s Air Canada.
VeraVita: What other entities in Ontario do you find are doing a good job to continue Italian traditions and cultures with the next generation?
Signore Zelioli: Ontario represents one of the largest Italian communities outside of Italy. A lot of young Canadians of Italian origin are rediscovering their ancestral roots, and we are trying to help them as much as possible. For example, there is the Italian Contemporary Film Festival, one of the major cultural events in Toronto, during the summer in the Distillery District. It’s very popular, it draws attention from a lot of young people, a lot of Canadians of Italian origin. And the movies come from Italy, mainly in Italian of course, with subtitles. And it’s not by chance that the ICFF decided also to expand these activities, not just to movies, but there will be concerts. And so, we are bringing artists, directors, musicians from Italy.
And we are also encouraging the Canadian concert community, so Italian Canadian artists. The Mississauga Italfest, for example, is a huge success. Every time I go there I see young people dancing and socializing at these events, and the day after they go to discover Italian cuisine, Italian wines etc. so these kind of events are very interesting because they are capable of attracting the attention of younger generations (of Italians), especially of those who may have lost contact with their heritage, and through music and cinema, we are able to draw them back in.
VeraVita: I can never resist asking the question that our magazine is founded on. “If there’s one thing you could do to bring Italy a little closer to you (Canadians) what would it be.
Signore Zelioli: We could, do more in sports. Obviously, we already do something in this area, but perhaps we can do more. Canadians are very sporty people. We are famous in some sports. Canada is on the map for the World “Football” Championship next year, which we will share with the U.S and Mexico. So perhaps, the Italian national team will be here, and you know how important football is to us!
And so, as I exited through the grand doors of the Italian consulate, I felt once again I had another perspective on Italian living, value and heritage that will fuel me on my next visit to my beloved “Italia” – VV
Photography by Scott Lennon
