With an historical Nanaimo building slated for demolition early next year, followed by construction of a new structure, members of Felice Cavallotti Lodge are reflecting on 125 years of existence. Cavallotti Lodge evolved from the Felice Cavallotti Italian Mutual Aid Society, founded on Nov. 4, 1900, by coal miners from Italy with the aim of assisting workers and their families in cases of injury, illness and death, according to historical perspective Days Gone By: Celebrating 125 Years of Cavallotti Lodge History. On the insistence of then-president Siro Rossetto, members contributed $100 each and land on East Wellington Road was purchased in the late ’60s. The current Italian community hall replaced a building referred to as ‘the shack’ and was officially opened in May 1979. In the present, Ian Cumpstone, the lodge’s board president, said the new building will have smaller capacity – the current hall fits close to 200 and its reincarnation between 140-150 – and will still be available for the community to rent. With inflation, the committee had to pivot from a planned two-storey building. “Obviously, prices are so expensive, but our goal as a committee is to future-proof the building so that future generations, once funds become available, decide they can put the second storey on, etc.,” Cumpstone said. “The initial building, we hope to start work mid- to late- next year, will have a hall and a members room, plus the kitchen [and] bathroom.” Building the new lodge is the priority, but ideas for programming, with an emphasis on youths, are being bandied about – membership has declined since the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re looking at establishing Italian language classes, Italian cooking classes … we are looking at maybe having an exchange program with Italy, where students can come here and we can learn off them, and then our students can go over there,” said Cumpstone. Felice Cavallotti was an Italian politician referred to as the ‘Poet of Democracy’ and someone founders saw fit to honour. “He battled for, not just the poor people in Italy, but he really was a people’s person and when Italy, in the mid- to late-1800s, was going through all its poverty, strife and unrest, he got into parliament as the opposition, and he was a very strong advocate for the rights of the Italians,” said Cumpstone. Concept drawings for the new lodge were designed by noted Nanaimo architect and lodge member, Ian Niamath [https://nanaimobulletin.com/2025/11/05/ian-azard-niamath/], who died in October. Cumpstone expressed gratitude for the contributions. “He did so much work … he was really [forward]-thinking,” he said. “These are his plans and everything that we could possibly want is in here. He wasn’t worried about how much it cost … He said, ‘That’s your job.’ So, it’ll be toned down a bit from this, but the basics of what he wanted and what we want will be in here.” The society was somewhat nomadic at the outset and having its own building allowed it to thrive. “They used to meet all over the place; they never really had a home, and so in the 1950s they bought this parcel of land here,” said the president. “They built a shack, and they mucked around on the shack for a year or two … once the facility was up, things really started to move. They started renting it out to all the different cultural business groups in the community and that still happens today.” Cavallotti Lodge members will be holding a demolition sale at its East Wellington Road site on Dec. 22 beginning at 8 a.m. Anyone can join the society and for more information, visit www.cavallottilodge.ca [https://www.cavallottilodge.ca/].
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