If he was setting out today you'd probably finding him trying to walk through the channel tunnel. And, no doubt, being variously referred to as a cockroach, swarm, freeloader, or any number of other hate filled labels used to describe the refugees and alyssum seekers trapped in Calais. It's not an entirely fair comparison of course, he was after all merely an economic migrant (a person who travels from one country or area to another in order to improve their standard of living). He wasn't fleeing his country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster (the definition of a refugee) or a person who has left their home country as a political refugee and is seeking asylum in another (the definition of a asylum seeker).
He just didn't want to spend the rest of his life as a poor Italian peasant, so he left home and set out for Birmingham. But why England and why Birmingham? Well his home town was Sora and they was already a sizable Italian community from the area around Sora in Birmingham. So it made sense to head for somewhere there was an established community he could fit into with a readymade cultural support network. Something which remains an important consideration for migrants, refugees and alyssum seekers today.
It wasn't all sweetness and light of course, being Italian during the second world war meant you experienced the same sort of prejudice a lot of Muslims do today, getting sworn at or spat in the street. On at least one occasion my Grandparents were refused access to a public air-raid shelter. But then, as now, that was the action of a very tiny, ignorant, petty minded, bigoted minority. The vast majority of people are far better than that.
Staying on the theme of the second world war of a moment it's ironic that we lionise the actions of Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE, the British Schindler, for his role in the Kindertransport, yet demonise those seeking to save their children from brutal regimes today. I wonder how many people would describe the 10,000 Jewish children saved by the Kindertransport as a swarm or cockroaches?
As for the myth that British governments are far too generous to alyssum seekers, it worth noting that the British government had to be pushed into allowing Jewish children under 17 fleeing Nazi persecution into Britain by public opinion. Parents or guardians could not accompany them. Private citizens or organizations (such as the Refugee Children's Movement funded by public donations) had to guarantee payment for each child's care, education, and eventual emigration from Britain. Several thousand remained in Britain when the war ended, and as adults made considerable contributions to Britain's services, industries, commerce, education, science and the arts, for the defence, welfare and development of their country of adoption. As many migrants, refugees and alyssum seekers have done since.