Carloni, Luca and Adelaide (Cardellini)

Through hard work, entrepreneurship, and generosity, the Carloni family became pillars of Calgary’s Italian community.

Back Row Lydia Anna Lawrence Nina Front Adelaide Luca

Luca (Louie) was born in Antrodoco, Italy. In 1913, at the age of 17, he travelled to Calgary where he reunited with his sister Melvina, who had immigrated with her husband Giuseppe Fabbi in 1904 (see Fabbi story). He settled in Bridgeland within the Italian community where he worked for Burns Foods, the Palliser Hotel, and in shoe repair. In 1919, he left Calgary to work in the coal mine in Nordegg, Alberta.

Back in Antrodoco, Adelaide Cardellini heard Luca was looking for a woman who would marry him and immigrate to Calgary. She chose to make the journey and become his bride. Travelling alone by boat, she arrived at Ellis Island, where she was detained overnight due to a language barrier. After a long train ride to Calgary, she met Luca for the first time at the train station on December 13th. Adelaide stayed with the Santopinto family until she and Luca were married on December 16, 1923, at St. Mary’s Cathedral. They left the next day for Nordegg, where Luca had a house and worked in the coal mine there.

Adelaide, a new bride, became an instant mother to Luca’s three orphaned nephews, who were then 12, 11, and 8 years old and came to live with them. Their first child, a daughter Lydia, was born in Nordegg in 1925. The family of six returned to Calgary in 1926, where daughters Nina (1929), Anna (1934), and son Lawrence (1944) were born. Louie worked for the Palliser and Empire Hotels before opening Canadian Shoe Shine on 8th Avenue E in 1928, operating until 1941. He often employed and trained newly immigrated Italians in his shoe businesses.

In 1938, Louie opened Empire Shoe Shine stores — one on 8th Avenue SW next to the Palace Theatre and another at 102 – 10 Street NW. He also started Great West Importing, providing traditional foods for the Italian community. That same year, he sponsored a peewee hockey team called the Riverside Empires, who won the 1938 city championship.

On December 31, 1949, Louie opened the L.C. Ballroom at 109 4 Street NE, just in time for New Year’s Eve celebrations. A later family trip to Italy in 1952 inspired a renovation of the ballroom into “The Isle of Capri Supper Club” with his nephew Leo. It quickly became a popular gathering place for both the Italian community and the broader Calgary public — a place to eat, socialize, dance to live music, and host banquets, baptisms, weddings, and Nordegg reunions. Italian Club meetings were also held there until the organization purchased its own building.

In March 1967, the Isle of Capri suffered a fire. The damage was so extensive that the buildings could not be saved and were demolished. Ever the entrepreneur, Louie built the Capri Car Wash, which opened in September 1968 on the site. The combined car wash and gas station — one of the first of its kind in Calgary — operated until 2016.

Throughout their lives, Adelaide and Louie were active members of the Loggia Giovanni Cabot and the Italo-Canadian Society and were instrumental in the early development of the Calgary Italian Club and OLPH Church. Louie was the driving force behind The Juventus Soccer Club and The Sportsmen’s Dinner. After the war, they sponsored many family members immigrating to Canada and helped them settle in Calgary. If authorities came across an Italian immigrant with nowhere to go, they would often bring them to Luca and Adelaide’s home, knowing they would receive a meal and support there.

Louie was a respected entrepreneur and businessman within both the Italian community and the broader Calgary business community because of his generosity and willingness to help others. When Italian immigrants in the 1950s struggled to obtain loans from traditional banks, he organized the formation of the Columbus Credit Union so Italians could borrow money. Another example came in 1964, when the RCMP raided his garage and destroyed his homemade wine and winemaking equipment along with that of many others in the Italian community. Louie rallied others to challenge Alberta’s liquor laws, and their efforts eventually helped lead to legislation in 1967 legalizing home winemaking.

Living next door to the Italian Club meant their home was always filled with family, grandchildren, friends, conversation, and of course, “Mangia, Mangia!” One beloved family tradition that began in 1926 involved attending the Calgary Stampede Parade together. Afterward, everyone gathered at the Carloni home for food, music, and singing. As grandchildren grew older, they were recruited to sleep at Nonna’s house the night before so they could rise early to save seats for the family. This tradition continues today, four generations later. Nonno and Nonna’s legacy of strong Italian roots, food, family, and community continues through the family they built.