Italians in North America before 1880

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Italians in North America before 1880 included a number of explorers, starting with Christopher Columbus, and a few small settlements.[1] The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current U.S. was Pietro Cesare Alberti,[2] commonly regarded as the first Italian American, a Venetian seaman who, in 1635, settled in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, what would eventually become New York City. Only some thousands of Italians moved to North America from the discovery until the 1870s, but more than four million Italians arrived after 1880, and about half of them returned to Italy.

## Age of Discovery

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The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.

Italian[3] navigators and explorers played a key role in the exploration and settlement of the Americas by Europeans. Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo [kriˈstɔːforo koˈlombo]) completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean for the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. These voyages led to the widespread knowledge of the New World. This breakthrough inaugurated the period known as the Age of Discovery, which saw the colonization of the Americas, a related biological exchange, and trans-Atlantic trade. These events, the effects and consequences of which persist to the present, are often cited as the beginning of the modern era.

Born in the Republic of Genoa, Columbus was a navigator who sailed in search of a westward route to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands thought to be the East Asian source of spices and other precious oriental goods obtainable only through arduous overland routes.[4] Columbus was partly inspired by 13th-century Italian explorer Marco Polo in his ambition to explore Asia. His initial belief that he had reached "the Indies" has resulted in the name "West Indies" being attached to the Bahamas and the islands of the Caribbean. At the time of Columbus's voyages, the Americas were inhabited by Indigenous Americans, and Columbus later participated in the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

Christopher Columbus House in Genoa, Italy, an 18th-century reconstruction of the house in which Columbus grew up. The original was likely destroyed during the 1684 bombardment of Genoa.[5][6] Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage of 1524. The Italian explorer was the first documented European to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River. A statue of the Italian explorer John Cabot gazing across Bonavista Bay in eastern Newfoundland World map of Waldseemüller (Germany, 1507), which first used the name America (in the lower-left section, over South America).[7] The name America derives from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.[8]

Another Italian, John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto [dʒoˈvanni kaˈbɔːto]), together with his son Sebastian, explored the eastern seaboard of North America for Henry VII in the early 16th century. The historian Alwyn Ruddock worked on Cabot and his era for 35 years. She suggested that Cabot and his expedition successfully returned to England in the spring of 1500. She claimed their return followed an epic two-year exploration of the east coast of North America, south into the Chesapeake Bay area and perhaps as far as the Spanish territories in the Caribbean. Her evidence included the well-known world map of the Spanish cartographer Juan de la Cosa. His chart included the North American coast and seas "discovered by the English" between 1497 and 1500.[9]

The Cabot Project at the University of Bristol was organized in 2009 to search for the evidence on which Ruddock's claims rest, as well as to undertake related studies of Cabot and his expeditions.[10] The lead researchers on the project, Evan Jones and Margaret Condon, claim to have found further evidence to support aspects of Ruddock's case, including some of the information she intended to use to argue for a successful return of the 1498 expedition to Bristol. These appear to place John Cabot in London by May 1500, although Jones and Condon have yet to publish their documentation.

The project is collaborating on an archaeological excavation at the community of Carbonear, Newfoundland, located at Conception Bay and believed the likely location for Carbonariis's possible mission settlement. The Archaeology of Historic Carbonear Project, carried out by Memorial University of Newfoundland, has conducted summer fieldwork each season since 2011. So far, it has found evidence of planter habitation since the late 17th century and of trade with Spain through Bilbao, including a Spanish coin minted in Peru.[11][12]

In 1524 the Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano (Italian: [dʒoˈvanni da (v)verratˈtsaːno]) was the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524.[13] The geographic information derived from this voyage significantly influenced sixteenth-century cartographers.[14] Despite his discoveries, Verrazzano's reputation did not proliferate as much as other explorers of that era. For example, Verrazzano gave the European name Francesca to the new land that he had seen, in accordance with contemporary practices, after the French king in whose name he sailed. That and other names he bestowed on features he discovered have not survived.

Verrazzano's reputation was particularly obscure in New York City, where the 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson on behalf of the Dutch Republic came to be regarded as the de facto start of European exploration of New York. It was only by a great effort in the 1950s and 1960s that Verrazzano's name and reputation were re-established as the European discoverer of the harbour, during an effort to name the newly built Narrows bridge after him.[15]

The Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (Italian: [ameˈriːɡo veˈsputtʃi]) first demonstrated in about 1501 that the New World was not Asia as initially conjectured but a different continent (America is named after him).[8] Between 1497 and 1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain (1499–1500) and then for Portugal (1501–1502). In 1503 and 1505, two booklets were published under his name, containing colourful descriptions of these explorations and other alleged voyages. Both publications were extremely popular and widely read across much of Europe. Although historians still dispute the authorship and veracity of these accounts, at the time they were instrumental in raising awareness of the new discoveries and enhancing the reputation of Vespucci as an explorer and navigator.

Vespucci claimed to have understood, back in 1501 during his Portuguese expedition, that Brazil was part of a fourth continent unknown to Europeans, which he called the "New World". The claim inspired cartographer Martin Waldseemüller to recognize Vespucci's accomplishments in 1507 by applying the Latinized form "America" for the first time to a map showing the New World. Other cartographers followed suit, and by 1538 the tradition of marking the name "America" on maps of the newly discovered continents was secure. It is unknown whether Vespucci was ever aware of these honours. In 1505, he was made a subject of Castile by royal decree and in 1508, he was appointed to the newly created position of piloto mayor (master navigator) for Spain's Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) in Seville, a post he held until his death in 1512.

A number of Italian navigators and explorers in the employ of Spain and France were involved in exploring and mapping their territories, and in establishing settlements; but this did not lead to the permanent presence of Italians in America. In 1539 Marco da Nizza explored the territory that later became the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

* Christopher Columbus

* Amerigo Vespucci

* John Cabot

* Giovanni da Verrazzano

## Early settlement

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Dutch map (c. 1639) showing New Amsterdam, what would eventually become New York City, the destination of Pietro Cesare Alberti, commonly regarded as the first Italian American Henri de Tonti, who founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679, and in Arkansas in 1683

The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current U.S. was Pietro Cesare Alberti,[2] commonly regarded as the first Italian American, a Venetian seaman who, in 1635, settled in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, what would eventually become New York City. Pietro Alberti was born on the island of Lido at Malamocco[16] in 1608 at the height of Venice's commercial power. hese troops carried with them a particularly virulent strain of bubonic plague. The plague spread rapidly, killing 46,000 of the city's 140,000 residents. The immense decline in Venice's population led to a similar decline in its commercial power. During the Thirty Years' War troops from the Netherlands were stationed in Malamocco, a small hamlet on the island of the Lido of Venice. Because the Albertis' power was derived from the success of Venetian traders, Pietro decided at the age of 27 to seek a new life in the New World.

Alberti was the first of millions of Italian Americans who would later form part of American culture. A small stone in New York City's Battery Park, near the bronze statue of Giovanni da Verrazzano, commemorates Pietro Alberti's arrival and declares June 2 to be "Alberti Day".[17] Over the centuries, the family name Alberti had variations in spelling like Albertis, Alburtus, Alburtis and Burtis. Indeed, nearly every American bearing the surnames Burtis and Alburtis can trace their ancestry back to Peter Caesar Alberti.[18]

A small wave of Protestants, known as Waldensians, who were of French and northern Italian heritage (specifically Piedmontese), occurred during the 17th century. The first Waldensians began arriving around 1640, with the majority coming between 1654 and 1663.[19] They spread out across what was then called New Netherland, and what would become New York, New Jersey and the Lower Delaware River regions. The total American Waldensian population that immigrated to New Netherland is currently unknown; however, a 1671 Dutch record indicates that, in 1656 alone, the Duchy of Savoy near Turin, Italy, had exiled 300 Waldensians due to their Protestant faith.

Henri de Tonti (Enrico de Tonti), together with the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Great Lakes region. De Tonti founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679, and in Arkansas in 1683. With LaSalle, he co-founded New Orleans, and was governor of the Louisiana Territory for the next 20 years. His brother Alphonse de Tonty (Alfonso de Tonti), with French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, was the co-founder of Detroit in 1701, and was its acting colonial governor for 12 years.

Spain and France were Catholic countries and sent many missionaries to convert the native American population. Included among these missionaries were numerous Italians. In 1519–25, Alessandro Geraldini was the first Catholic bishop in the Americas, at Santo Domingo. Father François-Joseph Bressani (Francesco Giuseppe Bressani) labored among the Algonquin and Huron peoples in the early 17th century. The southwest and California were explored and mapped by Italian Jesuit priest Eusebio Kino (Chino) in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His statue, commissioned by the state of Arizona, is displayed in the United States Capitol Visitor Center.

Arms of Taliaferro family of Tuscany. Sketch sent from Thomas Jefferson to George Wythe, 1786

The Taliaferro family (originally Tagliaferro), believed to have roots in Venice, was one of the First Families to settle Virginia. The Wythe House, a historic Georgian home built in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1754, was designed by architect Richard Taliaferro for his son-in-law, American Founding Father George Wythe, who married Richard's daughter Elizabeth Taliaferro. The elder Taliaferro designed much of Colonial Williamsburg including the Governor's Palace, the Capitol of the Colony of Virginia, and the President's House at the College of William & Mary.[20]

Francesco Maria de Reggio, an Italian nobleman of the House of Este who served under the French as François Marie, Chevalier de Reggio, came to Louisiana in 1747 where King Louis XV appointed him Captain General of French Louisiana, until 1763.[21] Scion of the De Reggios, a Louisiana Creole first family of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, Francesco Maria's granddaughter Hélène Judith de Reggio would give birth to famed Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard.[22]

A colonial merchant, Francis Ferrari of Genoa, was naturalized as a citizen of Rhode Island in 1752.[23] He died in 1753 and in his will speaks of Genoa, his ownership of three ships, cargo of wine and his wife Mary,[24] who went on to own one of the oldest coffee houses in America, the Merchant Coffee House of New York on Wall Street at Water St. Her Merchant Coffee House moved across Wall Street in 1772, retaining the same name and patronage.[25]

Today, the descendants of the Alberti-Burtis, Taliaferro, Fonda, Reggio and other early families are found all across the United States.[26]

## 1776 to 1850

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This period saw a small stream of new arrivals from Italy. Some brought skills in agriculture and the making of glass, silk and wine, while others brought skills as musicians.[27]

Filippo Mazzei, Italian physician and promoter of liberty, whose phrase: "All men are by nature equally free and independent" was incorporated into the United States Declaration of Independence

In 1773–1785, Filippo Mazzei, a physician and promoter of liberty, was a close friend and confidant of Thomas Jefferson. He published a pamphlet containing the phrase, which Jefferson incorporated essentially intact into the Declaration of Independence:[28]

> (in Italian) Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest'eguaglianza è necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all'altro nel diritto naturale.

> All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government.
>  All men must be equal to each other in natural law

> — Filippo Mazzei

Mazzei practiced medicine in Italy and the Middle East for several years before moving to London in 1755 to take up a mercantile career as an importer. In London, he worked as a teacher of Italian language.[29] While in London he met the Americans Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. While doing work for Franklin, Mazzei shared his idea of importing Tuscan products, wine and olive trees, to the New World. They convinced him to undertake his next venture.

On September 2, 1773, Mazzei boarded a ship from Livorno to the Colony of Virginia, bringing with him plants, seeds, silkworms, and 10 farmers from Lucca. He visited Jefferson at his estate, and the two became good friends. Jefferson gave Mazzei an allotment of land for an experimental plantation. Mazzei purchased more land adjoining this gift of acreage and established a plantation he named Colle. They shared an interest in politics and liberal values, and maintained an active correspondence for the rest of Mazzei's life. The contribution of Philip Mazzei to the U.S. Declaration of Independence was acknowledged by John F. Kennedy in his book A Nation of Immigrants, in which he states that:[30]

> The great doctrine 'All men are created equal'[31][32] and incorporated into the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from the writing of Philip Mazzei, an Italian-born patriot and pamphleteer, who was a close friend of Jefferson. A few alleged scholars try to discredit Mazzei as the creator of this statement and idea, saying that "there is no mention of it anywhere until after the Declaration was published". This phrase appears in Italian in Mazzei's own hand, written in Italian, several years prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei and Jefferson often exchanged ideas about true liberty and freedom. No one man can take complete credit for the ideals of American democracy.

Statue of Francesco Vigo, who aided the colonial forces of George Rogers Clark during the American Revolutionary War

Italian Americans served in the American Revolutionary War both as soldiers and officers. Francesco Vigo aided the colonial forces of George Rogers Clark by serving as one of the foremost financiers of the Revolution in the frontier Northwest. Later, he was a co-founder of Vincennes University in Indiana. Born in Mondovì, Italy, he served with the Spanish Army in New Orleans. In 1772 he established a fur trading business in St. Louis. In 1783, Vigo moved to Vincennes, Indiana, and operated a fur trading business there. Vigo County, Indiana, on the Wabash River north of Vincennes, is named for Francis Vigo, as is Vigo, Indiana. The George Rogers Clark National Historical Park erected a statue of Vigo by John Angel in 1934, on the waterfront of the Wabash River. Vigo was featured in a collectors coin to celebrate the bicentennial of Indiana statehood.[33]

After American independence numerous political refugees arrived, most notably: Giuseppe Avezzana, Alessandro Gavazzi, Silvio Pellico, Federico Confalonieri, and Eleuterio Felice Foresti. Giuseppe Garibaldi resided in the United States in 1850–51. At the invitation of Thomas Jefferson, Carlo Bellini became the first professor of modern languages at the College of William & Mary, in the years 1779–1803.[34][35]

In 1801, Philip Trajetta (Filippo Traetta) established the nation's first conservatory of music in Boston, where, in the first half of the century, organist Charles Nolcini and conductor Louis Ostinelli were also active.[36] In 1805 Thomas Jefferson recruited a group of musicians from Sicily to form a military band, later to become the nucleus of the U.S. Marine Band. The musicians included the young Venerando Pulizzi, who became the first Italian director of the band, and served in this capacity from 1816 to 1827.[37] Francesco Maria Scala, an Italian-born naturalized American citizen, was one of the most important and influential directors of the U.S. Marine Band, from 1855 to 1871, and was credited with the instrumental organization the band still maintains. Joseph Lucchesi, the third Italian leader of the U.S. Marine Band, served from 1844 to 1846.[38] The first opera house in the country opened in 1833 in New York through the efforts of Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's former librettist, who had immigrated to America and had become the first professor of Italian at Columbia College in 1825.

Giacomo Beltrami, who explored the headwater region of the Mississippi River

During this period Italian explorers continued to be active in the West. Alessandro Malaspina undertook a voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 to 1794, a scientific expedition (the Malaspina Expedition) throughout the Pacific Ocean, exploring and mapping much of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska, crossing to Guam and the Philippines, and stopping in New Zealand, Australia, and Tonga. In 1822–23 the headwater region of the Mississippi was explored by Giacomo Beltrami in the territory that was later to become Minnesota, which named a county in his honor. In the U.S. Giacomo Beltrami also began visiting a number of cities. He eventually began a voyage down the Ohio River with the intention of following it to the Mississippi and then south to New Orleans, Louisiana. While on board he met with the prominent United States Indian agent, Lawrence Taliaferro, who was planning to travel upriver on the Mississippi. Beltrami soon became obsessed with the idea of finding the river's source. In 1823, the two later joined with Stephen H. Long as they traveled upriver to Fort Saint Anthony.

Joseph Rosati was named the first Catholic bishop of St. Louis in 1824. In 1830–64 Samuel Mazzuchelli, a missionary and expert in Indian languages, ministered to European colonists and Native Americans in Wisconsin and Iowa for 34 years and, after his death, was declared Venerable by the Catholic Church. Father Charles Constantine Pise, a Jesuit, served as Chaplain of the Senate from 1832 to 1833,[39][40] the only Catholic priest ever chosen to serve in this capacity.

Lorenzo Da Ponte, who was the first to introduce Italian opera to America

In 1833, Lorenzo Da Ponte, formerly Mozart's librettist, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, founded the first opera house in the United States, the Italian Opera House in New York City, which was the predecessor of the New York Academy of Music and of the New York Metropolitan Opera. He was the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University, and with Manuel Garcia, the first to introduce Italian opera to America.[41][42] Da Ponte was also a close friend of Mozart and Casanova.[41][43]

Missionaries of the Jesuit and Franciscan orders were active in many parts of America. Italian Jesuits founded numerous missions, schools and two colleges in the west. Giovanni Nobili founded the Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University) in 1851. The St. Ignatius Academy (now University of San Francisco) was established by Anthony Maraschi in 1855. The Italian Jesuits also laid the foundation for the wine-making industry that would later flourish in California. In the east, the Italian Franciscans founded hospitals, orphanages, schools, and the St. Bonaventure College (now St. Bonaventure University), established by Panfilo da Magliano in 1858.

In 1837, John Phinizy (Finizzi) became the mayor of Augusta, Georgia. Samuel Wilds Trotti of South Carolina was the first Italian American to serve in the United States House of Representatives.[44] Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, Trotti attended the common schools. He graduated from South Carolina College (now University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1832. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. He served in the Seminole War. Trotti served as member of the State house of representatives from 1840 to 1841 from 1852 to 1855. He was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Sampson H. Butler and served from December 17, 1842, to March 3, 1843.

In 1849, Francesco, de Casale began publishing the Italian American newspaper L'Eco d'Italia in New York, the first of many to eventually follow. In 1848, Francis Ramacciotti, piano string inventor and manufacturer, immigrated to the U.S. from Tuscany.

## Civil War

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Main article: Italian Americans in the Civil War

Review of the Garibaldi Guard by President Abraham Lincoln

Approximately 7,000 Italian Americans served in the American Civil War. The great majority of Italian Americans, for both demographic and ideological reasons, served in the Union Army (including generals Edward Ferrero and Francis B. Spinola). Some Americans of Italian descent from the Southern states fought in the Confederate Army, such as General William B. Taliaferro (of English-American and Anglo-Italian descent) and P. G. T. Beauregard.[22] Six Italian Americans received the Medal of Honor during the war, among whom was Colonel Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who later became the first Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York (1879-1904).

The Garibaldi Guard recruited volunteers for the Union Army from Italy and other European countries to form the 39th New York Infantry.[45] At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Giuseppe Garibaldi was a very popular figure. The 39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, of whose 350 members were Italian, was nicknamed Garibaldi Guard in his honor. The unit wore red shirts and bersaglieri plumes. They carried with them both a Union Flag as well as an Italian flag with the words Dio e popolo, meaning "God and people."[46] In 1861 Garibaldi himself volunteered his services to President Abraham Lincoln. Garibaldi was offered a Major General's commission in the U.S. Army through the letter from Secretary of State William H. Seward to H. S. Sanford, the U.S. Minister at Brussels, July 17, 1861.[47]

## Late 19th century

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Beginning in 1863, Italian immigrants were one of the principal groups of unskilled laborers, along with the Irish, that built the Transcontinental Railroad west from Omaha, Nebraska.[48]

The Apotheosis of Washington on the ceiling of the Capitol rotunda inside the United States Capitol, a fresco painted by Constantino Brumidi

In 1866 Constantino Brumidi completed the frescoed interior of the United States Capitol dome in Washington, and spent the rest of his life executing still other artworks to beautify the Capitol. His first art work in the Capitol Building was in the meeting room of the House Committee on Agriculture. At first he received eight dollars a day, which Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War of the United States, helped increase to ten dollars. His work attracting much favorable attention, he was given further commissions, and gradually settled into the position of a Government painter. His chief work in Washington was done in the rotunda of the Capitol and included The Apotheosis of Washington in the dome and the Frieze of American History, which contains allegorical scenes from American history. His artistic vision was influenced by the wall paintings of Pompeii and ancient Rome, as well as the classical revivals that characterized the Renaissance and Baroque periods.[49][50] His work in the rotunda was left unfinished at his death, but he had decorated many other sections of the building, most notably hallways in the Senate side of the Capitol now known as the Brumidi Corridors. Filippo Costaggini continued painting the frieze over the next 8 years based on the sketches Brumidi left; however, there was no sketch left for the final panel, which remained empty until 1953, when Allyn Cox designed and painted it.[51]

The first Columbus Day celebration took place on October 12, 1792, when the Columbian Order of New York, better known as Tammany Hall, held an event to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the historic landing.[52] The Columbus Obelisk in Baltimore was erected in 1792. Many Italian Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage and not of Columbus himself, and the day was celebrated in New York City on October 12, 1866.[53] The day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first-generation American, in Denver.[54] For the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1892, following lynchings in New Orleans, where a mob had murdered 11 Italian immigrants, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration.[55][56] The proclamation was part of a wider effort after the lynching incident to placate Italian Americans and ease diplomatic tensions with Italy.[55]

The Battle of the Little Bighorn. The Italian soldier Giovanni Martino was the only survivor from Custer's company at the battle

Giovanni Martino or Giovanni Martini, also known as John Martin was a soldier and trumpeter who served both in Italy with Giuseppe Garibaldi and in the United States Army, famously in the 7th Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer, where he became known as the only survivor from Custer's company at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum on Staten Island

An immigrant, Antonio Meucci, brought with him a concept for the telephone. He is credited by many researchers with being the first to demonstrate the principle of the telephone in a patent caveat he submitted to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871; however, considerable controversy existed relative to the priority of invention, with Alexander Graham Bell also being accorded this distinction. (In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution on Meucci (H.R. 269) declaring that "his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged.")[57]

During this period, Italian Americans established a number of institutions of higher learning. Las Vegas College (now Regis University) was established by a group of exiled Italian Jesuits in 1877 in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The Jesuit Giuseppe Cataldo, founded Gonzaga College (now Gonzaga University) in Spokane, Washington in 1887. In 1886, Rabbi Sabato Morais, a Jewish Italian immigrant, was one of the founders and first president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. Also during this period, there was a growing presence of Italian Americans in higher education. Vincenzo Botta was a distinguished professor of Italian at New York University from 1856 to 1894,[58] and Gaetano Lanza was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over 40 years, beginning in 1871.[59]

Anthony Ghio became the mayor of Texarkana, Texas in 1880. Francis B. Spinola, the first Italian American to be elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving as a representative from New York from 1887 to 1891. He also served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Following the war, Spinola was a banker and insurance agent and became an influential figure among the rapidly growing Italian immigrant community in the New York City area. He was again a member of the State Assembly (New York Co., 16th D.) in 1877, 1881 and 1883.

## New Nation

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In 1870, prior to the large wave of Italian immigrants to the United States, there were fewer than 25,000 Italian immigrants in America, many of them Northern Italian refugees from the wars that accompanied the Risorgimento—the struggle for Italian reunification and independence from foreign rule which ended in 1870.[60]

Immigration began to increase during the 1870s, when more than twice as many Italians immigrated than during the five previous decades combined.[61][62] The 1870s were followed by the greatest surge of immigration, which occurred between 1880 and 1914 and brought more than 4 million Italians to the United States.[61][62]

### Philadelphia

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During the 18th Century Colonial Era of the United States, the few Italian immigrants to come to Philadelphia came in small numbers and from higher class backgrounds, and these few Italians were often considered to be accomplished in business, art, and music.[63] Some early Italian settlements appeared in South Philadelphia. In contrast to the vast majority of Italian immigrants to Philadelphia that arrived much later and originated from impoverished areas of Southern Italy, Italian immigrants from this period predominantly originated from wealthier areas in Northern Italy and towns within Genoa Province, Liguria,[64] including Genoa and Chiavari, while only a small number came from Veneto.[65] Donna J. Di Giacomo, author of Italians in Philadelphia, wrote that the first population was "in much smaller numbers" than the mass immigrant groups of the late 19th Century and 20th Century.[64] At the time, many educated Americans had a positive view of classical culture, and thus their view of Northern Italian immigrants was more positive.[66] Among the immigrants of this first period, Lorenzo Da Ponte, who immigrated in 1804, helped introduce Italian Opera in America.[67]

In 1819 Silvio Pellico wrote in "Breve soggiorno in Milano di Battistino Barometro" that some Italian immigrants were going to Philadelphia.[68] Charles L. Flynn Jr. of Assumption College stated in his book review of Building Little Italy that the Philadelphia Italian "community" didn't actually form until the 1850s and 1860s, when it achieved enough size to do so. There were 117 Philadelphia residents at the time known to have been born in Italy.[69] By the 1870 census this increased to 517, with 82% of them living in South Philadelphia.[68]

## See also

[edit]

* Italian Americans
* Italian diaspora

## Notes

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1. ^ Andrew F. Rolle, The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America (Oklahoma UP, 1968) pp. 3–15.
2. ^ a b "Peter Caesar Alberti". Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
3. ^ Though the modern state of Italy had yet to be established, the Latin equivalent of the term Italian had been in use for natives of the region since antiquity. See Pliny the Elder, Letters 9.23.
4. ^ "Christopher Columbus | Royal Museums Greenwich". www.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
5. ^ Praga, Corinna; Laura Monac (1992). Una Giornata nella Città [A Day in the City] (in Italian). Genoa: Sagep Editrice. p. 14.
6. ^ Preste, Alfredo; Alessandro Torti; Remo Viazzi (1997). "Casa di Colombo". Sei itinerari in Portoria [Six itineraries in Portoria] (PDF) (in Italian). Genova: Grafiche Frassicomo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
7. ^ "Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii alioru[m]que lustrationes". Archived from the original on January 9, 2009. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
8. ^ a b Martone, Eric (2016). Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People. ABC-CLIO. p. 504\. ISBN 978-1-6106-9995-2.
9. ^ Evan T. Jones and Margaret M. Condon, Cabot and Bristol's Age of Discovery: The Bristol Discovery Voyages 1480–1508 (University of Bristol, Nov. 2016), p. 2.
10. ^ "The Cabot Project", University of Bristol, 2009.
11. ^ Peter E. Pope and Bryn Tapper, "Historic Carbonear, Summer 2013", Provincial Archaeology Office 2013 Archaeology Review, 2013, Vol. 12, pp. 127–133, accessed 24 April 2015
12. ^ Mark Rendell, "17th-century coins unearthed in Carbonear" Archived 24 April 2015 at archive.today, The Telegram, 17 April 2014, accessed 24 April 2015.
13. ^ Greene, George Washington (1837). The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano. Cambridge University: Folsom, Wells, and Thurston. p. 13. Retrieved 18 August 2017 - via Google Books.
14. ^ Castelnovi Michele, Rotta verso la Cina: "les Indes en Kathaye" obiettivo della prima spedizione di Verrazzano, tra illusione e catacresi, in “Miscellanea di Storia delle Esplorazioni” XLII, Genova, Bozzi, 2017, pp. 45–78
15. ^ Adler, Jerry. "The History of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, 50 Years After Its Construction". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
16. ^ Klett (1996), p. 115.
17. ^ "Public Sculpture for New York: Italian Style". John D. Calandra Italian American Institute. 2000. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
18. ^ "Alberti Genealogy".
19. ^ Memorials of the Huguenots in America, by Ammon Stapleton, page 42
20. ^ "Biography of George Wythe". Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
21. ^ Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Huchet de Kernion, George Campbell (1998). Old families of Louisiana. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Pub. Co. ISBN 1565544560. OCLC 44521358.
22. ^ a b Williams, T. Harry (1955). P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0831-6. LCCN 55-7362.
23. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1860). Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England: 1741-1756. A. C. Greene and brothers, state printers. p. 340.
24. ^ New York Historical Society (1896). Publication Fund Series. New York Historical Society. p. 430.
25. ^ Harper's Magazine. Harper's Magazine Company. 1882. p. 493.
26. ^ Prominent Families of New York (PDF). The New York Historical Company. 1898. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
27. ^ Andrew F. Rolle, The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America (U of Oklahoma Press, 1968).
28. ^ Philip Mazzei, The Virginia Gazette, 1774. Translated by a friend and neighbor, Thomas Jefferson
29. ^ Łukaszewicz, Witold (1948). "Filippo Mazzei (1730–1816). Zarys biograficzny". Kwartalnik Historyczny (3–4): 305. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
30. ^ Kennedy, John F. A Nation of Immigrants, pp. 15–16
31. ^ Philip Mazzei, The Virginia Gazette, 1774. Translated by a friend and neighbor, Thomas Jefferson:

> Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest'eguaglianza è necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all'altro nel diritto naturale.

> All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government.
>  All men must be equal to each other in natural law

32. ^ According to Joint Resolution 175 of the 103rd Congress: the phrase in the Declaration of Independence 'All men are created equal', was suggested by the Italian patriot and immigrant Philip Mazzei.[1]
33. ^ "Indiana bicentennial coins". The Indianapolis Public Library. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
34. ^ "About". Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, College of William and Mary. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
35. ^ "Bellini Colloquium". William & Mary. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
36. ^ "BostonFamilyHistory.com – The Place to Meet Your Past". Bostonhistorycollaborative.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
37. ^ http://article/italians-in-america-band-leaders-a173703 [dead link]
38. ^ "History of the Directors".
39. ^ "Pise, Charles Constantine", in John Julian (1907/1957), A Dictionary of Hymnology, reprint, New York: Dover, Vol. 2, p. 1687.
40. ^ "Pise, Charles Constantine", in Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), New York: Robert Appleton Company.
41. ^ a b Music View, Did Casanova Lend a Helping Hand?, The New York Times, Donald Henahan, Nov. 10, 1985
42. ^ Smith, Howard Jay (2022). The Man Who Brought Opera to America, American Heritage Magazine, Vol. 67, Issue 3.
43. ^ Dumazet de Pontigny, Victor (1900). "Ponte, Lorenzo da" . A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 3\. p. 15.
44. ^ "TROTTI, Samuel Wilds - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov.
45. ^ Images: A Pictorial History of Italian Americans. New York, 1986, p.26
46. ^ Belfiglio, p. 164.
47. ^ Mack Smith, Denis, Garibaldi, Prentice-Hall, 1969, pp. 69-70
48. ^ "The Transcontinental Railroad". Archives.gov. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
49. ^ Grafton, Anthony; Most, Glenn W.; Settis, Salvatore (2010-10-25). The Classical Tradition. Harvard University Press. p. 764\. ISBN 978-0-674-03572-0.
50. ^ Barber, Sally (2020-12-01). Michigan Myths and Legends: The True Stories behind History's Mysteries. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 148\. ISBN 978-1-4930-4009-4.
51. ^ Ayres, Thomas (2000). That's Not in My American History Book. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 80\. ISBN 0-87833-185-9.
52. ^ "Columbus Day". Britannica Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
53. ^ "Día de la Raza – Viva Cuernavaca". universaldomainexchange.com. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
54. ^ Noce, Angelo (1910). Columbus Day in Colorado: Angelo Noce ... Angelo Noce, printer.
55. ^ a b Staples, Brent (2019-10-12). "Opinion: How Italians Became 'White'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
56. ^ "Proclamation on the 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of America by Columbus". www.whatsoproudlywehail.org. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
57. ^ House Resolution 269, dated 11 June 2002, written and sponsored by Rep. Vito Fossella.
58. ^ Vincent A. Lapomarda, "Higher Education", in The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p.286.
59. ^ Rosanne Martorella, "Science", in The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p.583.
60. ^ Wills, Charles A. "When did they come? Southern Italians 1891-1900". Destination America. pbs.org. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
61. ^ a b "Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service" (1966 ed.). WASHINGTON, D.C: United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. June 1967: 55–58. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2022. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
62. ^ a b "Table 1: Italian Immigration To The United States By Years". Mtholyoke.edu. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
63. ^ Juliani, p. 4.
64. ^ a b Di Giacomo, p. 8.
65. ^ Luconi, Stefano (University of Florence). "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration" (Book Review). Italica, 1 April 1999, Vol.76(1), pp. 121–122. CITED: p. 122.
66. ^ Varbero, Richard A. "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration" (Book Review). The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1 July 1999, Vol.123(3), pp. 258–259. CITED: p. 258. "We learn that at first Philadelphians, like much of the English-speaking world, were receptive to the idea of Italy and its culture, visualizing the Italians as symbolic of classical culture. This attitude waned perceptibly as the less attractive features of nineteenth-century migrants emerged and newspapers focused on organ grinders, the exploiters of children, and the instances of violence involving Italians."
67. ^ Lorenzo Da Ponte residence in Philadelphia
68. ^ a b Luconi, Stefano "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration" (Book Review). Italica, 1 April 1999, Vol.76(1), pp. 121–122. CITED: p. 121.
69. ^ Flynn, Charles L. "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians Before Mass Migration" (Book Review). Italian Americana, 2000, Vol.18(1), pp. 110–111. CITED: p. 110.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Connell, William J. and Stanislao Pugliese, eds., The Routledge History of Italian Americans (2018)
* De Ville, John. "Italians in the United States." The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) vol 8 online
* Glynn, Irial: Emigration Across the Atlantic: Irish, Italians and Swedes compared, 1800-1950 , European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: June 16, 2011.
* Juliani, Richard N. Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration (1998)
* Lagumina, Salvatore J. et al. eds. The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia (2000)
* Luconi, Stefano. From Paesani to White Ethnics: The Italian Experience in Philadelphia (2001)
* Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale, La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992.
* Nelli, Humbert S. "Italians", Thernstrom, Stephan; Orlov, Ann; Handlin, Oscar, eds. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674375122. pp 545–60.
* Rolle, Andrew F. The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America (Oklahoma UP, 1968)

* Russo, John Paul. "When They Were Few: Italians in America, 1800–1850" in William J. Connell, and Stanislao Pugliese, eds., The Routledge History of Italian Americans (2018) pp. 54-68.

* Vecchio, Diane C. Merchants, Midwives, and Laboring Women: Italian Migrants in Urban America (2006).

### Historiography

[edit]

* Bushman, Claudia L. America discovers Columbus: How an Italian explorer became an American hero (1992). full text online; also see online book review
* Cordasco, Francesco. Italians in the United States: an annotated bibliography of doctoral dissertations completed at American universities, with a handlist of selected published bibliographies, related reference materials, and guide books for Italian emigrants (1981) online
* Cordasco, Francesco. Italian Americans : a guide to information sources (Gale 1978) online
* Schlereth, Thomas J. "Columbia, Columbus, and Columbianism." Journal of American History 79.3 (1992): 937–968. online

### Primary sources

[edit]

* Moquin, Wayne, ed. A Documentary History of Italian Americans (1974) online

## External links

[edit]

* "Immigration -> Italian." Library of Congress.

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