By Robert Andrews BBC News Online

The allegiance of thousands of Welsh-Italians is being tested as tension builds before the highly anticipated Euro 2004 qualifier between the two nations.

Four thousand Italians are in Cardiff for what has been billed Wales' biggest game in a decade - even though the competition is still in its early stages.

If Wales lose, they will still be in with a chance of qualifying.

But if they win, their entry to the tournament is not guaranteed either.

Confidence is riding high on the back of a six-match unbeaten run under Wales manager Mark Hughes.

I'll be supporting Italy because I grew up supporting Italy - the fact Wales never made it very far made that easy

Mario Risoli, football writer

But, for the men from the Mediterranean, it is something of a reunion.

Swathes of Latin souls have kept a welcome in the hillsides since their prolonged migration from the turn of the 19th century.

They brought a culture of caf�s and ice cream which remains a firm, everyday component of south Wales valleys life.

Names like Sidoli, Forte, Ferrari and Sivore are nearly as common in Penydarren as in Parma.

Caf� culture

"Throughout the difficult days of Mussolini's regime, many Italians moved to the valleys from Bardi," cultural historian and Swansea FC fan Peter Stead said.

"It is one of the most important, colourful and largest of ethnic minorities - their coming brightened up Wales enormously.

Italians made in-roads across Wales

"Imagine how dull some of the communities would be without their 'brachi' caf�s, milky coffee or steamed steak and kidney pies.

"In those days of austerity, Italians offered a wonderful haven and an injection of culture."

Fixtures include the uniquely relaxed coffee houses, fine restaurants and chip shops which give communities like Merthyr an unexpected cosmopolitan air.

That first wave fled its homeland for sanctuary, but a modern second - in the 1950s and 1960s - found employment in the mines, factories and docks of Cardiff and Swansea.

Divided loyalties

Football writer Mario Risoli's father, from Calabria, settled in the capital in 1963.

"I was always aware of a Welsh-Italian culture - they settled all over south Wales," he told BBC News Online.

With Wales' upturn in footballing fortunes, qualification for Euro 2004 would mean the first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.

Risoli's book When Pele Broke Our Hearts documents that competition. Wales sneaked qualification through a play-off with Israel and left valiantly at the quarter-final to a Brazil goal.

High hopes

But the new land of his father is not the one Risoli will support when it comes to the crunch at the Millennium Stadium.

"If I have to chose, I'll be supporting Italy because I grew up supporting Italy - I think a lot of Welsh-Italians will feel the same tonight," he said.

"The fact that Wales never made it very far made that easier for me.

"But it will be a very close game. The public expects Wales to win and there is a sense that Italy is the underdog."

Risoli expects an Alessandro Del Piero free kick to turn up trumps.

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