Rocco Olivo

About Rocco Olivo

Rocco Olivo was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 18, 1928. His parents Vita Maria Cimmarusti and Biagio Olivo were from a small town in Italy called Valenzano which is in the province of Bari. The son of Vita Maria and Biagio was the second of five children. Their first child who was named Rocco passed away at 1 year old after receiving an immunization shot which killed 13 other children from the same town. Later that year Vita Maria and Biagio suffering the loss of their first child decided to move to The United States and settle in Chicago where Rocco who was named after his brother was born. They did not settle for very long. Due to the depression and increased violence in the streets of Chicago, Vita Maria and Biagio did not feel it was a good place to raise a child so they moved back to Valenzano, Italy. Because the economy in Italy was not very stable Biagio would be forced to find work in The United States while his family remained in Italy. For many years Biagio traveled back and forth from the United States to work and back to Italy to reunite with his family. At times Biagio would be gone for two or more years at a time. Consequently the reunions with his wife Vita Maria always produced a new sibling for Rocco. For the next several years Rocco would welcome his sisters Giacomina, Maria and his baby brother Vito into the world. In 1939 soon after Vito was born, Italy entered the war. His father got aboard the last ship leaving for the United States and headed back to find work. Rocco remembers the war bulletins describing the action of the Italian army in Albania, Greece, Yugoslavia, North Africa, Russia, the air raids, the German occupation after the Italian surrender and the liberation by the British and American troops. As a young boy while all that was occurring Rocco became acquainted with a teacher of languages by the name of Professore Leopoldo while attending school at the Church of San Rocco. The professor who played the church organ and organized staged acting and religious dramas for the local community saw that the young boy was thrilled and excited about the theater and encouraged young Rocco to participate in local performances. Rocco knew he found something of great interest that he could pursue the rest of his life. A year after the war ended in 1945, Rocco's father Biagio who was still living in America and Vita Maria decided to move the family to Torino, Italy where some of her relatives lived. In Torino Vita Maria was able to buy a new house and opened a grocery store with the money she had saved. During this time Rocco was drafted into the Italian army. He served 11 months in the city of Montorio Veronese (a small town near Verona). In a short time Rocco went from being a soldier to a trainer and drill instructor were he instructed soldiers on how to operate military equipment and weapons. On his days off Rocco would go to watch the opera at The Arena of Verona and on occasion being a history aficionado, would tour Verona. He even visited the graves of the real Romeo and Juliet that William Shakespeare wrote about hundreds of years before. After his stint in the army, then aged 18, he decided to go to college. Rocco's talent was immediately recognized at the University of Torino and with the help of his fellow students organized a theater group and performed several plays by Carlo Goldoni, Giovanni Verga, Peppino and Eduardo De Fillippo, Anton Checkhov and many other novelist and dramatists. The group gaine...

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