The Columbian Exposition

Looking West From Peristyle, Court of Honor and Grand Basin of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

The Columbian Exposition was a world fair held to celebrate the 400th aniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of North America.

The Great Depression

My great-grandpa Joe Allen (far left) during the Great Depression

The Great Depression was the greatest economic downturn in the course of history. The Great Depression lasted for ten years and led to about 15 million Americans being unemployed. 

Pictured:  my great-grandpa, Joe Allen, during the Great Depression.

Pearl Harbor attacked

USS Arizona, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor was bombed just before 8 am on the seventh of December, 1941. This event led to the US entering WW2.

Grandpa Loren is stationed in the Philippines

My grandpa, Loren Allen, was stationed in the Philippines for the duration of the war.

Italy loses WW2

American soldiers of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division fire a bazooka at a German machine gun nest 1944

On the second of May 1945, the Allies defeated the Axis powers in Italy with the Spring offensive. 

Trieste becomes a city state

the flag of the Free Territory of Trieste

In 1947 Trieste became a city state under the protection of the United Nations as the free teritory of Trieste. During this time, a lot of industry left Trieste because of the uncertain status of the city. As a result, after the final border was established in 1954, the influx of refugees couldn't find jobs, so many of them left for Canada, the US, and Australia 

Nonna Silvia's brother escapes from Yugoslavia and ends up in Sydney, Australia

Dino Felluga my dad, my aunt Rosanna, and Nonna Silvia

After WW2, part of Italy became Yugoslavia, and the Italians had their rights and property taken away, and weren't allowed to leave the country. My Grand-Uncle Silvano Meier escaped with his wife illegaly by boat to Trieste, and wound up in Sydney, Australia. If they had been caught, they would have been shot, so they left their baby son, Dino, in the care of my Nonna Silvia for about two years. Eventually, nonna Silvia figured out a way to have baby Dino reunited with his biological parents.  Later on, when my Nonna had her own child, she chose to name him Dino, my dad. 

Nonno Virgilio transferred to refugee camp in Opicina

present-day Opicina above Trieste, Italy

As Mario Lorenzutti wrote to my father, "In maggio/giugno del 1956 fummo trasferiti nel campo profughi di Opicina ( baracche)  e li ,tuo papa` rimase fino al 24 maggio 1960 ,giorno in cui parti` per il Canada ,come emigrante./rifugiato."  Translated:  In May/June of 1956 we were transferred to the refugee camps in Opicina, and there, your father remained until the twenty-fourth of May 1960, the day that he parted for Canada as a refugee immigrant.

Nonna Silvia moves from Sovignacco to Trieste as political exile

Nonna Silvia and Nonno Virgilio around the time of their marriage

Mario Lorenzutti says this about my nonna Silvia to my dad: "Tua mamma invece e` partita da Sovignacco nel 1963, non ricordo il mese . Ando` a Trieste con il passaporto ,perche` quella parte dell`Istria era gia` passata sotto la Jugoslavia dopo la guerra e quindi rimase a Trieste chiedendo asilo politico. Lavoro` al Villaggio del Fanciullo a Opicina per quasi un anno fino alla sua partenza per il Canada nell`autunno del 1964."  Tranlation: "Your mother instead left Sovignacco in 1963, I do not remember the month. She went to Trieste with a passport, because that part of Istria had already passed under Yugoslavia after the war and so she remained in Trieste asking for political asylum. She worked at the Children's Village [a preschool] in Opicina for almost a year until her departure for Canada in the autumn of 1964."

Nonno and Nonna move to Canada

Dino Felluga my dad, his sister, and Nonna Silvia in front of their house

After finding it difficult to find work in Trieste due to the number of refugees, Nonno moved back to Canada in april of 1964 to set up a living situation, and after Nonno finished that, Silvia joined him in the Autumn of the same year.  They eventually bought a house in London, Canada (pictured), where I visited many times in my childhood.  

Selling the Ranch

Phil Rouse on the ranch in San Jose

The Rouse family owned a prune ranch in San Jose in what would later become Silicon Valley. It was sold to facilitate the expansion of the Silicon Valley.

Lorenzo Allen-Felluga is born

My dad, me, and my nonno and nonna

I was born in the winter of 2005 in a snowstorm.