We employed quite a few Italian and German workers in the 1950s and early 1960s, most of whom had been POWs and had decided to stay on. As Dan has also commented, the Italians were a happy bunch; one of them had been a Vatican Guard and was asked why, when all he had to do was stand around with a pike all day, had he decided to become a farm worker...
"Was a very heavy pike!" was his logical answer.
We had one German ex-POW as the foreman at one site (Dunkeswell) - during the 1962/63 winter he rang up to announce "Ach, boss, it iss shnowink like shtink!". Another had been in the Luftwaffe and was a real gent, although our Cockney mechanic once remarked to him "You must have been one of the bleeders wot bombed arr 'ahse" - they'd been bombed out of Stepney.
We took one of the Italians to St. Merryn for the annual haymaking. He seemed rather depressed until we arrived in Cornwall, whereupon he brightened up considerably, to announce "Hey, Mr (BEagle's dad) - much jig-a-jig here!", with a broad grin across his face.
One of them, who came from a small village in Sicily, was once asked whether there was much Mafia activity at home. Poor chap went white and muttered "Si, si - plenty Mafia". The subject wasn't mentioned again.
I only recall one tricky moment for one of them. Such was the way of things back then that they did the occasional bit of 'baby sitting' for my brother and I when our parents went out. 'The Valiant Years' was on TV and we were watching it with Rudi, one of our Germans, when the topic of the Hitler Youth came up in the programme. Rudi went rather ashen and just said "It wasn't like the Boy Scouts - we HAD to join"... Poor chap looked very awkward indeed. Occasionally Toni, one of the Italians, would also act as baby sitter and loved playing with the Hornby Dublo, although he clearly didn't have Il Duce's skill at making the trains run on time!
In the days when all kids rushed around playing Brits v. Germans, to have known some of the enemy of 10-15 years earlier was very interesting indeed.