I thought his last name was Rizzo, not Rizzi. If he had any Northern Italian blood in him and not any Sicilian blood in him, it makes sense then that he would use a perjorative term such as "Guinea" to describe his wife (of Sicilian blood). As I said before, unfortunately, mainland Italians (at least in my grandfather and grandmother's era) did not consider Sicilians real Italians (mostly due to the mixture of other cultures in Sicily). My grandmother was insulted if anyone ever thought she was Sicilian and would quickly and sternly correct anyone who assumed she was Sicilian in public. Sicily was, at one time, a penal colony much like Australia was. Mainland Italians considered Sicilians "lower class" thieves, murderers, etc. I don't know if that attitude still exists today, or if it existed anywhere outside of where my grandparents lived, but according to them (one from Campania and the other Calabreze), Scilians were not true Italians. The funny thing is, I find the culture of Sicilians very much like how I grew up in my family. The food, language, and customs were very similar, but you would never say that to my grandmother!

~~ Lollie