{"id":227,"date":"2016-05-11T15:50:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/?page_id=227"},"modified":"2026-04-02T17:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T17:58:11","slug":"italians","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/","title":{"rendered":"Italians"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1502904691800{margin-top: -40px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Boy saluting, immigrants arriving in Boston, Photograph by Edmunds E. Bond, ca. 1915. Courtesy of the Trustees of Boston Public Library.<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text]<style>.vcex-heading.vcex_6a030ed931b6b{font-size:36px;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-heading vcex-heading-plain vcex-module wpex-heading wpex-text-2xl vc_custom_1464908445016 vcex_6a030ed931b6b\"><span class=\"vcex-heading-inner wpex-inline-block\">Italians<\/span><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1707860880555{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]The peak period of Italian immigration to the United States occurred between 1880 and 1921, when approximately 4.2 million Italians came to America. The vast majority of these immigrants, about 80 percent, hailed from the Mezzogiorno in southern Italy, a region in the midst of great tumult and hardship. Having only been officially unified in 1860, political tension between the government in the north and the rural peasants in the south increased in the 1870s, when the government placed an onerous tax on wheat and salt, which were necessities for southern farmers and fishermen. In the 1880s, disease ravaged both staple and cash crops; malaria and other epidemics also devastated southern Italy during this period. Additionally, a series of earthquakes and the eruptions of Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius in the early 1900s destroyed cities and killed tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n<p>Conditions in the United States during this era appeared to be very favorable to many in southern Italy. Wages for both skilled and unskilled laborers in the industrialized US could be three times greater than wages for the same work in the depressed Italian economy. Even illiterate day laborers could find better paying jobs with better working conditions in cities like Boston. In the late nineteenth century, Italian immigrants were often referred to as \u201cbirds of passage\u201d&#8211;young men who migrated alone, earning money to buy land and support their families at home and eventually returning to Italy. After World War I, however, immigration patterns changed and more Italian immigrants began to bring their families over and put down permanent roots in the region.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_735\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-735\" style=\"width: 355px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-735\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/1-Paul-Reveres-house.jpg\" alt=\"Postcard of Paul Revere's house in the Italian North End, ca. 1900. Courtesy of Trustees of the Boston Public Library.\" width=\"355\" height=\"503\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/1-Paul-Reveres-house.jpg 639w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/1-Paul-Reveres-house-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-735\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Postcard of Paul Revere&#8217;s house in the Italian North End, occupied by an Italian bank and greengrocer, ca. 1900. Courtesy of Trustees of the Boston Public Library.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Patterns of Settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Boston\u2019s North End neighborhood became the locus of Italian settlement in eastern New England. Once the home of English colonists and revolutionaries like Paul Revere, Irish and Jewish immigrants settled in the North End before the wave of Italian immigration in the late 1800s. By the early 20th century, the North End was densely filled with tenements, in which tens of thousands of Italians lived. Much of the appeal of the North End for immigrant groups was its proximity to work opportunities on the waterfront and in downtown Boston. By 1920, over 50 percent of Italian immigrants in Boston lived in the North End. Those who could afford more spacious dwellings moved across the harbor to East Boston, which by the mid-twentieth century became the city&#8217;s largest Italian-American community. Others moved to nearby suburbs such as Somerville, Revere and Saugus, especially after World War II. But even as immigrants and their children\u00a0moved to these areas, many Italian small businesses and restaurants remained in the North End, and it is still an important center of Italian culture in New England.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Workforce Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most Italian immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries worked menial, unskilled jobs upon their arrival in Boston, as day laborers, dockworkers, or fruit sellers. Others opened shops and small businesses, and some skilled workers (like tailors) found higher-paying jobs. In neighborhoods like the North End and East Boston, immigrants operated <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/italian-restaurants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Italian restaurants<\/a> that attracted a growing clientele from across the city. For the earlier \u201cbirds of passage,\u201d though, assimilating into the wider American culture was not a priority; for more permanent Italian settlers, cultural obstacles such as the language barrier and lower levels of education made upward mobility difficult. Within a few generations, however, Italian Americans in Boston became better educated and were able to move into middle-class and professional occupations, including some of the highest echelons of business and politics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/bibliography\/#italians\"><strong>Sources and Further Reading<\/strong><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_6a030ed9328dc .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1684333305252 vcex_6a030ed9328dc\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/immigrant-voices\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\"><img width=\"1002\" height=\"632\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Construction-workers-crop.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"Men lay pipe underground with the help of a pulley and chain system. With the pipe exposed underneath the road, some men stand on the side of the construction site while other men are working within it.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Construction-workers-crop.jpg 1002w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Construction-workers-crop-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Construction-workers-crop-768x484.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/immigrant-voices\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\">Finding housing and work in 1902<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Constantine Panunzio recounts his first days off the boat in Boston and his efforts to find work through\u00a0a <em>padrone, <\/em>or labor contractor.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_6a030ed9333f5 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1684333048897 vcex_6a030ed9333f5\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/generosa-josie-zizza-growing-up-in-the-north-end-1925\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\"><img width=\"995\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/6-Girls-Night-School-crop.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/6-Girls-Night-School-crop.jpg 995w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/6-Girls-Night-School-crop-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/6-Girls-Night-School-crop-768x504.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/generosa-josie-zizza-growing-up-in-the-north-end-1925\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\">Growing up in the North End in the 1920s<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Generosa &#8220;Josie&#8221; Zizza remembers the tensions between school, work, and family life growing up in the North End in the 1920s.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_6a030ed933d1f .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1684333071120 vcex_6a030ed933d1f\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/lena-scolles-poleo\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\"><img width=\"394\" height=\"293\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Anna-Scolles-1956-2.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"An elderly woman sits in a chair leaned up against the cab of a vehicle. Next to her is a black dog.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Anna-Scolles-1956-2.jpg 394w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Anna-Scolles-1956-2-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 394px) 100vw, 394px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/lena-scolles-poleo\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\">Working women<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Born to an Italian immigrant family, Lena Scolles Poleo\u00a0of East Cambridge remembers her mother&#8217;s business and her own contributions to a struggling family after her father&#8217;s death.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_6a030ed934ad5 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1775152608310 vcex_6a030ed934ad5\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/nativism-and-racism\/gloucesters-sicilian-fishermen\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\"><img width=\"810\" height=\"591\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jennie-Lucia.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"Fishing boat sailing with several crew members on board.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jennie-Lucia.jpg 810w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jennie-Lucia-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jennie-Lucia-768x560.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jennie-Lucia-200x146.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/nativism-and-racism\/gloucesters-sicilian-fishermen\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\">Branded as \"Enemy Aliens\": Gloucester's Sicilian Fishermen<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>During World War II, Sicilian fishermen in Gloucester were branded as \u201cenemy aliens,\u201d losing their boats, livelihoods, and many of their rights. Maria Millefoglie tells the stories of her two grandfathers, providing a cautionary tale about the return of the Alien Enemies Act in the Trump era.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_6a030ed9353eb .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1684332984376 vcex_6a030ed9353eb\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/italian-restaurants\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"1094\" height=\"691\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Italian-Vista-mural-Cafe-Bova-ca1910.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Italian-Vista-mural-Cafe-Bova-ca1910.jpg 1094w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Italian-Vista-mural-Cafe-Bova-ca1910-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Italian-Vista-mural-Cafe-Bova-ca1910-768x485.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Italian-Vista-mural-Cafe-Bova-ca1910-1024x647.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1094px) 100vw, 1094px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/italian-restaurants\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Italian Restaurants in Boston<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>The North End has been the wellspring of Italian cuisine in Boston for more than 120 years. But the restaurants and the food they served changed dramatically over the 20th century and gave rise to an explosion of Italian cuisine across the city and suburbs.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_6a030ed935cce .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1684333084152 vcex_6a030ed935cce\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/the-story-of-321-norfolk-avenue\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\"><img width=\"973\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11.jpg 973w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11-768x423.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 973px) 100vw, 973px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/the-story-of-321-norfolk-avenue\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\">From Northern Italy to Dorchester<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Built by Giacomo Varnerin in the mid-1890s, a triple decker at 321 Norfolk Avenue became the crucible of a small northern Italian community in Dorchester. Read about its history and the immigrant families who lived there.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=&#8221;Return to Ethnic Groups&#8221; style=&#8221;3d&#8221; color=&#8221;inverse&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; link=&#8221;url:http%3A%2F%2Fglobalboston.bc.edu%2Findex.php%2Fhome%2Fethnic-groups%2F||&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1502904691800{margin-top: -40px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Boy saluting, immigrants arriving in Boston, Photograph by Edmunds E. Bond, ca. 1915. Courtesy of the Trustees of Boston Public Library. [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1707860880555{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]The peak period of Italian immigration to the United&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":604,"parent":151,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Italians - Global Boston<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Italians - Global Boston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1502904691800{margin-top: -40px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Boy saluting, immigrants arriving in Boston, Photograph by Edmunds E. Bond, ca. 1915. Courtesy of the Trustees of Boston Public Library. 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Bond, ca. 1915. 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