What’s New in Victoria BC? And How I Got Into Historical Building Restoration

historical building restoration in Victoria BC

A lot has happened since I moved to Canada as an Italian immigrant. I started off doing appliance repairs for a small local company, then ended up working in a gym as a janitor of all places, before finding new friends led me volunteering for historical building restoration projects across Vancouver Island. That’s why there’s a pun intended when I ask “What’s new in Victoria BC?” because I’m working with things that are so old!

Growing up in a small medieval town in Italy means I know how to appreciate old buildings, and though some of the character homes in Victoria BC are very old, from pioneer days, they aren’t as old as the ones back home. In many cases this is a good thing because although there’s less history there is more chance to preserve these buildings as part of their history for future Canadians to enjoy.

Victoria BC is already beautiful without all the old character homes. Tourists come to see the greenery and the ocean, and in Spring of 2022 there is great opportunity to see some of the most splendid sights that British Columbia has in store.

character home restoration in Victoria BC

For me, what’s new in Victoria BC is this volunteer passion effort. A lot of the time, old folks are too weak to manage restorations, so we volunteer, even put minds and money together, to get things like grants from the government, spare restoration supplies like bricks, paint and lumber, and mold removal Victoria BC services for some of the dilapidated buildings that have mold growing inside.

So far, we’ve remediated mold out of four buildings, just in under a month, and now we’re working on restoring the brick chimneys on several more. In Oak Bay where a lot of the older houses are offers an amazing view in several high places, where you almost get to step back into time and see all the hundreds of houses from the 1800s. Many restoration efforts are already underway by other organizations and private families in Victoria BC, but our little volunteer task force is just one new addition to help. If you would like to join our efforts and volunteer doing historical building restoration with me and my Italian friends, then get in contact.

We hope you enjoy the Spring weather!

Back and better than ever!

Hello everyone! This Italian-Canadian is back and doing better than ever. 2022 has been amazing so far, as my little update announced in January.

So now I bet you are wondering what the surprise was that distracted me from my regular duties. The truth is that I had the spontaneous idea to go to culinary school. Yes. Cool, right? I am now trained to be a professional chef. I fell in love with Canadian food so much that I wanted to learn how to combine it with Italian food. I already invented a few of my own dishes that I will soon share here on the Padoranviaggi Blog.

5 other things I did while away in the first two quarters of 2022 were:

  1. Got a new pet frog named Tulip.
  2. Got my fifth vaccine booster.
  3. Got my hair dyed blue.
  4. Tried a same sex relationship for the first time (it failed horribly, but would try again).
  5. Grew a new respect for Christianity and Western values after taking some history lessons.

I hope you’re year has been as exciting as mine and I can’t wait to see you back here for more in my upcoming blog posts. Thanks.

Canadian-Italians on the Internet…

canadian-itialian blog

Not many people go to their local library to search for what it’s like to be a Canadian-Italian. Then again, no one really goes to the local library at all. But for the people who are curious, we’ve founded a home for them.

Welcome to the The Padoranviaggi Blog, a place where Canadian-Italians speak their minds. We have many exciting things planned for the near future, so stay tuned. This is our first post of many interesting things to come.

We thank you for being here. Or, as we say in Italian, “Grazie per essere qui.