Economy
The Italian Market is located in South Philadelphia. [13] The Philadelphia area has a large number of Italian restaurants. [14]
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Philadelphia has a significant Italian American population. In 2022, the American Community Survey estimated that in the Philadelphia metropolitan region 287,703 residents were of entirely Italian ancestry and 839,275 had some Italian ancestry. [1]
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. [2] 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, [3] including Genoa and Chiavari, while only a small number came from Veneto. [4] 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. [3] At the time, many educated Americans had a positive view of classical culture, and thus their view of Northern Italian immigrants was more positive. [5] Among the immigrants of this first period, Lorenzo Da Ponte, who immigrated in 1804, helped introduce Italian Opera in America. [6]
In 1819 Silvio Pellico wrote in "Breve soggiorno in Milano di Battistino Barometro" that some Italian immigrants were going to Philadelphia. [7] 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. [8] By the 1870 census this increased to 517, with 82% of them living in South Philadelphia. [7]
By the end of the 19th Century and the 20th Century, Italians immigrating to Philadelphia mainly came from peasant villages in Southern Italy and were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. [2] During that era, most Italians came to the United States and worked as unskilled manual laborers, often saving money to send back home to family in the form of remittance. A significant number would return to Italy as so-called "birds of passage", though eventually many other poor Italian immigrants would stay in Philadelphia and establish communities, especially in South Philadelphia. [9] Immigrants in the later period mostly originated from Abruzzo, Avellino and Salerno in Campania, and Messina in Sicily. [3] The public had a very negative perception of the poorer, swarthy Southern Italians, especially as the media focused on crimes and bad behavior, resulting in harsh discrimination against Italians and the redlining of Italian neighborhoods. [5]
In the community's initial history (circa prior to the 1850s-1860s) about 67% of the residents were male, and about 67% were ages 15–44. [10] The pre-1870 Italian community did not include labor agents. [11] During that period Italians were concentrated in wards 2 through 5 in South Philadelphia. [10]
By the early 20th century the ratio between families with children and male workers decreased. [10]
The Ligurians held leadership roles within the Italian community during the 19th and 20th centuries. [4]
The largest and oldest Italian community is located in South Philadelphia. Other neighborhoods with historical Italian settlements include East Falls, Germantown, and Manayunk. As of 2007 some Italian businesses still operate in Chestnut Hill. [12]
Italians began settling Germantown in 1880. [12] The Italian community in South Philadelphia was, at a later point, reduced in size due to Italians moving to South Jersey and other parts of the Greater Philadelphia area. Italians especially moved to Washington Township. [13] Di Giacomo wrote in 2007 that "the Germantown settlement is 98 percent gone today". [12]
The Italian Market is located in South Philadelphia. [13] The Philadelphia area has a large number of Italian restaurants. [14]
Historically the Italian newspapers in Philadelphia included La Libera Parola, L'Opinione, and Il Popolo Italiano. The United Presbyterian Church publication was Vita. Ordine Nuovo was the newspaper of the Sons of Italy. [3]
The early Italian immigrants had little desire to be active in political life in either the U.S. or Italy since they focused on their work. [4] In the 1920s and 1930s they took pride in Mussolini's achievement in restoring Italy's prestige. His government tried to mobilize Italian Americans to become US citizens and pressure Washington to support Italy's foreign policy, especially in the Spanish Civil War. When World War II broke out in 1939, they wanted the US to be neutral. A few days after Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Italy declared war on the U.S.
Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy sought to build a base of popular support in the United States, focusing on the Italian community. His supporters far outnumbered his opponents, both inside the Italian American community, among all Catholics, and among the wider American leadership. [15] [16] )
According to Stefano Luconi, in the 1920s and 1930s "numerous Italian Americans became US citizens, registered for the vote, and cast their ballots in order to lobby Congress and the Presidency on behalf of fascism and to support Mussolini's goals in foreign policy." [17]
The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia family based in South Philadelphia. This criminal organization primarily operates in various areas and neighborhoods in Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area (i.e. the Delaware Valley) and New Jersey, especially South Jersey. The family is notorious for its violence, due in particular to its succession of violent bosses and multiple mob wars. As the Bruno crime family under the 21-year reign of boss Angelo Bruno (1959–1980), the family enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity. A complex dispute involving disgruntled subordinates and territory claims by New York's Genovese crime family led to Bruno's murder in 1980. The killing marked the beginning of years of internal violence for control of the Philadelphia family, leading to a gradual decline in the family's stability. [18]
Italians coming to Philadelphia were predominantly Catholic. [3] Di Giacomo wrote "The church was the focal point of neighborhood life. Nearly everything, from baptisms to funerals, played out in or around the church." [12] Some Italians were Protestant. The Protestants included Baptists, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals. In South Philadelphia second and third generations of Protestants left at a much quicker rate compared to Catholics of the same generation. [12]
In 1852 St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi in South Philadelphia, [13] the first Italian Catholic parish in the United States, was founded by pre-mass immigration Italians. [3]
In 1898 Southern Italians who felt alienated from the St. Mary's Catholic Church due to their southern background and from the Irish St. Peter's Catholic Church founded the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (Italian : La Chiesa Nostra Signora del Buon Consiglio). In 1933 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia closed Our Lady of Good Counsel. Di Giacomo wrote that "The church's constant activity is legendary to this day." [3]
One Italian church, St. Rita of Cascia (in South Philadelphia at Broad and Ellsworth Streets), is now a shrine. Other Italian Catholic churches include King of Peace and St. Nicholas of Tolentine. [3] The Presbyterian church had three Italian churches, with one in South Philadelphia, one in Germantown, and one in Overbrook. [12]
The first Italian mutual aid society, the Società Italiana di Unione e Fratellanza, was organized in 1867. [4]
The Consulate-General of Italy in Philadelphia is located in Center City, Philadelphia. [19]
Italian Americans are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. According to the Italian American Studies Association, the current population is about 18 million, an increase from 16 million in 2010, corresponding to about 5.4% of the total population of the United States. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, with significant communities also residing in many other major U.S. metropolitan areas.
Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods: 'Germantown' and 'East Germantown'.
Little Italy is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, known for its former Italian population. It is bounded on the west by Tribeca and Soho, on the south by Chinatown, on the east by the Bowery and Lower East Side, and on the north by Nolita.
Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are shops selling Italian goods as well as Italian restaurants lining the streets. A "Little Italy" strives essentially to have a version of the country of Italy placed in the middle of a large non-Italian city. This sort of enclave is often the result of periods of Italian immigration, during which people of the same culture settled or were ostracized and segregated together in certain areas. As cities modernized and grew, these areas became known for their ethnic associations, and ethnic neighborhoods like "Little Italy" blossomed, becoming the areas they are today.
Castellammare del Golfo is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the harbor. The nearby body of water conversely takes its name from the town, and is known as Gulf of Castellammare.
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west. A diverse working-class community of many neighborhoods, South Philadelphia is well-known for its large Italian-American population, but it also contains large Asian American, Irish-American, African-American, and Latino populations.
Little Italy, sometimes combined with University Village into one neighborhood, is on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The current boundaries of Little Italy are Ashland Avenue on the west and Interstate 90/94 on the east, the Eisenhower Expressway on the north and Roosevelt to the south. It lies between the east side of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus in the Illinois Medical District and the west side of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. The community was once predominantly Italian immigrants but now is made up of diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds as a result of immigration, urban renewal, gentrification and the growth of the resident student and faculty population of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Its Italian-American heritage is primarily evident in the Italian-American restaurants that once lined Taylor Street. The neighborhood is home to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as well as the historic Roman Catholic churches Our Lady of Pompeii, Notre Dame de Chicago, and Holy Family.
Italian Germans are German-born or naturalized citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Germany during the Italian diaspora, as well as the communities of Italians in Switzerland and, to a slightly lesser extent, Italians from South Tyrol. Most Italians moved to Germany for reasons of work, others for personal relations, study, or political reasons. Today, Italians in Germany form one of the largest Italian diasporas in the world and account for one of the largest immigrant groups in Germany.
Italian Scots are Scottish people of Italian descent. They can either be those whose ancestors emigrated to Scotland or Italian-born people residing in Scotland. This term can also refer to people of mixed Scottish and Italian descent. A recent Italian voter census estimated that there are between 70,000 to 100,000 people in Scotland of Italian descent or having Italian nationality, which is up to 1.9% of the overall Scottish population.
Colombian Americans, are Americans who have Colombian ancestry. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United States from Colombia. Colombian Americans are the largest South American Hispanic group in the United States.
At the 2010 census, there were 1,526,006 people, 590,071 households, and 352,272 families residing in the consolidated city-county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The population density was 4,337.3 people/km2. There were 661,958 housing units at an average density of 1,891.9 units/km2.
African immigration to the United States refers to immigrants to the United States who are or were nationals of modern African countries. The term African in the scope of this article refers to geographical or national origins rather than racial affiliation. From the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 to 2017, Sub-Saharan African-born population in the United States grew to 2.1 million people.
Maltese Americans are Americans with Maltese ancestry.
A Nicaraguan American is an American of Nicaraguan descent. They are also referred to as "nica" or "nicoya".
New York City has the largest population of Italian Americans in the United States as well as North America, many of whom inhabit ethnic enclaves in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. New York is home to the third largest Italian population outside of Italy, behind Buenos Aires, Argentina (first) and São Paulo, Brazil (second). Over 2.6 million Italians and Italian-Americans live in the greater New York metro area, with about 800,000 living within one of the five New York City boroughs. This makes Italian Americans the largest ethnic group in the New York metro area.
Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration is a 1998 nonfiction book by Villanova University sociologist professor Richard N. Juliani, published by Penn State University Press. The book discusses Italian immigration to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from its beginnings in the 1750s through the 1870s. The book discusses the individual Italian Americans and the social issues the early Italian American community faced.
Nicola Monachesi (1795–1851) was an Italian painter believed to have painted the earliest frescos in the United States. He was born in Tolentino in the Marche region of Italy and was considered a citizen of Rome. He died in Philadelphia a naturalized citizen of the United States. In Italy, he was a pupil of the Accademia di San Luca, Rome, studying under Gaspare Landi, and won his first prize for painting. He emigrated to America in 1831-32, entering through New York and settling in Philadelphia. He worked mostly as an interior decorator, drawing neoclassical artistic paintings on wall surfaces and portrait paintings on canvass decorating churches, commercial buildings, and mansions.
Angela Carlozzi Rossi (1901-1977) was an American social worker who worked for the Italian Welfare League from 1934 to 1973, serving as executive secretary and later as head of the Immigrant Aid Department. During that time, Rossi assisted thousands of Italian and other immigrants, including many who were interned at the Ellis Island immigration center during World War II.
The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, formerly known as The Miraculous Medal Shrine, is at 500 E. Chelten Ave. in the East Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The church now known as the Basilica Shrine was completed by the Congregation of the Mission in 1879 as the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception on the grounds of St. Vincent's Seminary. In 1927, Fr. Joseph Skelly, CM, commissioned the creation of Mary's Central Shrine within the chapel to promote devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, a title of the Virgin Mary originating with her apparitions to Saint Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830.
Italians in the United States before 1880 included a number of explorers, starting with Christopher Columbus, and a few small settlements. The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current U.S. was Pietro Cesare Alberti, 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. Enrico Tonti, together with the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Great Lakes region. Tonti founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679 and in Arkansas in 1683, known as Poste de Arkansea, making him "The Father of Arkansas". With LaSalle, he co-founded New Orleans, and was governor of the Louisiana Territory for the next 20 years. His brother Alfonso 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. The Taliaferro family, believed to have roots in Venice, was one of the First Families to settle Virginia. 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: "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". 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.
