A programme looking at the life of the Italian community in Ireland. All three families featured have set up life and business here.

The Italians are by far the biggest foreign community in this country

Cathal O'Shannon speaks to them about Italy, making their lives in Ireland and why they came to a country with a history of mass emigration.

The Italians are by far the biggest foreign community in Ireland. With more than 4,000 Italians from around 600 families on the east coast of Ireland, Cathal O'Shannon meets some of these families who are synonymous with the catering and restaurant landscape in Ireland. Italian ice cream parlours, fish and chip shops, and restaurants are part of life for most people living in the Dublin.

There have been two streams of migration from Italy to Ireland in the twentieth century. The first, following the First World War, and the second in the late 1940's and 50's.

The first Italians to arrive in Ireland came with the Normans. In the 18th century, the stuccodores embellished the Irish Georgian houses. In the 19th century, it was the Italians who gave us our first transport system. The 20th century Italians were a different breed mainly coming from the Frosinone region.

Nico, De Mascio, Fusco, and Caffola are just some of the Italian family names commonly found in Dublin.

Ruggero and Angela Nico, owners of Nico's Restaurant on Dame Street in Dublin, talk about how they came to live in Ireland, their work, life and family. They talk about the connections they retain with Italy and the level of integration they have made in Irish society.

While strongly integrated in Irish life, the Italians in Dublin also retain a sense of their own identity and community.