View source for Italian Americans

{{Short description|American citizens of Italian descent}}
{{About|Italians and their descendants in America|the 1974 Martin Scorsese documentary film|Italianamerican{{!}}''Italianamerican''}}
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{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Italian Americans
| native_name      = {{native name|it|Italo-americani}}
| flag             =
| flag_caption     =
| image            = Americans with Italian Ancestry by state.svg
| image_caption    =  Italian American ancestry by state according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2019
| pop              = '''Alone (one ancestry)'''<br>'''6,629,993''' ([[2020 United States census|2020 census]])<ref name= "Ethnic groups by the 2020 US census">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/detailed-race-ethnicities-2020-census.html|title=Races and Ethnicities USA 2020|publisher=[[United States census]]|date= September 21, 2023|access-date=October 21, 2023}}</ref><br>2.00% of the total US population<br><br>'''Alone or in combination'''<br>'''16,813,235''' ([[2020 United States census|2020 census]])<ref name= "Ethnic groups by the 2020 US census"/><br>5.07% of the total US population
| langs            = {{hlist|[[English language|English]]|[[Italian language|Italian]]|Various [[languages of Italy]]|Italian American pidgin (including [[Itanglese]] and [[Siculish]])<ref>{{cite web|title=AMERICAN ITALIAN SLANG WORDS|url=https://letslearnslang.com/italian-american-slang-words/|website=LETS LEARN SLANG|date=June 15, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=American-Italian dictionary|url=https://americanitalian.net/|website=americanitalian.net}}</ref>}}
| rels             = Predominantly [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholicism]] with small minorities practicing [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodoxy]], [[Protestantism]] and [[Judaism]]
| related          = [[Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico|Corsican Puerto Ricans]] (also [[Corsican Americans]]), [[Maltese Americans]], [[Sammarinese Americans]] and other [[Italians]]
}}

'''Italian Americans''' ({{langx|it|italoamericani}} {{IPA|it|ˌitalo.ameriˈkani|}}) are [[Americans]] who have full or partial [[Italians|Italian ancestry]]. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] and industrial [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] [[urban areas|metropolitan areas]], with significant communities also residing in many other major U.S. metropolitan areas.<ref name=c2kbr-35 />

Between 1820 and 2004, approximately 5.5&nbsp;million Italians migrated to the United States during the [[Italian diaspora]], in several distinct waves, with the greatest number arriving in the 20th century from [[Southern Italy]]. Initially, most single men, so-called birds of passage, sent [[remittance]] back to their families in Italy and then returned to [[Italy]].

Immigration began to increase during the 1880s, when more than twice as many Italians immigrated than had in the five previous decades combined.<ref name="INS1966">{{cite book |date=June 1967|title=Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service 1966 |url=https://archive.org/download/annualreportofim1966unit/annualreportofim1966unit.pdf|location=Washington, DC|publisher=US Government Printing Office |pages=55–58|access-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name="mtholyoke.edu">{{cite web|url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/images/italian%20population%20chart%20001.jpg|title=Table 1: Italian Immigration To The United States By Years|website=Mtholyoke.edu|access-date=October 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104214202/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/images/italian%20population%20chart%20001.jpg|archive-date=November 4, 2020}}</ref> From 1880 to the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914, the greatest surge of immigration brought more than 4&nbsp;million Italians to the United States.<ref name="INS1966" /><ref name="mtholyoke.edu"/> The largest number of this wave came from Southern Italy, which at that time was largely agricultural and where much of the populace had been impoverished by centuries of foreign rule and heavy tax burdens.<ref name=Wepman545560>{{Cite book|last=Wepman|first=Dennis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oyz-m_ovuIwC&pg=PA171|title=Immigration|date=2008|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0810-0|page=171|language=en}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale, ''La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience'', Harper Perennial, 1992</ref> In the 1920s, 455,315 more immigrants arrived.<ref name=":1">Frank J. Cavaioli, "Patterns of Italian immigration to the United States" ''Catholic Social Science Review'' 13 (2008): 213–229 at p. 220.</ref> Many of them came under the terms of the new quota-based immigration restrictions created by the [[Immigration Act of 1924]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who Was Shut Out?: Immigration Quotas, 1925-1927 |url=https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5078 |access-date= |website=History Matters}}</ref> Italian-Americans had a [[#Influence on American culture and society|significant influence]] to American visual arts, literature, cuisine, politics, sports, and music.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Italian American Heritage: A Companion to Literature and Arts |author=Pellegrino A D'Acierno |date= October 1, 1998 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

==History==
===Before 1880===
{{main|Italians in the United States before 1880}}
[[File:Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio - Ritratto di Cristoforo Colombo (1520).jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|His voyages]] are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a [[Early modern period|new era]] in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.]]
[[File:Stradanus America.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Republic of Florence|Florentine]] explorer [[Amerigo Vespucci]] is depicted awakening the allegorical figure of America in this 16th-century engraving by [[Stradanus]]. His accounts of the New World helped popularize the idea that it was a separate continent, and the name "[[Naming of the Americas|America]]" was later derived from his first name.<ref>{{cite web |title=Allegory of America |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/343845 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref>]]
Italian<ref>Though the modern state of Italy had yet to be established, the Latin equivalent of the [[Italians#Name|term Italian]] had been in use for natives of [[Italian geographical region|the region]] since antiquity. See [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Letters]]'' 9.23.</ref> navigators and explorers played a key role in the exploration and settlement of the Americas by [[Europeans]]. [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] completed [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean]] for the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic monarchs of Spain]], opening the way for the widespread European [[Age of Discovery|exploration]] and [[European colonization of the Americas|colonization]] of the Americas. [[John Cabot]] and his son [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian]] explored the [[East Coast of the United States|eastern seaboard of North America]] for [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] in the early 16th century. In 1524, the [[Republic of Florence|Florentine]] explorer [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] was the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=George Washington |author-link=George Washington Greene |url={{Google books|1qsuAAAAYAAJ|page=PA13|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano |date=1837 |publisher=Folsom, Wells, and Thurston |location=Cambridge University |page=13 |access-date=August 18, 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The Italian explorer [[Amerigo Vespucci]] first demonstrated {{Circa|1501}} that the New World was not Asia, as initially conjectured, but a different continent ([[Naming of the Americas|America]] is named after him).<ref name="Martone">{{Cite book |last=Martone |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People |date=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-6106-9995-2 |page=504}}</ref>

The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current United States was [[Pietro Cesare Alberti]],<ref name=ItalianHistoricalPage>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianhistorical.org/page63.html|title=Peter Caesar Alberti|access-date=June 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914161128/http://www.italianhistorical.org/page63.html|archive-date=September 14, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> a Venetian seaman who, in 1635, settled in the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] colony of [[New Amsterdam]]. A small wave of Protestants, known as [[Waldensians]], immigrated during the 17th century, with the majority coming between 1654 and 1663.<ref>Memorials of the Huguenots in America, by Ammon Stapleton, page 42</ref> They spread out across what was then called [[New Netherland]] and what would become [[New York (state)|New York]], [[New Jersey]], and the Lower Delaware River regions.

[[Enrico Tonti]], together with the French explorer [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]], explored the [[Great Lakes region|Great Lakes]] region. De Tonti founded the first European settlement in [[Illinois]] in 1679 and in [[Arkansas]] in 1683, making him "The Father of Arkansas."<ref name=":15">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/henri-de-tonti-2537/ |title=Henri de Tonti (1649–1704) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Arkansas]] |year=2011|access-date=December 6, 2019}}</ref><ref name="HMdb">HMdb.org, "[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109793 Henri de Tonti Historical Marker]", Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Retrieved August 9, 2009.</ref> 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. The southwest and California were explored and mapped by Italian Jesuit priest [[Eusebio Kino]] in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The [[Taliaferro]] family, believed to have roots in [[Venice]], was one of the [[First Families of Virginia|First Families]] to settle [[Virginia]]; [[Richard Taliaferro]] designed much of [[Colonial Williamsburg]].<ref name="Wythe">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biowythe.cfm|title=Biography of George Wythe|access-date=October 7, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528042040/http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biowythe.cfm|archive-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> The period from 1776 to 1880 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.<ref>Andrew F. Rolle, ''The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 1968).</ref> 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.
[[File:Francevigovincennes.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Francesco Vigo]] in [[Vincennes, Indiana]], who aided the colonial forces of [[George Rogers Clark]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]]]]

In 1773–1785, [[Filippo Mazzei]], a close friend of [[Thomas Jefferson]], published a pamphlet containing the phrase, "All men are by nature equally free and independent,"<ref>Filippo Mazzei, ''[[The Virginia Gazette]]'', 1774. Translated by a friend and neighbor, Thomas Jefferson:<br>{{blockquote|''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.''}}Translated by Jefferson as follow:{{blockquote|All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government.<br> All men must be equal to each other in natural law}}</ref> which Jefferson incorporated essentially intact into the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].{{Disputed inline|talk=Talk:Filippo_Mazzei#Mazzei's_contribution_to_the_Declaration_of_Independence|date=June 2025}} 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.

In 1789–91, [[Alessandro Malaspina]] mapped much of the [[West Coast of the United States|west coast of the Americas]]. In 1822–23, the headwater region of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] was explored by [[Giacomo Beltrami]] in the territory that was later to become [[Minnesota]]. 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. [[John Nobili|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 [[winemaking]] industry that would later flourish in [[California]]. In the east, the Italian Franciscans founded hospitals, orphanages, schools, and St. Bonaventure College (now [[St. Bonaventure University]]), established by [[Pamfilo of Magliano|Pamfilo da Magliano]] in 1858. Las Vegas College (now [[Regis University]]) was established by a group of exiled Italian Jesuits in 1877 in [[Las Vegas]], New Mexico. The Jesuit [[Joseph Cataldo|Giuseppe Cataldo]], founded Gonzaga College (now [[Gonzaga University]]) in [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], Washington in 1887.

In 1801, [[Philip Trajetta]] established the nation's first conservatory of music in Boston.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bostonhistorycollaborative.com/BostonFamilyHistory/ancestors/italian/ita_1750.html |title=BostonFamilyHistory.com – The Place to Meet Your Past |publisher=Bostonhistorycollaborative.com |access-date=August 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215733/http://bostonhistorycollaborative.com/BostonFamilyHistory/ancestors/italian/ita_1750.html |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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]].<ref>http://article/italians-in-america-band-leaders-a173703 {{dead link|date=October 2017}}</ref> 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 [[Metropolitan Opera|New York Metropolitan Opera]].

[[Samuel Wilds Trotti]] of South Carolina was the first Italian American to serve in the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] (a partial term, from December 17, 1842, to March 3, 1843).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000381|title=TROTTI, Samuel Wilds - Biographical Information|website=bioguide.congress.gov}}</ref> 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.

Beginning in 1863, Italian immigrants were one of the principal groups of unskilled laborers, along with the Irish, that built the [[Transcontinental railroad|Transcontinental Railroad]] west from [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/text/page15_text.html|title=The Transcontinental Railroad|website=Archives.gov|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> The first [[Columbus Day]] celebration was organized by Italian Americans in New York City on October 12, 1866.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Día de la Raza – Viva Cuernavaca |url=http://universaldomainexchange.com/vivacue2/dia-de-la-raza/ |access-date=December 2, 2018 |website=universaldomainexchange.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Civil War===
{{Main|Italian Americans in the Civil War}}
[[File:March past of the 'Garibaldi Guard' before President Lincoln, 1861-1865 (c1880).jpg|thumb|Review of the [[Garibaldi Guard]] by President Lincoln]]

Between 5,000 and 10,000 Italian Americans fought in the [[American Civil War]].<ref>[http://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520214950/https://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp |date=May 20, 2013 }} - Italian American Contributions.</ref> The great majority of Italian Americans, for both demographic and ideological reasons, were in the [[Union Army]], including [[Francis B. Spinola]], the first Italian American to be elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]], who served as a general. Some Americans of Italian descent from the disbanded [[Army of the Two Sicilies]], which was defeated by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] after the [[Expedition of the Thousand]], fought in the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army.]] They included Confederate generals [[William B. Taliaferro]] and [[P. G. T. Beauregard]].<ref name="PGT">{{cite book|first=T. Harry|last=Williams|title=P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray|year=1955|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=0-8071-0831-6|lccn=55-7362}}</ref> Six Italian Americans received the [[Medal of Honor]] during the war, including 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 Volunteer Infantry Regiment|39th New York Infantry]].<ref>''Images: A Pictorial History of Italian Americans''. New York, 1986, p.26</ref> The [[39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], with 350 Italian members, was nicknamed Garibaldi Guard in honor of [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Belfiglio |first1=Valentino J. |title=Italians and the American Civil War |journal=Italian Americana |date=Spring–Summer 1978 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=164 |jstor=41330626 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41330626 |access-date=December 21, 2022}}</ref> 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 [[Henry Sanford|H. S. Sanford]], the U.S. minister at [[Brussels]].<ref>Mack Smith, Denis, Garibaldi, Prentice-Hall, 1969, pp. 69–70</ref>

===Period of Italian mass immigration (1880–1914)===
{{main|Italian diaspora}}
{{Multiple image
| perrow            = 1/2
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Mulberry Street NYC c1900 LOC 3g04637u edit.jpg 
| image2            = ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS (1905) ELLIS ISLAND NY.png
| image3            = HalstedLittleItalyChicago.jpg 
| footer_align      = center
| footer            = '''Clockwise from top''': {{flatlist|
* Mulberry Street, along which New York City's [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]] is centered. [[Lower East Side, Manhattan|Lower East Side]], {{circa|1900}} 
* Italian immigrants entering the United States via [[Ellis Island]] in 1905
* Little Italy in Chicago, 1909 
}}
}}

From 1880 to 1914, 13&nbsp;million [[Italian diaspora|Italians migrated out of Italy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 1989 |title=APPENDIX A: Italian Immigration to the United States in the Last Twenty Years |journal=Center for Migration Studies Special Issues |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=101–118 |doi=10.1111/j.2050-411x.1989.tb00597.x |issn=2050-411X|doi-access=free }}</ref> During this period of mass migration, 4&nbsp;million Italians arrived in the United States, 3&nbsp;million of them between 1900 and 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Italian Immegration to the United States by Years |website=Mount Holyoke College |url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/images/italian%20population%20chart%20001.jpg |access-date=July 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025111330/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/images/italian%20population%20chart%20001.jpg |archive-date=October 25, 2020 }}</ref> They came for the most part from southern Italy and from the island of [[Sicily]].<ref>Nelli (1980) p 545.</ref> This period of large-scale immigration ended abruptly with the onset of WWI in August 1914.<ref name=":1" /> Most immigrants planned to stay a few years, then take their earnings and return home. According to historian [[Thomas J. Archdeacon]], 46 percent of the Italians who entered the United States between 1899 and 1924 permanently returned home.<ref>Thomas J. Archdeacon, ''Becoming American: An Ethnic History'' (Free Press, 1983), p. 139 [https://archive.org/details/becomingamerican00arch/page/139/mode/2up online]</ref>

Immigrants without industrial skills found employment in low-wage manual labor jobs. Instead of finding jobs on their own, most used the [[padrone system]] whereby Italian middlemen (''padroni'') found jobs for groups of men and controlled their wages, transportation, and living conditions for a fee.<ref>Luciano J. Iorizzo, ''Italian immigration and the impact of the padrone system'' (1980) p. 160</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian7.html#|title=Italian|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=January 6, 2020}}</ref> According to historian Alfred T. Banfield: <blockquote>Criticized by many as slave traders who preyed upon poor, bewildered peasants, the "padroni" often served as travel agents, with fees reimbursed from paychecks, as landlords who rented out shacks and boxcars, and as storekeepers who extended exorbitant credit to their Italian laborer clientele. Despite such abuse, not all "padroni" were dastardly and most Italian immigrants reached out to their "padroni" for economic salvation, considering them either as godsends or necessary evils.<ref>Alfred T.  Banfield, ""The padrone, the sojourners, and the settlers: a preface to the 'little Italics' of Maine." ''Maine Historical Society Quarterly'' (1992)  Vol. 31 Issue 3/4, pp 114-141.</ref></blockquote>

In terms of the push-pull model of immigration,<ref>{{cite book|author1=James Ciment|author2=John Radzilowski|title=American Immigration: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPFnBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT109|year=2015|page=109|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47716-7}}</ref> the push factor came primarily from the harsh economic conditions in southern Italy. Major factors that contributed to the large exodus included political and social unrest, the weak agricultural economy of the South modeled on the outdated [[latifundia|latifundist]] system dating back to the [[feudal system|feudal]] period, a high tax burden, soil exhaustion and erosion, and military conscription lasting seven years.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Many chose to emigrate rather than face the prospect of a deepening poverty. America provided the pull factor by the prospect of jobs that unskilled and uneducated Italian peasant farmers could do.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Burgan|title=Italian Immigrants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CVFlliPvqEC&pg=PA29|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|page=29|isbn=978-1-4381-0359-4}}</ref> By far the strongest "pull" factor was higher income.<ref>Humbert S. Nelli, ''[[Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930 : a study in ethnic mobility]]'' (1970) pp. 18, 59.</ref>  Immigrants expected to make considerable sums in only a few years of work, enabling them to improve their economic status when they returned home; however, the Italian immigrants earned well below average rates.<ref>Robert Higgs, "Race, Skills, and Earnings: American Immigrants in 1909" ''Journal of Economic History'' 31#2  (1971), pp. 420-428, table on p. 426 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2117052 online]</ref> The result was a sense of alienation from most of American culture and a lack of interest in learning English or otherwise assimilating.<ref>Robert A. Orsi, ''The Madonna of 115th Street: faith and community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950'' (Yale UP, 1985), pp. 156-160.</ref> Not many women came, and those who did remained devoted to traditional Italian religious customs.<ref>Orsi, 168-71, 204-207.</ref> When [[World War I]] broke out, European migrants could not go home. Wages shot up, and the Italians benefited greatly. Most decided to stay permanently.<ref>Nelli, ''Italians in Chicago,'' p. 203-204.</ref>

Many sought housing in the older sections of the large [[Northeastern United States (U.S. Census Bureau)|Northeastern]] cities—districts that became known as "[[Little Italy]]s." Such housing was frequently in overcrowded, substandard tenements, which were often dimly lit and had poor heating and ventilation; tuberculosis and other communicable diseases were a constant health threat. The Italian male immigrants in the Little Italys were most often employed in manual labor and were heavily involved in [[public works]], such as the construction of roads, railroad tracks, sewers, subways, bridges, and the first skyscrapers in these cities. As early as 1890, it was estimated that around 90 percent of New York City's and 99 percent of Chicago's public works employees were Italians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/voices/italian_immigration.cfm|title=Digital History|website=Digitalhistory.uh.edu|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> The women most frequently worked as seamstresses in the garment industry or in their homes. Many established small businesses in the Little Italys. In spite of the economic hardship of the immigrants, civil and social life flourished in the Italian American neighborhoods of the large northeastern cities.<ref>John W. Briggs, ''An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930'' (Yale University Press, 1978)</ref> The ''festa'' street festival became for many an important connection to the traditions of their ancestral villages in Italy, helping give the immigrants a sense of unity and common identity.

Many of the Italian immigrants also went to more remote regions of the country, such as Florida and California, drawn by opportunities in agriculture, fishing, mining, railroad construction, and lumbering. It was not uncommon, especially in the South, for the immigrants to be subjected to economic exploitation, hostility, and sometimes even violence.<ref name=Gambino1977>{{cite book |last=Gambino |first=Richard |title=Vendetta: A True Story of the Worst Lynching in America, the Mass Murder of Sicilian Americans in New Orleans in 1891, the Vicious Motivations Behind it, and the Tragic Repercussions and Stereotypes that Linger to This Day |publisher=Doubleday |year=1977 |isbn=0-385-12273-X |url=https://archive.org/details/vendettatruestor00gamb }}</ref> The Italian laborers who went to these areas were in many cases later joined by wives and children, which resulted in the establishment of permanent Italian American settlements. A number of towns, such as [[Roseto, Pennsylvania]],<ref>{{cite journal|pmc=1695733 | pmid=1636828 | volume=82 | issue=8 | title=The Roseto effect: a 50-year comparison of mortality rates | year=1992 | journal=Am J Public Health | pages=1089–92 | last1 = Egolf | first1 = B | last2 = Lasker | first2 = J | last3 = Wolf | first3 = S | last4 = Potvin | first4 = L | doi=10.2105/ajph.82.8.1089}}</ref> [[Tontitown, Arkansas]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2680|title=Tontitown (Washington County) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas|website=Encyclopediaofarkansas.net|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> and [[Valdese, North Carolina]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncpedia.org/waldensians|title=Waldensians - NCpedia|website=Ncpedia.org|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> were founded by Italian immigrants during this era.

[[Sarah Wool Moore]], was so concerned with [[Confidence trick|grifters]] luring immigrants into rooming houses or employment contracts in which the bosses got kickbacks that she pressed for the founding of the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants (often called the Society for Italian Immigrants). The society published lists of approved living quarters and employers. Later, the organization began establishing schools in work camps to help adult immigrants learn English.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Iorizzo|first1=Luciano J.|last2=Mondello|first2=Salvatore|title=The Italian-Americans|url=https://archive.org/details/italianamericans00iori|url-access=registration|year=1971|publisher=Twayne Publishers|location=New York, New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/italianamericans00iori/page/100 100]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Baily|first=Samuel L.|title=Immigrants in the Lands of Promise: Italians in Buenos Aires and New York City, 1870 - 1914|url=https://archive.org/details/immigrantsinland0000bail|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, New York|isbn=0-8014-3562-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/immigrantsinland0000bail/page/207 207]–208}}</ref> Wool Moore and the society began organizing schools in the labor camps that employed Italian workers on various dam and quarry projects in Pennsylvania and New York. The schools focused on teaching phrases that workers needed in their everyday tasks.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McDonald|first1=Robert Alexander Fyfe|title=Adjustment of School Organization to Various Population Groups |series=Contributions to Education|volume=75|date=1915|publisher=[[Teachers College, Columbia University]]|location=New York City, New York|url=https://archive.org/stream/adjustmentschoo01mcdogoog#page/n84/mode/1up/search/%22Sarah+Wool+Moore%22|pages=72–73}}</ref>

===Integration into American society===
The Italian immigrants and their descendants were successful in numerous areas of endeavor including, but not limited to, those involving traditional Italian skills.   

A number of major business ventures were founded by Italian Americans. [[Amadeo Giannini]] originated the concept of branch banking to serve the Italian American community in [[San Francisco]]. He founded the [[Bank of Italy]], which later became the [[Bank of America]]. His bank financed the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] and also the first American animated film, the [[Walt Disney]] film ''[[Snow White]]'', which established [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] as the capital of American film production.  Other companies founded by Italian Americans—such as [[Ghirardelli Chocolate Company]], [[Progresso]], [[Planters|Planters Peanuts]], [[Contadina]], [[Chef Boyardee]], and [[Jacuzzi]]—became nationally known brand names in time.

Italian conductors contributed to the early success of the [[Metropolitan Opera]] of New York (founded in 1880), but it was the arrival of impresario [[Giulio Gatti-Casazza]] in 1908, who brought with him conductor [[Arturo Toscanini]], that made the Met internationally known. Many Italian operatic singers and conductors were invited to perform for American audiences, most notably, tenor [[Enrico Caruso]]. The premiere of the opera [[La Fanciulla del West]] on December 10, 1910, with conductor Toscanini and tenor Caruso, was a major international success as well as an historic event for the entire Italian American community.<ref>[http://www.fanciulla100.org/fan_1910worldpremiere.html Giacomo Puccini's La Fanciulla del West. 100th Anniversary of World Premiere].</ref>

Italian Americans became involved in entertainment and sports. [[Rudolph Valentino]] was one of the first great film icons. [[Dixieland]] jazz music had a number of important Italian American innovators, the most famous being [[Nick LaRocca]] of [[New Orleans]], whose quintet made the first jazz recording in 1917. Italian Americans became increasingly involved in politics, government, and the labor movement. [[Andrew Longino]] was elected governor of Mississippi in 1900. [[Charles Joseph Bonaparte|Charles Bonaparte]] was secretary of the Navy and later attorney general in the [[Theodore Roosevelt]] administration, and he founded the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].<ref>Eric Martone, ed. ''Italian Americans: the history and culture of a people'' (ABC-CLIO, 2016) pp 65–68.</ref>

[[File:Joe petrosino.jpg|thumb|[[Joe Petrosino]] in 1909]]

[[Joe Petrosino]] was a [[New York City Police Department]] (NYPD) officer who was a pioneer in the fight against [[organized crime]]. Crime-fighting techniques that Petrosino pioneered are still practiced by law enforcement agencies. [[Salvatore A. Cotillo]] was the first Italian American to serve in both houses of the New York State Legislature and the first who served as Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. [[Fiorello La Guardia]] was elected to Congress from New York in 1916. He served as mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946 as a Republican.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Holli | first = Melvin G. | title = The American Mayor | publisher = PSU Press | year = 1999 | location = University Park | url = https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl | isbn = 0-271-01876-3 }}</ref>

Numerous Italian Americans were at the forefront in fighting for worker's rights in industries such as the mining, textiles, and garment industries, the most notable among these being [[Arturo Giovannitti]], [[Carlo Tresca]], and [[Joseph Ettor]].<ref>Michael Miller Topp, "The Transnationalism of the Italian-American Left: The Lawrence Strike of 1912 and the Italian Chamber of Labor of New York City." ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' (1997): 39-63.</ref><ref>Philip V. Cannistraro,  and Gerald Meyer, eds. ''The lost world of Italian American radicalism: politics, labor, and culture'' (Greenwood, 2003).</ref>

=== World War I and interwar period ===
[[File:Michael Valente 1920 US Army.png|thumb|left|250px|[[Michael Valente]], recipient of the highest military decoration, the [[Medal of Honor]], for his actions during [[World War I]]]]

The United States entered [[World War I]] in 1917. The Italian American community wholeheartedly supported the war effort and its young men, both American born and Italian born, enlisted in large numbers in the American Army.<ref>Christopher M. Sterba, ''Good Americans: Italian and Jewish immigrants during the First World War'' (2003)</ref> It was estimated that during the two years of the war (1917–18) Italian American servicemen made up approximately 12 percent of the total American forces, a disproportionately high percentage of the total.<ref>Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale, "La Storia&nbsp;– Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience", pg. 340</ref> An Italian-born American infantryman, [[Michael Valente]], was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] for his service. Another 103 Italian Americans (83 Italian born) were awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]], the second highest decoration.<ref name=Ciment545560>James Ciment, ''The Home Front Encyclopedia: Vol.I'' (2007) p.341</ref> Italian Americans also accounted for more than 10 percent of war casualties World War I, despite making up less than 4 percent of the U.S. population.<ref name="Sowell">{{cite book |last=Sowell |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Sowell |title=Ethnic America: A History |date=1981 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=0-465-02075-5 |location=New York |chapter=Chapter 5: The Italians}}</ref>

The war, together with the restrictive [[Emergency Quota Act]] of 1921 and [[Immigration Act of 1924]], heavily curtailed Italian immigration. Total annual immigration was capped at 357,000 in 1921 and lowered to 150,000 in 1924. Quotas were allotted on a national basis in proportion to a nationality's existing share of the population. The [[National Origins Formula]], which sought to preserve the existing demographic makeup of the United States and generally favored northwestern European immigration.  It assigned Italians, the fifth-largest in national origin of the U.S. population in 1920, only 3.87 percent of the annual immigrant quota.<ref name="ABA1924">{{cite journal|date=July 1924|journal=American Bar Association Journal|volume=10|publisher=American Bar Association|pages=490–492|last=Beaman|first=Middleton|issue=7|title=Current Legislation: The Immigration Act of 1924.|jstor=25709038}}</ref><ref name="statabstract1931">{{cite book |date=August 1931 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1931. |chapter=Immigration |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1931/compendia/statab/53ed/1931-03.pdf|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce|pages=103–107|edition=53rd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329144712/https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1931/compendia/statab/53ed/1931-03.pdf |archive-date=March 29, 2021 |access-date=October 23, 2021}}</ref> Despite implementation of the quota, the inflow of Italian immigrants remained between 6 or 7 percent of all immigrants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/Italianhistory.html|title=History of Italian Immigration|website=Mtholyoke.edu|access-date=August 16, 2016|archive-date=October 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014060442/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/Italianhistory.html}}</ref><ref>U.S. Department of Commerce, ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1930'' (1930) pp 99-100.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5078|title=Who Was Shut Out?: Immigration Quotas, 1925-1927|website=historymatters.gmu.edu|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> And when the restrictive quota system was abolished by the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], Italians had already grown to be the second largest immigrant group in America, with 5,067,717 immigrants from Italy admitted between 1820 and 1966—constituting 12 percent of all immigrants to the United States—more than from [[Great Britain]] (4,711,711) and from [[Ireland]] (4,706,854).<ref name="INS1966" />

[[File:Italian_WPA_workers_doing_roadwork_in_Dorchester_(Boston),_1930s.jpg|thumb|Italian American [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]] workers doing roadwork in [[Dorchester, Boston]], 1930s]]

In the interwar period, jobs as policemen, firemen, and civil servants became increasingly available to Italian Americans. Others found employment as plumbers, electricians, mechanics, and carpenters. By 1920, numerous Little Italys had stabilized and grown considerably more prosperous as workers were able to obtain higher-paying jobs, often in skilled trades. Women found jobs as civil servants, secretaries, dressmakers, and clerks. With better-paying jobs, Italian Americans moved to more affluent neighborhoods outside of the Italian enclaves. The [[Great Depression]] (1929–1939) had a major impact on the Italian American community and temporarily reversed some of the earlier gains made. Many unemployed men and some women found jobs on President Franklin Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] work programs, such as the [[Works Progress Administration]] and the [[Civilian Conservation Corp]].

In politics, [[Al Smith]] (Anglicized form of the Italian surname Ferraro) became the first governor of New York of Italian ancestry—although the media characterized him as Irish. He was the first Catholic to receive a major party presidential nomination, as Democratic candidate for president in 1928. He lost Protestant strongholds in the South but energized the Democratic vote in immigrant centers across the entire North. [[Angelo Joseph Rossi|Angelo Rossi]] was mayor of San Francisco from 1931 to 1944. In 1933–34, [[Ferdinand Pecora]] led a Senate investigation of the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], which exposed major financial abuses, and spurred Congress to rein in the banking industry.<ref>Michael Perino, ''The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora's Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance'' (Penguin Press, 2010).</ref>

The [[Metropolitan Opera]] continued to flourish under the leadership of [[Giulio Gatti-Casazza]], whose tenure continued until 1935. [[Rosa Ponselle]] and [[Dusolina Giannini]], daughters of Italian immigrants, performed regularly at the Metropolitan Opera and became internationally known. [[Arturo Toscanini]] returned in the United States as the main conductor of the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]] (1926–1936) and introduced many Americans to classical music through his [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]] radio broadcasts (1937–1954). Popular singers of the period included [[Russ Columbo]], who established a new singing style that influenced [[Frank Sinatra]] and other singers that followed. On Broadway, [[Harry Warren]] (Salvatore Guaragna) wrote the music for ''42nd Street'', and received three [[Academy Award]]s for his compositions. Other Italian American musicians and performers, such as [[Jimmy Durante]], who later achieved fame in movies and television, were active in [[vaudeville]]. [[Guy Lombardo]] formed a popular dance band, which played annually on [[New Year's Eve]] in New York City's [[Times Square]].

The film industry of this era included [[Frank Capra]], who received three [[Academy Awards]] for directing and [[Frank Borzage]], who received two Academy Awards for directing.  Italian American cartoonists were responsible for some of the most popular animated characters: [[Donald Duck]] was created by [[Al Taliaferro]], [[Woody Woodpecker]] was a creation of [[Walter Lantz]] (Lanza), [[Casper the Friendly Ghost]] was co-created by [[Joseph Oriolo]], and [[Tom and Jerry]] were co-created by [[Joseph Barbera]].
[[File:EisenhowerRockyJoe.jpg|thumb|[[Joe DiMaggio]] and [[Rocky Marciano]] with president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in 1953, two of the most famous Italian American athletes of that era]]
In sports, [[Gene Sarazen]] (Eugenio Saraceni) won both the [[Professional Golfers' Association of America|Professional Golf Association]] and [[U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open Tournaments]] in 1922. [[Pete DePaolo]] won the Indianapolis 500 in 1925. [[Tony Canzoneri]] won the lightweight boxing championship in 1930, and [[Rocky Marciano]] is the only undefeated heavyweight champion in history. [[Joe DiMaggio]], who was destined to become one of the most famous players in baseball history, began playing for the New York Yankees in 1936. [[Louis Zamperini]], the American [[distance runner]], competed in the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Olympics]] and later became the subject of the bestselling book ''[[Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption|Unbroken]]'' by [[Laura Hillenbrand]], published in 2010 and a 2014 movie of the same title.

Italian Americans employed traditional Italian skills in growing and selling fresh fruits and vegetables, which were cultivated on small tracts of land in the suburban parts of many cities.<ref>Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale, "La Storia&nbsp;– Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience", pg. 176–177</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/04/105102571.pdf |work=The New York Times |title=Making American Farmers of Italian Immigrants: Successful Experiments in Building Up Colonies to Till the Soil, Though States Give Insufficient Encouragement |date=December 4, 1910}}</ref> In California, the [[DiGiorgio Corporation]] was founded, which grew to become a national supplier of fresh produce in the United States. Italian Americans in California were leading growers of grapes and producers of wine. Many well known wine brands, such as [[Robert Mondavi|Mondavi]], [[Carlo Rossi (wine)|Carlo Rossi]], Petri, Sebastiani, and [[E & J Gallo Winery|Gallo]] emerged from these early enterprises. Italian American companies were major importers of Italian wines, processed foods, textiles, marble, and manufactured goods.<ref>[[Donna Gabaccia|Donna R. Gabaccia]], "Ethnicity in the Business World: Italians in American Food Industries," ''The Italian American Review'' 6#2 (1997/1998): 1–19.</ref> Italian Americans continued their significant involvement in the labor movement during this period. Well-known labor organizers included [[Carlo Tresca]], [[Luigi Antonini]], [[James Petrillo]], and [[Angela Bambace]].<ref>Salvatore J. LaGumina, "Reflections of an Italian-American Worker." ''Journal of Ethnic Studies'' 3.2 (1975): 65-77 [https://www.proquest.com/docview/1300553397?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&imgSeq=1 online].</ref>

[[Benito Mussolini|Benito Mussolini's]] [[Italian fascism|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 and among all Catholics, as well as among the wider American leadership.<ref>John Patrick Diggins, ''Mussolini and Fascism: The View From America'' (Princeton UP, 1972) pp. 58-60, 66, 68, 143.</ref><ref>Peter R. D'Agostino, ''Rome in America: Transnational Catholic Ideology from the Risorgimento to Fascism'' (U. of North Carolina Press, 2004) pp. 256–258.</ref>) 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."<ref>Stefano Luconi, "Fascism and Italian-American Identity Politics." ''Italian Americana'' 33#1(2015), pp. 6–24. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43926785 online], quoting p. 7</ref> According to Fraser Ottanelli, Rome also worked to enhance Italy's reputation through a series of highly visible moves. They included participating in the [[Century of Progress]] (1933–1934) world fair in Chicago; supporting [[Italo Balbo|Italo Balbo's]] dramatic transatlantic flights; and donating a statue to Chicago. A minority of Italian Americans who fervently opposed fascism did not support Rome's moves. They promoted an unsuccessful measure in Congress that condemned Italy's meddling in U.S. internal affairs and called for the revocation of U.S. citizenship from people who swore allegiance to Mussolini. [[Alberto Tarchiani]], Italy's first ambassador to the United States after [[World War II]], requested the removal of any displays that honored the fascist regime, but with little success. Many memorials remain in the 21st century.<ref>Fraser M. Ottanelli, " 'Mussolini's Column': Fascist Memorials and the Politics of Italian American Identity in Chicago." ''Italian American Review'' 12.1 (2022): 86-107.</ref>

=== World War II ===
[[File:Italian-American Veterans memorial, Southbridge, MA - DSC02697.JPG|thumb|left|Italian American veterans of all wars memorial, Southbridge, Massachusetts]]

As a member of the [[Axis powers]], [[Italian declaration of war on the United States|Italy declared war]] on the United States on December 11, 1941, four days after [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japan attacked Pearl Harbor]]. Although many Italian Americans admired Mussolini in the 1930s, very few if any demonstrated a desire to transfer fascist ideology to America.<ref name="Sowell" /> When Italy entered the war on the side of [[Nazi Germany]] in 1940, "most Italian Americans distanced themselves from Fascism."<ref>Luconi, "Fascism and Italian-American Identity Politics," p. 15.</ref> Anti-fascist Italian expatriates in the United States founded the [[Mazzini Society]] in 1939 to work toward ending fascist rule in Italy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tirabassi |first1=Maddalena |title=Enemy Aliens or Loyal Americans?: the Mazzini Society and the Italian-American Communities |journal=Rivista di Studi Anglo-Americani |date=1984–1985 |issue=4–5 |pages=399–425}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morrow |first1=Felix |author-link1=Felix Morrow |title=Washington's Plans for Italy |journal=Fourth International |date=June 1943 |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=175–179 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/morrow-felix/1943/06/italy.htm |access-date=December 9, 2018 }}</ref>

Between 750,000 and 1.5 million people of Italian descent are thought to have served in the U.S. armed forces during the war, about 10 percent of the total, and 14 Italian Americans received the Medal of Honor for their service.<ref>Marton, Eric. "Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People." Page 148. Quote Vice President Nelson Rockefeller: "I think of the 1.5 million Americans of Italian descent who made up ten per cent of the armed might of the United States in World War II, and many of these men you have met in years still well remembered."</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jan 14, 2019 Why America Targeted Italian-Americans During World War II |url=https://www.history.com/news/italian-american-internment-persecution-wwii |website=[[history.com]] |date=January 14, 2019 |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref> The work of [[Enrico Fermi]] was crucial in developing the [[atom bomb]].

[[World War II]] ended the mass unemployment and relief programs that characterized the 1930s, opening up new employment opportunities for large numbers of Italian Americans, who significantly contributed to the nation's war effort. Much of the Italian American population was concentrated in urban areas where the new war materiel plants were located. Many Italian American women took war jobs, such as Rose Bonavita, who was recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a personal letter commending her for her performance as an aircraft riveter. She, together with a number of other women workers, provided the basis of the name, "[[Rosie the Riveter]]", which came to symbolize the millions of American women workers in the war industries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01920-print.html|title=American National Biography Online|website=Anb.org|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> [[Chef Boyardee]], the company founded by [[Ettore Boiardi]], was one of the largest suppliers of rations for U.S. and allied forces during World War II.

==== Wartime violation of Italian-American civil liberties ====
{{Main|Internment of Italian Americans}}
From the onset of the Second World War, and particularly following [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor attack]], Italian Americans were increasingly placed under suspicion. As a consequence, [[Eo 9066|Executive Order 9066]] called for the compulsory relocation of more than 10,000 Italian Americans and restricted the movements of more than 600,000 Italian Americans nationwide,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=David A. |title=During World War II, the U.S. Saw Italian-Americans as a Threat to Homeland Security |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/italian-americans-were-considered-enemy-aliens-world-war-ii-180962021/ |website=smithsonianmag.com |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref> and the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] classified unnaturalized Italian Americans as "[[enemy alien]]s" under the [[Alien and Sedition Act]]. Thousands of Italians were arrested, and hundreds of Italians were interned in military camps, some for up to two years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/Italian_Report.pdf |title=A Review of the Restrictions on Persons of Italian Ancestry During World War II |publisher=US DOJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709232203/http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/Italian_Report.pdf |archive-date=July 9, 2007 }}</ref> As many as 600,000 others were required to carry identity cards identifying them as "resident aliens." Thousands more on the West Coast were required to move inland, often losing their homes and businesses in the process.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Branca-Santos|first=Paula|date=Spring 2001|title=Injustice Ignored: The Internment of Italian - Americans during World War II|url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1207&context=pilr|journal=Pace International Law Review|volume=13|issue=1|page=151 |doi=10.58948/2331-3536.1207 |s2cid=153416867 |doi-access=free}}</ref> They were targeted despite a lack of evidence that Italians were conducting spy or sabotage operations in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why America Targeted Italian-Americans During World War II |url=https://www.history.com/news/italian-american-internment-persecution-wwii |website=history.com |date=January 14, 2019 |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref><ref name="internment">Di Stasi, Lawrence (2004). ''Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II''. Heyday Books. {{ISBN|1-890771-40-6}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Stephen |title=Uncivil liberties: Italian Americans under siege during World War II |date=2000 |publisher=Universal Publishers/Upublish.com |location=[Parkland, Fla.] |isbn=978-1-58112-754-6 |edition=[Rev.] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Prisoners {{sic|Amou|ng|nolink=y}} Us Italian American Identity and WWII |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aa1aKXq-fM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3aa1aKXq-fM| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|website=youtube.com | date=November 8, 2016 |access-date=May 26, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
On November 7, 2000, [[Bill Clinton]] signed the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.prisonersamongus.com/StudyGuide.pdf|title=Prisoner's Among Us|publisher=National Italian American Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406082825/http://www.prisonersamongus.com/StudyGuide.pdf|archive-date=April 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr2442/text|title=Text of H.R. 2442 (106th): Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act (Passed Congress/Enrolled Bill version) - GovTrack.us|website=GovTrack.us|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> This act ordered a comprehensive review by the [[United States Attorney General|attorney general]] of the United States of the treatment of Italian Americans during the Second World War. The findings concluded that:
# The freedom of more than 600,000 Italian-born immigrants in the United States and their families was restricted during World War II by government measures that branded them "enemy aliens" and included requirements to carry identification cards, travel restrictions, and seizure of personal property.
# During World War II, more than 10,000 Italian Americans living on the West Coast were forced to leave their homes and prohibited from entering coastal zones. More than 50,000 were subjected to curfews.
# During World War II, thousands of Italian American immigrants were arrested, and hundreds were interned in military camps.
# Hundreds of thousands of Italian Americans performed exemplary service and thousands sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States.
# At the time, Italians were the largest foreign-born group in the United States, and today they are the fifth-largest immigrant group in the United States, numbering approximately 15&nbsp;million.
# The impact of the wartime experience was devastating to Italian American communities in the United States, and its effects are still being felt.
# A deliberate policy kept these measures from the public during the war. Even today much information is still classified, the full story remains unknown to the public, and it has never been acknowledged in any official capacity by the United States government.
In 2010, California officially issued an apology to the Italian Americans whose civil liberties had been violated.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-aug-23-la-me-italians-20100823-story.html|title=State apologizes for mistreatment of Italian residents during WWII|last=Chawkins|first=Steve|date=August 23, 2010|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>

===Post–World War II period===
{{clear}}
[[File:MarioAndretti.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mario Andretti]], one of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carophile.org/greatest-race-car-drivers-of-all-time/7/|title=10 Greatest Race Car Drivers of All Time|date=May 7, 2015|publisher=carophile.org|access-date=April 9, 2017}}</ref>]]

Italians continued to immigrate to the United States, and an estimated 600,000 arrived in the decades following the war. Many of the new arrivals had professional training or were skilled in various trades.
The post-war period was a time of great social change for Italian Americans. Many aspired to a college education, which became possible for returning veterans through the [[GI Bill]]. Since the 1960s, a lot of people left Italy and went to North America (mostly), South America, and Europe. European migration was seasonal and permanent.<ref>Buliga, Ana Laura. "Causes and Effects of the Migratory Italian Waves in the 19Th - 20Th Centuries." ''Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov, Series VII: Social Sciences & Law'', vol. 9 (58), no. 2, July 2016, pp. 53–60. ''EBSCOhost'',</ref> With better job opportunities and better educated, Italian Americans entered mainstream American life in great numbers. The Italian enclaves were abandoned by many who chose to live in other urban areas and in the suburbs. Many married outside of their ethnic group, most frequently with other ethnic Catholics, but increasingly also with those of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds.<ref>Moquin, ''Documentary History'' (1974) pp 401–32</ref><ref>Candeloro (1984) pp 266–68</ref> According to Dr. [[Richard Alba|Richard D. Alba]], director of the [[University at Albany, SUNY|Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the State University of New York at Albany]], 8 percent of Americans of Italian descent born before 1920 had mixed ancestry, but 70 percent of them born after 1970 were the children of intermarriage. In 1985, among Americans of Italian descent under the age of 30, 72 percent of men and 64 percent of women married someone with no Italian background.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Collins|first=Glenn|date=February 11, 1985|title=THE FAMILY;A NEW LOOK AT INTERMARRIAGE IN THE U.S. (Published 1985)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/11/style/the-family-a-new-look-at-intermarriage-in-the-us.html|access-date=February 6, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Numerous Italian Americans are [[Person of color|people of color]], including many people of mixed African-African and white Italian ancestry. Notable Black Italian-Americans include Pittsburgh Steeler running back [[Franco Harris]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wetheitalians.com/interviews/italian-americans-and-african-americans-clash-cultures |title=John Gennari (Author of the book "Flavor and Soul: Italian America at Its African American Edge") |publisher=We the Italians |access-date=May 19, 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Walter M. Schirra (Apollo 7).jpg|thumb|left|[[Wally Schirra]], one of the earliest NASA astronauts to enter into space (1962), taking part in the [[Mercury Seven]] program and later [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] and [[Apollo program|Apollo]] programs]]

Italian Americans took advantage of the new opportunities that generally became available to all in the post-war decades. They made many significant contributions to American life and culture.

Numerous Italian Americans became involved in politics at the local, state, and national levels in the post-war decades. Those who became U.S. senators included [[John Pastore]] of Rhode Island, who was the first Italian American elected to the Senate in 1950; [[Pete Domenici]], who was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Mexico in 1972 and served six terms; [[Patrick Leahy]], who was elected to the U.S. Senate from Vermont in 1974 and served until 2023; and [[Alfonse D'Amato]], who served as U.S. senator from New York from 1981 to 1999. [[Nancy Pelosi]] was both the first woman and the first Italian American Speaker of the House. [[Anthony Celebrezze]] served for five two-year terms as mayor of Cleveland, from 1953 to 1962 and, in 1962, President [[John F. Kennedy]] appointed him as United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services). [[Benjamin Civiletti]] served as the United States Attorney General during the last year and a half of the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981. [[Frank Carlucci]] served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President [[Ronald Reagan]].
[[File:León XIV.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Leo XIV]]. His paternal grandfather's family name was Riggitano, and later changed to Prevost, when he was settled in the United States.<ref name="bosman2025">{{cite news |last1=Bosman |first1=Julie |title=A Century-Old Romance That Gave the Pope His Family Name |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/us/pope-leo-grandfather.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Hk8.tLNf.NnvwUXTO7EKz&smid=url-share |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=May 16, 2025}}</ref> Leo XIV's paternal grandparents were John Riggitano Prevost (born Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano, changed by him in the United States; 1876{{endash}}1960),<ref name="ANSA">{{cite news |title=Pope also has Creole origins from New Orleans - NYT - Vatican - Ansa.it |url=https://www.ansa.it/english/news/vatican/2025/05/09/pope-also-has-creole-origins-from-new-orleans-nyt_1e45a964-0b92-4bb2-b69b-00c3f83b8038.html |access-date=15 May 2025 |work=ANSA |date=9 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref><ref name="Serra 2025">{{cite web |last=Serra |first=Oscar |date=May 9, 2025 |title=Prevost, le origini italiane (come Bergoglio) e quel cognome che rimanda al Nord Ovest |trans-title=Prevost, the Italian origins (like Bergoglio) and that surname that recalls the North West|url=https://www.lastampa.it/cronaca/2025/05/09/news/prevost_origini_italiane_come_bergoglio_nome_profezia-15139133/ |access-date=May 9, 2025 |website=[[La Stampa]] |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Clayton |first=Laura |title='Great hope for the Church' as new Pope elected |url=https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/news-ge/great-hope-for-the-church-as-new-pope-elected/ |website=Bailiwick Express News Guernsey |date=May 12, 2025|access-date=May 13, 2025}}</ref> a [[Sicilian Americans|Sicilian immigrant]] from [[Milazzo]] near [[Messina]], [[Sicily]] region.<ref name="bosman2025"/>]]

Italian Americans founded many successful enterprises, both small and large, in the post-war decades, including [[Barnes & Noble]], [[Tropicana Products]], [[Frank Zamboni|Zamboni]], [[Transamerica Corporation|Transamerica]], [[Subway (restaurant)|Subway]], [[Mr. Coffee]], and [[Conair Corporation]]. Other enterprises founded by Italian Americans were [[Fairleigh Dickinson University]], the [[Eternal Word Television Network]], and the [[Philadelphia 76ers|Syracuse Nationals]] basketball team – later to become the [[Philadelphia 76ers]]. [[Robert Panara]] was a co-founder of the [[National Technical Institute for the Deaf]] and founder of the [[National Theater of the Deaf]]. Recognized as a pioneer in deaf culture studies in the United States, he was honored with a commemorative U.S. stamp in 2017.

Eight Italian Americans became Nobel Prize laureates in the post-war decades: [[Mario Capecchi]], [[Renato Dulbecco]], [[Riccardo Giacconi]], [[Salvatore Luria]], [[Franco Modigliani]], [[Rita Levi Montalcini]], [[Emilio G. Segrè]], and [[Carolyn Bertozzi]].

Italian Americans continued to serve with distinction in the military, with 4 Medal of Honor recipients in the [[Korean War]] and 11 in the [[Vietnam War]],<ref>Aldo E. Salerno, "Medal of Honor Winners", in ''The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia'', ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), pp. 365–68.</ref> including [[Vincent R. Capodanno]], a Catholic chaplain.

At the close of the 20th century, 31 men and women of Italian descent were serving in the U.S. House and Senate, 82 of the 1,000 largest U.S. cities had mayors of Italian descent, and 166 college and university presidents were of Italian descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dev.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150309085758/https://dev.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp|title=Italian American Contributions|date=March 9, 2015|archive-date=March 9, 2015}}</ref> An Italian American, [[Antonin Scalia]], was serving as a [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] justice, who was later joined by [[Samuel Alito]] in 2006. More than two dozen Italian Americans were serving in the Catholic Church as bishops. Four—[[Joseph Bernardin]], [[Justin Rigali]], [[Anthony Bevilacqua]], and [[Daniel DiNardo]]—had been elevated to Cardinals.

Italian Americans served with distinction in all of America's wars, and over 30 have been awarded the Medal of Honor. A number of Italian Americans have served as top-ranking generals in the military, including [[Anthony Zinni]], [[Raymond Odierno]], [[Carl Vuono]], and [[Peter Pace]], the latter three having also been appointed [[Joint Chiefs of Staff|Chief of Staff]] of their respective services. Over two dozen of Italian descent have been elected as state governors including, most recently, [[Paul Cellucci]] of Massachusetts, [[John Baldacci]] of Maine, [[Janet Napolitano]] of Arizona, and [[Donald Carcieri]] of Rhode Island.
{{clear}}

== Culture and societal influences ==
The historical figure of [[Christopher Columbus]] is commemorated on [[Columbus Day]] and is reflected in numerous monuments, city names, names of institutions, and the poetic name, "[[Columbia (personification)|Columbia,"]] for the United States itself. Italian American identification with the Genoese explorer, whose fame lay in his grand voyages departing [[Europe]] and crossing the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to make discoveries in the [[New World]], playing an important role in [[History of the United States|American history]] and identity; but was not of major significance in the Italian American sense of nationalism and general attachment to [[Italy]]. This identification contrasts, for example, to the preoccupations of [[Irish Americans]] with the political situation in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] throughout the 20th century and [[American Jews]]' deep personal investment in the fate of [[Israel]].<ref name="Sowell" />

===Politics===
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In the 1930s, Italian Americans voted heavily [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=See Rudolph |first1=J. Vecoli |year=1996 |title=The Coming Of Age Of Italian Americans: 1945-1974", ''Ethnicity'' 1978 5(2) 119-147; and Stefano Luconi, "Machine Politics and the Consolidation of the Roosevelt Majority: The Case of Italian Americans in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=32–59}}</ref> [[Carmine DeSapio]] in the late 1940s became the first to break the Irish Catholic hold on [[Tammany Hall]] since the 1870s. By 1951, more than twice as many Italian American legislators as in 1936 served in the six states with the most Italian Americans.<ref name="lubell1956">{{cite book |author=Lubell, Samuel |title=The Future of American Politics |publisher=Anchor Press |year=1956 |edition=2nd |page=70 |ol=6193934M}}</ref> Since 1968, voters have split about evenly between the Democratic (37 percent) and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (36 percent) parties.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 14, 2007 |title=NIAF. Two Days of Italian/American Affairs |url=http://www.i-italy.org/645/niaf-two-days-italian-american-affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216171254/http://www.i-italy.org/645/niaf-two-days-italian-american-affairs |archive-date=February 16, 2015 |access-date=September 2, 2010 |publisher=I-italy.org}}</ref>  The [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] includes Italian Americans who are leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties. In 2007, [[Nancy Pelosi]] (D-CA) became the first woman and Italian American [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]. Former [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] New York City mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]] was a candidate for the U.S. presidency in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]]. [[Mike Pompeo]], American politician, diplomat, businessman, and attorney, served as the 70th [[United States secretary of state]] from 2018 to 2021. [[Ron DeSantis]], governor of Florida since 2019, is of Italian ancestry. [[Geraldine Ferraro]] was the first woman on a major party ticket, running for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] as a Democrat in 1984. Two justices of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] have been Italian Americans, [[Antonin Scalia]] and [[Samuel Alito]]. Both were appointed by Republican presidents, Scalia by [[Ronald Reagan]] and Alito by [[George W. Bush]].

The [[Italian American Congressional Delegation]] currently includes 30 members of Congress who are of Italian descent. They are joined by more than 150 associate members, who are not Italian American but have large Italian American constituencies. Since its founding in 1975, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) has worked closely with the bicameral and bipartisan [[Italian American Congressional Delegation]], which is led by co-chairs Rep. [[Bill Pascrell]] of New Jersey and Rep. [[Pat Tiberi]] of Ohio.

By the 1890s, [[Italian Americans in New York City]] were mobilizing as a political force. They helped elect [[Fiorello La Guardia]] (a Republican) as mayor in 1933, and helped reelect him in 1937 and 1941. They rallied for [[Vincent R. Impellitteri]] (a Democrat) in 1950, and [[Rudolph W. Giuliani]] (a Republican) in 1989 (when he lost), and in 1993 and 1997 (when he won). All three Italian Americans aggressively fought to reduce crime in the city; each was known for his good relations with the city's powerful labor unions.<ref>Salvatore J. LaGumina, "New York City Italian American Mayors, La Guardia, Impellitteri, and Giuliani: Comparisons, Contrasts and Curiosities", ''Proceedings of the American Italian Historical Association'', Nov 2000, Vol. 33, pp 24–44</ref>  La Guardia and Giuliani have had the reputation among specialists on urban politics as two of the best mayors in American history.<ref>Sam Roberts (April 18, 2008), [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E2D81730F932A05751C1A9679C8B63 "The Giuliani Years: History; La Guardia's Legacy Is Formidable, but it May Be Surpassed"], ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>Thomas Kessner, ''Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York'' (1989)</ref> Democrat [[Bill de Blasio]], the third mayor of Italian ancestry, served as the 109th [[mayor of New York City]] for two terms, from 2014 to 2021. [[Mario Cuomo]] (a Democrat) served as the 52nd [[governor of New York]] for three terms, from 1983 to 1995. His son [[Andrew Cuomo]] was the 56th governor of New York and previously served as secretary of housing and urban development from 1997 to 2001 and as the attorney general of New York from 2007 to 2010.

However, in contrast to other ethnic groups, Italian Americans demonstrate a marked lack of [[ethnocentrism]] and long history of political [[individualism]], eschewing ethnic [[Voting bloc|bloc voting]], preferring to vote on the basis of individual candidates and issues, embracing maverick political candidates over ethnic loyalties. Popular New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in fact underperformed among his own demographic; in 1941, La Guardia even lost the Italian vote to his Irish opponent [[William O'Dwyer]]. In 1965, when New York Democrats backed [[Mario Procaccino]], an Italian-born candidate for city comptroller, Procaccino lost the Italian vote and won his election only because of support in Jewish voter precincts. In the [[1973 New York City mayoral election]], the son of Italian immigrants [[Mario Biaggi]] failed to unite Italian voters as an ethnic bloc the way his Jewish opponent [[Abraham Beame]] could do to win the Democratic primary.<ref name="Sowell" /> In the [[1962 Massachusetts gubernatorial election]], incumbent Italian American Governor [[John Volpe]] lost his re-election campaign by a razor-thin 0.2 percent—a final margin that could be more than sufficiently explained by Volpe polling only 51 percent among the state's significant [[History of Italian Americans in Boston|population of Italian Americans]], roughly half of whom voted for old-line [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants|Anglo-Saxon Protestant]] [[Endicott Peabody]] over a fellow ethnic.<ref name="Sowell" />

=== Economic and Social Conditions ===
[[File:21c Amadeo P Gianni USA stamp.jpg|thumb|right|upright|1973 U.S. postage stamp featuring [[Amadeo Giannini]]]]
Italian Americans have played a prominent role in the economy of the United States, and have founded companies of great national importance, such as [[Bank of America#Bank of Italy|Bank of America]] (by [[Amadeo Giannini]] in 1904), [[Qualcomm]], [[Subway (restaurant)|Subway]], [[Home Depot]], and [[Airbnb]] among [[List of Italian American business people|many others]]. Italian Americans have also made important contributions to the growth of the U.S. economy through their business expertise.  Italian Americans have served as CEO's of numerous major corporations, such as the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation by [[Lee Iacocca]], IBM Corporation by [[Samuel Palmisano]], Lucent Technologies by [[Patricia Russo]], the New York Stock Exchange by [[Richard Grasso]], Honeywell Incorporated by [[Michael Bonsignore]], and Intel by [[Paul Otellini]].  Economist [[Franco Modigliani]] was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Economics]] "for his pioneering analyses of [[saving]] and of [[financial market]]s."<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/1985/press.html Press Release], Nobel Prize Organisation, October 15, 1985</ref>  Economist [[Eugene Fama]] was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2013 for his contribution to the empirical analysis of portfolio theory, asset pricing, and the [[efficient-market hypothesis]].

About two-thirds of America's Italian immigrants arrived during 1900–1914. Many were of agrarian backgrounds, with little formal education and industrial skills, who became manual laborers heavily concentrated in the cities. Others came with traditional Italian skills as tailors; barbers; bricklayers; stonemasons and stone cutters; marble, tile, and terrazzo workers; fishermen; musicians; singers; shoemakers and shoe repairers; cooks and bakers; carpenters; grape growers; wine makers; silk makers; and dressmakers and seamstresses. Others came to provide for the needs of the immigrant communities, notably doctors, dentists, midwives, lawyers, teachers, morticians, priests, nuns, and brothers. Many of the skilled workers found work in their specialty, first in the Italian enclaves and eventually in the broader society. Traditional skills were often passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter.

By the second generation, approximately 70 percent of the men had [[blue-collar worker|blue-collar]] jobs, and the proportion was down to approximately 50 percent in the third generation, according to surveys in 1963.<ref name="HEAEG1980">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1980 |encyclopedia=Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |url=https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther |last=Nelli |first=Humbert S. |editor-last=Thernstrom |editor-first=Stephan |editor-link=Stephan Thernstrom |pages=545–560 |isbn=0-674-37512-2 |oclc=1038430174 |editor2-last=Orlov |editor2-first=Ann |editor3-last=Handlin |editor3-first=Oscar |editor-link3=Oscar Handlin |article=Italians}}</ref> By 1987, the level of Italian American income exceeded the national average, and since the 1950s, it grew faster than any other ethnic group except the Jews.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Frank M. Sorrentino |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=roDRYQV5etUC&pg=PA259 |title=The Review of Italian American Studies |author2=Jerome Krase |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7391-0159-9 |page=259}}</ref> By 1990, according to the U.S. census, more than 65 percent of Italian Americans were employed as managerial, professional, or [[White-collar worker|white-collar]] workers. In 1999, the median annual income of Italian-American families was $61,300, while the median annual income of all American families was $50,000.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Profile of Today's Italian Americans: A Report Based on the Year 2000 Census |url=http://www.osia.org/documents/IA_Profile.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000712/http://www.osia.org/documents/IA_Profile.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |access-date=July 21, 2011 |publisher=Order of the Sons of Italy in America}}</ref>

A [[University of Chicago]] study<ref>''Comparative Study of Fifteen Ethnic Groups'', University of Chicago Study, 1994</ref>  of 15 ethnic groups showed that Italian Americans were among those groups having the lowest percentages of divorced people, unemployed people, people on welfare, and people incarcerated. On the other hand, they were among those groups with the highest percentages of two-parent families, elderly family members still living at home, and families who eat together on a regular basis.

=== Science ===
[[File:RasettiFermiSegre.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Enrico Fermi]] between [[Franco Rasetti]] (left) and [[Emilio Segrè]] in [[academic dress]]]]
Italian Americans have been responsible for major breakthroughs in virtually all fields of science, including engineering, medicine, and physics. Physicist and Nobel Prize laureate [[Enrico Fermi]] was the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the [[Chicago Pile-1]], and among the leading scientists involved in the [[Manhattan Project]] during World War II. One of Fermi's main collaborators, [[Franco Rasetti]], was awarded the [[Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal]] by the [[National Academy of Sciences]] for his contributions to Cambrian paleontology. [[Federico Faggin]] developed the first microchip and microprocessor.
[[Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli]] was a key figure whose pioneering technical developments and entrepreneurial drive established the standard chip software-design tool used across the world today.
[[Robert Gallo]] led research that identified a cancer-causing virus. [[Anthony Fauci]] in 2008 was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] for his work on the [[AIDS]] relief program [[President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief|PEPFAR]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021 |title=Fauci: The Virus Hunter |work=PBS |type=Special Documentary}}</ref> Astrophysicist [[Riccardo Giacconi]] was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. Virologist [[Renato Dulbecco]] won the 1975 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for his work on [[oncovirus]]es. Pharmacologist [[Louis Ignarro]] was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide. Microbiologist [[Salvador Luria]] won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969 for his contribution to major discoveries on the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses. Physicist [[William Daniel Phillips]] in 1997 won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to [[laser cooling]]. Physicist [[Emilio Segrè]] discovered the elements [[technetium]] and [[astatine]], and the [[antiproton]], a subatomic antiparticle, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959. Nine Italian Americans, including a woman, have gone into space as astronauts: [[Wally Schirra]], [[Dominic A. Antonelli|Dominic Antonelli]], [[Charles Camarda]], [[Mike Massimino]], [[Richard Mastracchio]], [[Ronald Parise]], [[Mario Runco]], [[Albert Sacco]], and [[Nicole Marie Passonno Stott]]. [[Rocco Petrone]] was the third director of the NASA [[Marshall Space Flight Center]], from 1973 to 1974.

===Women===
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* A fourteen year old Italian girl working at a paper-box factory (1913)
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* [[Mother Cabrini]]
* An Italian immigrant making an [[American breakfast]] aided by instructional materials from the [[YMCA]]
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Italian women who arrived during the period of mass immigration had to adapt to new and unfamiliar social and economic conditions. Mothers, who had the task of raising the children and providing for the welfare of the family, commonly demonstrated great courage and resourcefulness in meeting those obligations, often under adverse living conditions. Their cultural traditions, which placed the highest priority on the family, remained strong as Italian immigrant women adapted to these new circumstances.

To assist the immigrants in the Little Italys, who were overwhelmingly Catholic, Pope [[Leo XIII]] dispatched a contingent of priests, nuns, and brothers of the [[Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo]] and other orders. Among these was Sister [[Francesca Cabrini]], who founded dozens of schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She was canonized as the first American saint in 1946.

Married women typically avoided factory work and chose home-based economic activities such as dressmaking, taking in boarders, and operating small shops in their homes or neighborhoods. Italian neighborhoods also proved attractive to [[midwifery|midwives]], women who trained in Italy before coming to America.<ref>Vecchio (2006)</ref> Many single women were employed in the garment industry as seamstresses, often in unsafe working environments. Many of the 146 who died in the [[Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire]] in 1911 were Italian American women. [[Angela Bambace]] was an 18-year-old Italian American organizer for the [[International Ladies Garment Workers Union]] in New York who worked to secure better working conditions and shorter hours for women workers in the garment industry.

After World War II, Italian American women acquired an increasing degree of freedom in choosing a career and seeking higher levels of education.  Consequently, the second half of the 20th century was a period in which Italian American women excelled in virtually all fields of endeavor. In politics, [[Geraldine Ferraro]] was the first woman vice presidential candidate, [[Ella Grasso]] was the first woman elected as a state governor, and [[Nancy Pelosi]] was the first woman Speaker of the House. In 1980, [[Mother Angelica]] (Rita Rizzo), a Franciscan nun, founded the [[EWTN|Eternal Word Television Network]] (EWTN), a network viewed regularly by millions of Catholics. [[JoAnn Falletta]] was the first woman to become a permanent conductor of a major symphony orchestra (with both the [[Virginia Symphony Orchestra]] and the [[Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra]]). [[Penny Marshall]] (Masciarelli) was one of the first women directors in Hollywood. [[Catherine DeAngelis]], M.D., was the first woman editor of the ''[[JAMA|Journal of the American Medical Association]]''. [[Patricia Fili-Krushel]] was the first woman president of ABC Television. [[Bonnie Tiburzi]] was the first woman pilot in commercial aviation history. [[Patricia Russo]] was the first woman to become CEO of [[Lucent Technologies]]. [[Karen Ignagni]] was the first woman to serve as the CEO of American Health Insurance Plans, an umbrella organization representing all major [[Health maintenance organization|HMOs]] in the country. [[Nicole Marie Passonno Stott]] was one of the first women to go into space as an astronaut. [[Carolyn Porco]], a world recognized expert in planetary probes, is the leader of the imaging science team for the [[Cassini–Huygens|''Cassini'' probe]], which orbited [[Saturn]].

[[The National Organization of Italian American Women]] (NOIAW), founded in 1980, is an organization for women of Italian heritage committed to preserving Italian heritage, language, and culture by promoting and supporting the advancement of women of Italian ancestry.

===Religion===
[[File:Anthony of Padua RCC cloudy jeh.jpg|thumb|left|[[St. Anthony of Padua Church (Manhattan)|St. Anthony of Padua Church]] in New York was established in 1859 as the first parish in the United States formed specifically to serve the Italian immigrant community.]]

The majority of Italian Americans are [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], although Catholic affiliation among Italian American adults has fallen from 89 percent in 1972 to 56 percent in 2010 (-33 percentage points).<ref name="Nineteen Sixty-four">{{cite web |date=July 8, 2011 |title=An Italian American Mystery |url=http://nineteensixty-four.blogspot.com/2011/07/italian-american-mystery.html |access-date=May 31, 2021 |website=nineteensixty-four.blogspot.com |publisher=Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at [[Georgetown University]]}}</ref> By 1910, Italian Americans had founded 219 Catholic churches and 41 parochial schools, served by 315 priests and 254 nuns, 2 Catholic seminaries, and 3 orphanages.<ref>''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', Vol. 8, 1910</ref> Four hundred Italian Jesuit priests left Italy for the American West between 1848 and 1919. Most of these Jesuits left their homeland involuntarily, expelled by Italian nationalists in the successive waves of Italian unification that dominated Italy. When they came to the West, they ministered to Native Americans in the Northwest, Irish-Americans in San Francisco, and Mexican Americans in the Southwest. They also ran the nation's most influential Catholic seminary, in Woodstock, Maryland. In addition to their pastoral work, they founded numerous high schools and colleges, including [[Regis University]], [[Santa Clara University]], the [[University of San Francisco]], and [[Gonzaga University]].<ref>Gerald McKevitt ''BROKERS OF CULTURE, ITALIAN JESUITS IN THE AMERICAN WEST, 1848–1919'' (Stanford University Press, 2007). See review of book by John T. McGreevy ("Off A Distant Land") in ''AMERICA'', 7, May 2007, 30–31.</ref>

[[File:Fr_Demo_Church_jeh.JPG|thumb|[[Our Lady of Pompeii Church (Manhattan)|Our Lady of Pompeii Church]] in New York was founded in 1892 as a national parish to serve Italian-American immigrants who settled in Greenwich Village.]]

While most Italian American families have a Catholic background, about 19 percent self-identified as [[Protestant]] in 2010.<ref name="Nineteen Sixty-four" /> In the early 20th century, about 300 Protestant missionaries worked in urban Italian American neighborhoods. Some have joined the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]], which still retains much of the Catholic [[liturgy|liturgical]] form. Some have converted to [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] churches. [[Fiorello La Guardia]] was raised Episcopalian; his father was Catholic, and his mother was from the small but significant community of [[Italian Jews]]. There is a small [[Charismatic Movement|charismatic]] denomination, known as the [[Christian Church of North America]], which is rooted in the Italian [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal Movement]] that originated in [[Chicago]] in the early 20th century. A group of Italian immigrants in [[Trenton, New Jersey]], and [[Wakefield, Massachusetts]], built their own small Baptist chapel and converted to the [[Baptists|Baptist]] denomination. [[The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)]], a denomination of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], which is headquartered in [[Monongahela, Pennsylvania]], counts significant numbers of Italian Americans in its leadership and membership.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Form |first1=William |year=2000 |title=Italian Protestants: Religion, Ethnicity, and Assimilation |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=307–320 |doi=10.1111/0021-8294.00026 |jstor=1387816}}</ref> The town of [[Valdese, North Carolina]], was founded in 1893 by a group of Italians of [[Waldensian]] religion, originally from the [[Cottian Alps]] in Italy.

==== Italian Jews ====
{{See also|Italian Jews}}

[[File:Segre.jpg|thumb|354x354px|[[Emilio Segrè]], who was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1959, was among the Italian Jews who emigrated to the United States after Mussolini's regime implemented an anti-semitic legislation.]]

The Jewish emigration from Italy was never at a level that resulted in the formation of Italian Jewish communities in the United States.  Religious Italian Jews integrated into existing Jewish communities without difficulty, especially in [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] communities, and those who were secular found Jewish secular institutions in the United States ready to welcome them. Despite their small numbers, Italian American Jews have had a great influence on American life,<ref>Jack Nusan Porter, "Italian American Jews," in ''The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia'', ed. Salvatore J. LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), pp.302–303.</ref> starting with [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]] (born ''Emanuele Conegliano''), Mozart's former librettist, opera impresario and the first professor of Italian at [[Columbia University|Columbia College]] in New York, where he lived from 1805 to his death in 1838.

From a religious point of view, the figure of greatest influence is Rabbi [[Sabato Morais]], who, at the end of the 19th century, was the leader of the large Sephardic community of Philadelphia. In 1886, he became one of the founders of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] in New York, where he became its first dean. Two other Italian Jews achieved prominence in the United States in the first half of the 20th century: [[Giorgio Polacco]] was the principal conductor of the [[Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)|Metropolitan Opera House]] (1915–1917) and the [[Chicago Civic Opera]] (1921–1930), and [[Fiorello La Guardia]] was a member of the U.S. Congress (1917–1919 and 1923–1933) and a popular mayor of New York (1934–1945). A descendant on his mother's side of the great Italian rabbi [[Samuel David Luzzatto]], La Guardia could address his constituency in both Italian and [[Yiddish]].

Under [[Mussolini]]'s [[Italian Racial Laws|Racial Laws]] of 1938, Italian Jews, who had lived in Italy for over two millennia, were stripped of most of their civil liberties. Finding refuge in the United States as a result of the fascist persecutions during the 1930s and 1940s, roughly 2,000 Italian Jews landed in America and continued their work in a wide range of fields.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Italian Jewish Exiles in America. An Overview by Gianna Pontecorboli |url=https://primolevicenter.org/the-italian-jewish-exiles-in-america-an-overview-by-gianna-pontecorboli/ |access-date=May 31, 2021 |publisher=Centro Primo Levi New York}}</ref> Many achieved international importance, including [[Giorgio Levi Della Vida]], [[Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco]], [[Vittorio Rieti]], [[Bruno Rossi]], [[Emilio Segre]]
[[Giorgio Cavaglieri]], [[Ugo Fano]], [[Robert Fano]], [[Guido Fubini]], [[Eugene Fubini]], and [[Silvano Arieti]]. Of particular importance also are the contributions of the Italian Jewish women Maria Bianca Finzi-Contini, Bianca Ara Artom, and [[Giuliana Tesoro]], who opened the fields of university and scientific research to Italian American women. After the war, four Italian American Jews received the Nobel Prize: [[Franco Modigliani]], [[Emilio Segre]], [[Salvador Luria]], and [[Rita Levi Montalcini]]. Also of significance are the contributions of communication specialist [[Andrew Viterbi]], journalist and writer [[Ken Auletta]], and economist [[Guido Calabresi]]. The international recognition of the work of [[Primo Levi]] and other Italian-Jewish authors, such as [[Giorgio Bassani]] and [[Carlo Levi]], has increased the interest in the United States in Italian Judaism, as demonstrated by the opening in 1998 of the [[Primo Levi Center]] of New York.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Centro Primo Levi New York |url=https://primolevicenter.org/ |accessdate=March 3, 2024}}</ref>

===Feasts===
An important event brought over from Italy by the early Italian immigrants is the festa.  This was for many an important connection to the traditions of their ancestral villages in Italy. The festa involved an elaborate procession through the streets in honor of a patron saint or the Virgin Mary. The festa became an important occasion that helped give the immigrants a sense of unity and common identity. This tradition has continued into the modern day as well.

In some Sicilian American communities, primarily [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] and [[New Orleans]], [[Saint Joseph's Day]] (March 19) is marked by parades and celebrations, including traditional "St. Joseph's tables," where meatless dishes are served for the benefit of the communities' poor. [[Columbus Day]] is also widely celebrated, as are the feasts of some regional Italian [[patron saint]]s. In [[North End, Boston|Boston's North End]], the Italian immigrants celebrate the "Feast of all Feasts," [[Feast of St. Anthony|Saint Anthony's Feast]]. Started in 1919 by Italian immigrants from Montefalcione, a small town near Naples, Italy, the feast is widely considered the largest and most authentic Italian religious festival in the United States. More than 100 vendors and 300,000 people attend the feast over a three-day period in August. [[Saint Januarius|San Gennaro]] (September 19) is another popular saint, especially among Neapolitans. [[Saint Rosalia|Santa Rosalia]] (September 4), is celebrated by immigrants from [[Sicily]]. Immigrants from [[Potenza]] celebrate the [[Saint Roch|San Rocco]]'s Day (August 16) feast at the Potenza Lodge in [[Denver]] the third weekend of August. San Rocco is the patron saint of Potenza, as is [[Gerard Majella|San Gerardo]]. Many still celebrate the Christmas season with a [[Feast of the Seven Fishes]]. The [[Feast of the Assumption]] is celebrated in [[Cleveland]]'s Little Italy on August 15. On this feast day, people will pin money on a [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] statue as a symbol of prosperity. The statue is then paraded through Little Italy to Holy Rosary Church.

===Education===
[[File:Logue House 1101 Milford.jpg|thumb|Italian Cultural and Community Center ([[Logue House]]) in the [[Houston Museum District]]]]
During the era of mass immigration, rural families in Italy did not place a high value on formal education since they needed their children to help with chores as soon as they were old enough. For many, this attitude did not change upon arriving in America, where children were expected to help support the family as soon as possible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Franco |first=J. Philip di |url=https://archive.org/details/italianamericans0000difr/page/37 |title=The Italian Americans |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |year=1988 |isbn=0-87754-886-2 |edition=1. print. |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italianamericans0000difr/page/37 37–38]}}</ref> This view toward education steadily changed with each successive generation.  The 1970 census revealed that those under age 45 had achieved a level of education comparable to the national average,<ref name="Vecoli 1978">Vecoli (1978)</ref> and within six decades of their peak immigration year, Italian Americans as a whole had equaled the national average in educational attainment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chavez |first=Linda |date=March 25, 2011 |title=Hispanic population booms |url=http://townhall.com/columnists/lindachavez/2011/03/25/hispanic_boom |newspaper=[[Florida Today]] |location=Melbourne, Florida |pages=9A}}</ref><!---hard copy and soft copy sources are different. They are the same article, however--> Presently, according to Census Bureau data, Italian Americans have an average high school graduation rate, and a higher rate of advanced degrees compared to the national average.<ref name="US Census Bureau, Italian">{{cite web |author=United States Census Bureau |title=US demographic census |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR:543&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=NBSP&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212043917/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR:543&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=NBSP&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |access-date=April 15, 2008}}</ref> Italian Americans throughout the United States are well represented in a wide variety of occupations and professions, from skilled trades, to the arts, to engineering, science, mathematics, law, and medicine, and include a number of [[Nobel prize]] [[List of Nobel laureates|winners]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Prize Winners of Italian Descent |url=http://www.italiansrus.com/articles/nobelprizes.htm |access-date=September 3, 2010 |publisher=Italiansrus.com}}</ref>

There are two Italian international schools in the United States, [[La Scuola International]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=La Scuola, the only Italian Immersion School in San Francisco, receives recognition as the first and only Italian Accredited School on the west coast! |url=https://lascuolasanfrancisco.squarespace.com/blog/lascuolasanfranciscointernationalschool |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110133749/https://lascuolasanfrancisco.squarespace.com/blog/lascuolasanfranciscointernationalschool |archive-date=January 10, 2019 |access-date=January 10, 2019 |website=La Scuola International School |language=en-US}}</ref> in San Francisco, and [[La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi]] in New York City.<ref>"[http://www.lascuoladitalia.org/about-la-scuola/ About la scuola] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623234736/http://www.lascuoladitalia.org/about-la-scuola/|date=2015-06-23}}." [[La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi]]. Retrieved on May 2, 2015.</ref>

===Media===
====Television personalities====
Numerous American television and Cable personalities are of Italian descent. Talk-show hosts include [[Jay Leno]], [[Jimmy Kimmel]], [[Kelly Ripa]], [[Dana Perino]], [[Maria Bartiromo]], [[Adam Carolla]], [[Neil Cavuto]], [[Kelly Monaco]], [[Jai Rodriguez]], [[Annette Funicello]], [[Victoria Gotti]], [[Tony Danza]], [[Giuliana DePandi]], [[Giuliana Rancic]], Bruno Cipriani.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 19, 2015 |title=Famous Italian American TV Personalities |url=https://www.lifeinitaly.com/cinema-italiano/italian-movies/italian-american-tv-celebrities/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623171048/https://www.lifeinitaly.com/cinema-italiano/italian-movies/italian-american-tv-celebrities/ |archive-date=June 23, 2021 |access-date=May 15, 2021 |website=Life in Italy}}</ref>  

====Italian American newspapers====
[[Generoso Pope]] (1891–1950), the owner of a chain of Italian language newspapers in major cities, stands out as the epitome of the Italian American ethnic political broker. He bought ''[[Il Progresso Italo-Americano]]'' in 1928 for $2 million; he doubled its circulation to 200,000 in New York City, making it the largest Italian-language paper in the country. He purchased additional papers in New York and [[Philadelphia]], which became the chief source of political, social, and cultural information for the community. Pope encouraged his readers to learn English, become citizens, and vote; his goal was to instill pride and ambition to succeed in modern America. A conservative Democrat who ran the Columbus Day parade and admired Mussolini, Pope was the most powerful enemy of anti-Fascism among Italian Americans. Closely associated with [[Tammany Hall]] politics in New York, Pope and his newspapers played a vital role in securing the Italian vote for [[New Deal Coalition|Franklin D. Roosevelt's Democratic tickets]]. He served as chairman of the Italian Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1936, and helped persuade the president to take a neutral attitude over [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Italy's invasion of Ethiopia]]. He broke with Mussolini in 1941 and enthusiastically supported the American war effort. In the late 1940s Pope supported the election of [[William O'Dwyer]] as mayor in 1945 and [[Harry S. Truman]] as president. His business concerns continued to prosper under New York's Democratic administrations, and in 1946 he added the Italian-language radio station [[WHOM]] to his media holdings. In the early years of the [[Cold War]], Pope was a leading [[anti-Communist]] and orchestrated a letter-writing campaign by his subscribers to stop the Communists from winning the [[Italian elections in 1948]].<ref>Philip V. Cannistraro, "Generoso Pope and the Rise of Italian American Politics, 1925-1936", in ''Italian Americans: New Perspectives in Italian Immigration and Ethnicity'', edited by Lydio F. Tomasi, (1985) pp 264–288.</ref>

Voters did not always vote the way editorials dictated, but they depended on the news coverage. At many smaller papers, support for Mussolini, short-sighted opportunism, deference to political patrons who were not members of the Italian-American communities, and the necessity of making a living through periodicals with a small circulation, generally weakened the owners of Italian-language newspapers when they tried to become political brokers of the Italian American vote.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luconi |first1=Stefano |year=2001 |title=Generoso Pope and Italian-American Voters in New York City |journal=Studi Emigrazione |volume=38 |issue=142 |pages=399–422}}</ref>

James V. Donnaruma purchased Boston's ''La Gazzetta del Massachusetts'' in 1905. ''La Gazzetta'' enjoyed a wide readership in Boston's Italian community because it emphasized detailed coverage of local ethnic events and explained how events in Europe affected the community. Donnaruma's editorial positions, however, were frequently at odds with the sentiments of his readership. Donnaruma's conservative views and desire for greater advertising revenue prompted him to court the favor of Boston's [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] elite, to whom he pledged editorial support in return for the purchase of advertising space for political campaigns. ''La Gazzetta'' consistently supported Republican candidates and policy positions, even when the party was proposing and passing laws to restrict Italian immigration. Nevertheless, voting records from the 1920s–1930s show that Boston's Italian Americans voted heavily for Democratic candidates.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deschamps |first1=Benedicte |last2=Luconi |first2=Stefano |year=2002 |title=The Publisher of the Foreign-Language Press as an Ethnic Leader? The Case of James V. Donnaruma and Boston's Italian-American Community in the Interwar Years |journal=[[Historical Journal of Massachusetts]] |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=126–143}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eula |first1=Michael J. |year=2001 |title=Ethnicity and Newark's 'Italian Tribune', 1934–1980 |journal=Italian Americana |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=23–35}}</ref>

[[Carmelo Zito]] took over the [[San Francisco]] newspaper ''Il Corriere del Popolo'' in 1935. Under Zito, it became one of the fiercest foes of Mussolini's fascism on the West Coast. It vigorously attacked Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia and its intervention in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Zito helped form the Italian-American Anti-Fascist League and often attacked certain Italian prominenti like Ettore Patrizi, publisher of ''L'Italia'' and ''La Voce del Popolo''. Zito's paper campaigned against alleged Italian pro-Fascist language schools of San Francisco.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deschamps |first1=Bénédicte |year=2001 |title=Opposing Fascism in the West: The Experience of 'Il Corriere Del Popolo' in San Francisco in the Late 1930s |journal=Proceedings of the American Italian Historical Association |volume=34 |pages=109–123}}</ref>

In 1909, Vincenzo Giuliano, an immigrant from Calabria, Italy and his wife Maria Oliva founded ''La Tribune Italiana d'America'', known today as ''The Italian Tribune'', which circulates throughout southeastern Michigan.  A second newspaper founded by a Catholic order of priests, '' La Voce del Popolo'' also served the Metro Detroit community until the 1920s, when that newspaper merged with ''La Tribuna Italiana d'America''.  Upon Giuliano's death in the 1960s, his family continued the paper.

=== Organizations ===
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Italian-American organizations include:
* [[Alpha Phi Delta]]
* [[American Italian Anti-Defamation League]]
* [[Columbus Citizens Foundation]]
* [[Italian American Congressional Delegation]]
* [[Italian American One Voice Coalition]]
* [[Italian-American Civil Rights League]]
* [[Italian-American National Union]]
* [[Italy–USA Foundation]]
* [[National Organization of Italian American Women]]
* [[Order Sons of Italy in America]]
* [[Unico National]]
* The Columbian Foundation
* American Relief for Italy, Inc (ARI)

In 1944, the creation of the American Relief for Italy, Inc (ARI) functioned as an umbrella organization until 1946. The ARI collected, shipped, and distributed over $10 million of relief materials donated by other Italian organizations and individuals from all over Italy. Catholic charities, labor unions, cultural clubs, and fraternal organizations all responded in helping to raise money for the ARI. These relief materials were donated to Italians in need and helped to provide humanitarian assistance. All remaining donations were distributed to Italian soldiers at war. This organization was one of the first steps in the lengthy process of political and economic stabilizations in postwar Italy.<ref name="Battisti">{{Cite journal |last=Battisti |first=Danielle |date=2012 |title=The American Committee on Italian Migration, Anti-Communism, and Immigration Reform |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=11–40 |doi=10.5406/jamerethnhist.31.2.0011 |issn=0278-5927 |jstor=10.5406/jamerethnhist.31.2.0011}}</ref>
* American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM)

Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, the American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM) was one of the largest, most active Italian American organizations in the United States. They gave assistance to Italian immigrants living in the United States threatened by political instability and provided recovery for those in need. Frequently, money and supplies were sent back home to those who were unable to migrate or were in the process of migrating to the United States. Most of these people were the women and children Italian men left behind in hopes of starting a new life in America. The ACIM grew rapidly with hundreds of thousands of members being both donors and beneficiaries.<ref name="Battisti" />
* National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC)

The National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC) worked with ACIM on legislative campaigns and immigration projects. In 1951, members from NCWC, ACIM, as well as other Italian Americans joined in efforts to create an organization that specifically benefited and focused on assisting Italian immigrants. After a vast effort in 1953, the Refugee Relief Act (RRA) was passed allowing the entrance of over two hundred thousand Italian immigrants into the United States. The RRA provided these Italian immigrants with many opportunities to start their new life in America. Job opportunities, a place to live, and proper education for immigrants children were provided.<ref name="Battisti" />

The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) <ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.niaf.org/ |accessdate=March 3, 2024 |website=The National Italian American Foundation}}</ref> – a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. – works to represent Italian Americans, spread knowledge of the Italian language, foster U.S./Italy relations and connect the greater Italian American community. Additionally, two major Italian American fraternal and service organizations, [[Order Sons of Italy in America]] and [[Unico National]], actively promote knowledge of Italian American history and culture.

The Italian Heritage and Culture Committee&nbsp;– NY, Inc. was founded in 1976, and has organized special events, concerts, exhibits and lectures celebrating Italian culture in New York City. Each year it focuses on a theme representative of the history and culture of Italy and Italian Americans.

The Italic Institute of America<ref name="italic.org">{{cite web |title=Italic Institute of America |url=http://www.italic.org |access-date=January 16, 2013 |publisher=Italic.org}}</ref> is dedicated to fostering and preserving knowledge of the classical Italian heritage of American society, through the Latin language and Greco-Roman-Etruscan civilization, as well as five centuries of contributions to American society by Italians and their descendants.

== Culture ==
[[File:1892 DalandHouse ColumbusDay Salem Massachusetts byFrankCousins 2.png|thumb|Columbus Day in [[Salem, Massachusetts]] in 1892]]
Italian Americans have influenced the [[American culture]] and society in a variety of ways, such as [[Italian-American cuisine|foods]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew F. Smith|title=The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC&pg=PA501|date=May 1, 2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-530796-2|page=501}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Fred L. Gardaphe|title=Leaving Little Italy: Essaying Italian American Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rnr2dj36StYC&pg=PA138|year=2004|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5917-1|page=138}}</ref> coffees, and desserts; wine production (in California and elsewhere in the United States); popular music, starting in the 1940s and 1950s and continuing into the present;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130432947|title='Amore': Italian-American Singers In The 20th Century|website=Npr.org|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> operatic, classical, and instrumental music;<ref>Geoffrey S. Cahn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JUyAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 "Composers, Classical"], in The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p. 141.</ref> jazz;<ref>Luciano J. Iorizzo, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JUyAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA314 "Jazz"], in The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p. 314.</ref> fashion and design;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifeinitaly.com/fashion/italian-influence.asp|title=Italian Influence on American Glamour|website=Life In Italy|date=May 31, 2012|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> cinema, literature, and [[Italianate architecture]], in homes, churches, and public buildings; [[Montessori education|Montessori schools]]; [[Nativity scene|Christmas crèches]]; fireworks displays;<ref>{{cite web |title=1893 Zambelli, Grucci and Italian American fireworks predominance |website=Milestons of the Italian American Experience |url=http://milestones.niaf.org/year_1893.asp |access-date=May 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025175000/http://milestones.niaf.org/year_1893.asp |archive-date=October 25, 2015 }}</ref> and sports (e.g., [[bocce]] and [[beach tennis]]).

=== Cinema ===
After World War II, numerous Italian Americans became well known in movies, both as actors and directors, and many were Academy Award recipients.  Movie directors included [[Frank Capra]], [[Francis Ford Coppola]], [[Michael Cimino]], [[Vincente Minnelli]], [[Martin Scorsese]], and [[Brian De Palma]].

===Literature===
[[File:Lawrence-ferlinghetti-by-elsa-dorfman (cropped).jpg|thumb|200px|[[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]]]]
[[File:Don delillo nyc 02-cropped-head.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Don DeLillo]]]]

The works of a number of Italian American authors and poets, born of immigrant parents, were published in the first half of the 20th century. [[Pietro Di Donato]], born in 1911, was a writer best known for his novel, ''[[Christ in Concrete]]'', which was hailed by critics in the United States and abroad as a metaphor for the immigrant experience in America. [[Frances Winwar]], born Francesca Vinciguerra in 1907 in Sicily, came to the United States at age 10. She is best known for her series of biographies of 19th-century English writers. She was also a frequent translator of classic Italian works into English and published several romantic novels set during historical events. [[John Ciardi]], born in 1916, was primarily a poet. Among his works is a highly respected English-language rendition of [[Dante Alighieri]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]''. [[John Fante]], born in 1909, was a novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.

Later in the century, a growing number of books by recognized Italian American authors, such as [[Don DeLillo]],<ref>see ''[[Italian Americana]]'', Vol. 29, no. 2, Summer 2011 for five articles about DeLillo's work</ref> [[Paul Gallico]] (''Poseidon Adventure''), [[Gilbert Sorrentino]], [[Gay Talese]], [[Camille Paglia]], and [[Mario Puzo]] (''The Fortunate Pilgrim'') found a place in mainstream American literature.  Other notable 20th-century authors included [[Dana Gioia]], executive director of the [[National Endowment for the Arts]]; [[John Fusco]], author of ''Paradise Salvage''; Tina DeRosa; and [[Daniela Gioseffi]], winner of the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry, and The American Book Award; and [[Josephine Gattuso Hendin]] (''The Right Thing to Do''). Poets Sandra (Mortola) Gilbert and [[Kim Addonizio]] were also winners of the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry from ''Italian Americana'', as was writer [[Helen Barolini]] and poet [[Maria Mazziotti Gillan|Maria Mazziotti]] Gillan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/Gillan.html |title=Contemporary Italian American Writing |publisher=ItalianAmericanWriters.com |access-date=September 3, 2010}}</ref> These women have authored many books depicting Italian American women in a new light. Helen Barolini's ''The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian American Women'' (1985) was the first anthology that pulled together the historic range of writing from the late 19th century to the 1980s. It exhibited the wealth of fiction, poetry, essays, and letters and paid special attention to the interaction of Italian American women with American social activism.<ref>Helen Barolini, ed. ''The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian American Women'', (1995)</ref> Italian American poets [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] and [[Gregory Corso]] played a prominent role in the [[Beat Generation]]. Ferlinghetti was also the co-founder of [[City Lights Bookstore]], a San Francisco bookstore and publishing company that published much of the work of other Beat Generation writers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti/ |title=City Lights Books |publisher=Citylights.com |access-date=September 3, 2010 |archive-date=January 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128162521/http://www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti/ }}</ref> Many of these authors' books and writings are easily found on the internet, as, for example, on an archive of contemporary Italian American authors, as well as in bibliographies online at Stonybrook University's Italian American Studies Department in New York<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianstudies.org/iam/Gesualdi.htm |title=Introduction on an Annotated Bibliography |publisher=Italianstudies.org |access-date=September 3, 2010}}</ref> or at the Italian American Writers Association website.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iawa.net/database.htm |title=Bibliography |publisher=Iawa.net |access-date=September 3, 2010}}</ref>

Among the scholars who have led the renaissance in Italian American literature are professors [[Richard Gambino]], [[Anthony Julian Tamburri]], [[Paolo Giordano]], and [[Fred Gardaphé]]. The latter three founded [[Bordighera Press]] and edited ''From the Margin: An Anthology of Italian American Writing'' (Purdue University Press). At Brooklyn College, Dr. Robert Viscusi founded the Italian American Writers Association and is an author and American Book Award winner himself. A supplemental website at www.italianamericana.com to the journal ''Italian Americana'', edited by novelist [[Christine Palamidessi Moore]], also offers historical articles, stories, memoirs, poetry, and book reviews. [[Dana Gioia]], was poetry editor of ''Italian Americana'' from 1993 to 2003, followed by poet [[Michael Palma]], who also selects poems for ''Italian Americana''{{'}}s webpage supplement.<ref>''Italian Americana'', Volumes 12-21, nos. 1–2</ref> [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]], [[Daniela Gioseffi]], and [[Paul Mariani]], are among the internationally known authors who have been awarded the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry during Michael Palma's tenure as poetry editor. Daniela Gioseffi, with [[Alfredo de Palchi]], founded the Annual $2,000 Bordighera Poetry Prize<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com/prize.html |title=Contemporary Italian American Writing – Bordighera Poetry Prize |publisher=ItalianAmericanWriters.com |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115135454/http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/prize.html |archive-date=January 15, 2013 }}</ref>  to further the names of Italian American poets in American literature. As of 1997, 12 books have been published in the bilingual series from Bordighera Press.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bordigherapress.org/ |title=Bordighera Press |publisher=Bordighera Press |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref>

Italian Americans have written not only about the Italian American experience but also about the human experience.  Some of the most popular inspirational books have been authored by Italian Americans—notably, those of [[Og Mandino]], [[Leo Buscaglia]], and Antoinette Bosco.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://antoinettebosco.com |title=Antoinette Bosco's Home Page |publisher=Antoinettebosco.com |access-date=August 10, 2014}}</ref>

===Language===
{{Main|Italian language in the United States}}

{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+Italian speakers in the U.S.
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Speakers
|-
| 1910{{ref|foreignborn|a}} || style="text-align:center" |1,365,110
|-
| 1920{{ref|foreignborn|a}} || style="text-align:center" |1,624,998
|-
| 1930{{ref|foreignborn|a}} || style="text-align:center" |1,808,289
|-
| 1940{{ref|foreignborn|a}} || style="text-align:center" |1,561,100
|-
| 1960{{ref|foreignborn|a}} || style="text-align:center" |1,277,585
|-
| 1970{{ref|foreignborn|a}} || style="text-align:center" |1,025,994
|-
| 1980<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/Table2.xls |title=Appendix Table 2. Languages Spoken at Home: 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007. |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref> || style="text-align:center" | 1,618,344
|-
| 1990<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/census/table5.txt |title=Detailed Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for Persons 5 Years and Over--50 Languages with Greatest Number of Speakers: United States 1990 |year=1990 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=July 22, 2012}}</ref> || style="text-align:center" |1,308,648
|-
| 2000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_00_SF3_QTP16&prodType=table |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212212514/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_00_SF3_QTP16&prodType=table |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |title=Language Spoken at Home: 2000 |publisher=[[United States Bureau of the Census]] |access-date=August 8, 2012}}</ref> || style="text-align:center" |1,008,370
|-
| 2011<ref>{{cite web |title=Detailed Languages Spoken at Home by English-Speaking Ability for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2011 |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2013/acs/acs-22/acs-22.pdf |website=census.gov |publisher=[[US Census Bureau]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908175914/https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2013/acs/acs-22/acs-22.pdf |archive-date=September 8, 2019 |page=3}}</ref> || style="text-align:center" |723,632
|-
| colspan="2" |{{note|foreignborn|a|Foreign-born population only<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab06.html |title=Mother Tongue of the Foreign-Born Population: 1910 to 1940, 1960, and 1970 |date=March 9, 1999 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>}}
|}
According to the Sons of Italy News Bureau, from 1998 to 2002 the enrollment in college [[Italian language]] courses grew by 30%, faster than the enrollment rates for [[French language|French]] and [[German language|German]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.osia.org/public/pdf/Italian_Lang_Study_2003.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222003039/http://www.osia.org/public/pdf/Italian_Lang_Study_2003.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Sons of Italy News Bureau|archive-date=December 22, 2009}}</ref> Italian is the fourth most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. colleges and universities behind Spanish, French, and German. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, Italian is the sixth most spoken language in the United States after English, with over 1 million speakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf |title=Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000|year=2003 |access-date=September 3, 2010}}</ref>

As a result of the large wave of Italian immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Italian and Sicilian were once widely spoken in much of the U.S., especially in northeastern and [[Great Lakes]] area cities like [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], [[Detroit]], [[Chicago]], [[Cleveland]] and [[Milwaukee]], as well as [[San Francisco]], [[St. Louis]] and [[New Orleans]]. Italian-language newspapers exist in many American cities, especially New York City, and Italian-language movie theatres existed in the U.S. as late as the 1950s. ''[[L'Idea]]'' is a bilingual quarterly published in Brooklyn since 1974. ''[[Arba Sicula]]'' (Sicilian Dawn) is a semiannual publication of the society of the same name, dedicated to preserving the [[Sicilian language]]. The magazine and a periodic newsletter offer prose, poetry and comment in Sicilian, with adjacent English translations.

Today, prizes like the Bordighera Annual Poetry Prize,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/Prize.html |title=The Bordighera Poetry Prize |publisher=Italianamericanwriters.com |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115135454/http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/prize.html |archive-date=January 15, 2013 }}</ref> founded by Daniela Gioseffi, Pietro Mastrandrea and Alfredo di Palchi, with support from the Sonia Rraiziss-Giop Foundation and Bordighera Press, which publishes the winners in bilingual editions have encouraged authors to write in Italian. Chelsea Books in New York City and Gradiva Press on [[Long Island]] have published many bilingual books due to the efforts of bilingual writers of the diaspora like Paolo Valesio,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/italian/fac-bios/valesio/faculty.html |title=Faculty |publisher=Columbia.edu |date=February 22, 1999 |access-date=September 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624030615/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/italian/fac-bios/valesio/faculty.html |archive-date=June 24, 2010 }}</ref> Alfredo de Palchi,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/dePalchi.html |title=Contemporary Italian American Writing&nbsp;— Alfredo de Palchi |publisher=ItalianAmericanWriters.com |access-date=September 3, 2010 }}</ref> and Luigi Fontanella. Dr. Luigi Bonaffini<ref>{{cite web|url=http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bonaffini/DP/index.html |title=Italian Dialect Poetry |publisher=Userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu |access-date=September 3, 2010 }}</ref> of the City University of New York, publisher of ''The Journal of Italian Translation'' at Brooklyn College, has fostered Italian dialectic poetry throughout Italy and the U.S. [[Joseph Tusiani]] of New York and New York University,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://siba3.unile.it/ctle/tusiani/biography.htm |title=Joseph Tusiani – Biography |publisher=Siba3.unile.it |access-date=September 3, 2010 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716104922/http://siba3.unile.it/ctle/tusiani/biography.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> a distinguished linguist and prize-winning poet born in Italy, paved the way for Italian works of literature in English and has published many bilingual books and Italian classics for the American audience, among them the first complete works of [[Michelangelo]]'s poems in English to be published in the United States.

[[File:Don't Speak the Enemy's Language, Speak American.jpg|left|thumb|A wartime poster]]
Author Lawrence Distasi argues that the loss of spoken Italian among the Italian American population can be tied to U.S. government pressures during World War II. During World War II, in various parts of the country, the U.S. government displayed signs that read, "Don't Speak the Enemy's Language". Such signs designated the languages of the [[Axis powers]], German, Japanese and Italian, as "enemy languages". Shortly after the Axis powers declared war on the U.S., many Italian, Japanese and German citizens were interned. Among the Italian Americans, those who spoke Italian, who had never become citizens and who belonged to groups that praised [[Benito Mussolini]], were most likely to become candidates for internment. Distasi claims that many Italian language schools closed down in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] within a week of the U.S. declaration of war on the Axis powers. Such closures were inevitable since most of the teachers in Italian languages were interned.

Despite previous decline, Italian and Sicilian are still spoken and studied by those of Italian American descent and it can be heard in various American communities, especially among older Italian Americans. The official Italian taught in schools is [[Italian language|Standard Italian]], which is based on 14th century literary [[Florentine dialect|Florentine]].<ref>{{Treccani|storia-della-lingua_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)|titolo=Storia della lingua|autore=Vittorio Coletti|accesso=22 maggio 2017|data=2011}}</ref> However, the "Italian" with which Italian Americans are generally acquainted is often rooted in the [[Regional Italian]] and [[Italo-Dalmatian languages]] their immigrant ancestors brought from Italy to American, primarily [[Neapolitan language|southern Italian]] and [[Sicilian language|Sicilian dialects]] of pre-unification Italy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-capicola-became-gabagool-the-italian-new-jersey-accent-explained|title=How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained|last=Nosowitz|first=Dan|date=November 5, 2015|website=Atlas Obscura|access-date=June 14, 2019}}</ref>
[[File:Italian USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Italian language in the United States]]]]

Despite it being the fifth most studied language in higher education (college and graduate) settings throughout America,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vistawide.com/languages/us_languages.htm |title=Languages Spoken and Learned in the United States |publisher=Vistawide.com | access-date=September 3, 2010 }}</ref> the Italian language has struggled to maintain being an [[Advanced Placement|AP course of study]] in high schools nationwide. It was only in 2006 that AP Italian classes were first introduced, and they were soon dropped from the national curricula after the spring of 2009.<ref>{{cite news |author-link=Mary Pilon |last=Pilon |first=Mary |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703674704575234232176866638?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth |title=Italian Job: Get Back on AP Exam |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=May 10, 2010|access-date=September 3, 2010}}</ref> The organization which manages such curricula, the [[College Board]], ended the AP Italian program because it was "losing money" and had failed to add 5,000 new students each year. Since the program's termination in the spring of 2009, various Italian organizations and activists have attempted to revive the course of study.

Web-based Italian organizations, such as ItalianAware,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.italianaware.com/|title=ItalianAware-Home|date=January 31, 2019|accessdate=March 3, 2024|archive-date=January 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131020041/http://www.italianaware.com/|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> have begun book donation campaigns to improve the status and representation of Italian and Italian American literature in the [[New York Public Library|New York public libraries]]. According to ItalianAware, the [[Brooklyn Public Library]] is the worst offender in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italianaware.com/literaturedonations |title=Literature Donations |publisher=Italianaware.com |access-date=September 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713064613/http://www.italianaware.com/literaturedonations |archive-date=July 13, 2011 }}</ref> It has 11 books pertaining to the Italian immigrant experience available for checkout, spread across 60 branches.

==== Italian American pidgin ====
Italian American pidgin or Italian American slang is a [[pidgin language]] thought to have developed in the early 1900s in American cities with a large Italian population, primarily [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[New Jersey]]. It soon spread to many [[Little Italy|Italian communities]] across cities and metropolitan areas in both the [[United States|U.S.]] and [[Canada]]. It is not a language in its own right but is a mix of the various [[Languages of Italy|Italian dialects]] and [[American English]].<ref>{{cite web |title=AMERICAN ITALIAN SLANG WORDS |url=https://letslearnslang.com/italian-american-slang-words/ |website=LETS LEARN SLANG|date=June 15, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=American-Italian dictionary |url=https://americanitalian.net/ |website=americanitalian.net}}</ref>

=== Cuisine ===
{{Main|Italian-American cuisine}}
{{Unsourced section|date=November 2025}}
Italian Americans have had a great influence on the eating habits of America. Italian American TV personalities, such as [[Mario Batali]], [[Giada DeLaurentiis]], [[Rachael Ray]], [[Lidia Bastianich]], and [[Guy Fieri]] have hosted popular cooking shows featuring Italian cuisine.

Although heavily influenced by [[Italian cuisine]], especially the [[Sicilian cuisine|Sicilian]] and [[Neapolitan cuisine|Neapolitan]] cuisine of southern Italian immigrants to the United States, Italian-American cuisine differs in many ways. The increased availability of meat in quantity has led to the birth of typical Italian-American dishes such as [[spaghetti and meatballs]].

=== Music ===
[[File:Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin (circa 1963).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Dean Martin]] in 1963]]
Scores of Italian Americans became well known singers in the post-war period, including [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Mario Lanza]], [[Perry Como]], [[Dean Martin]], [[Tony Bennett]], [[Frankie Laine]], [[Bobby Darin]], [[Julius La Rosa]], [[Connie Francis]], [[Jon Bon Jovi]], and [[Madonna]]. Italian Americans who hosted popular musical/variety TV shows in the post-war decades included Perry Como (1949–1967), piano virtuoso [[Liberace]] (1952–1956), Jimmy Durante (1954–1956), Frank Sinatra (1957–1958), and Dean Martin (1965–1974). Broadway, musical stars included [[Rose Marie]], [[Carol Lawrence]], [[Anna Maria Alberghetti]], [[Sergio Franchi]], [[Patti LuPone]], [[Ezio Pinza]], and [[Liza Minnelli]].

In music composition, [[Henry Mancini]] and [[Bill Conti]] received numerous Academy Awards for their songs and film scores. Classical and operatic composers [[John Corigliano]], [[Norman Dello Joio]], [[David Del Tredici]], [[Paul Creston]], [[Dominick Argento]], [[Gian Carlo Menotti]], and [[Donald Martino]] were honored with [[Pulitzer Prize]]s and [[Grammy Award]]s.

=== Sports ===
[[File:Joe DiMaggio 1951 Spring Training.png|thumb|[[Joe DiMaggio]], one of the greatest baseball players of all time, in 1951]]
After World War II, Italian Americans were active in professional sports as players, coaches, and commissioners.  Well-known professional baseball coaches in the post-war decades included [[Yogi Berra]], [[Billy Martin]], [[Tony La Russa]], [[Tommy Lasorda]], and [[Joe Torre]]. In professional football, [[Vince Lombardi]] set the standard of excellence for all coaches to follow. [[A. Bartlett Giamatti]] became president of the National Baseball League in 1986 and commissioner of Baseball in 1989. [[Paul Tagliabue]] was commissioner of the National Football League from 1989 to 2006.

In college football, [[Joe Paterno]] became one of the most successful coaches ever. Seven Italian American players won the [[Heisman Trophy]]: [[Angelo Bertelli]] of [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame]], [[Alan Ameche]] of [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|Wisconsin]], [[Gary Beban]] of [[UCLA Bruins football|UCLA]], [[Joe Bellino]] of [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy]], [[John Cappelletti]] of [[Penn State football|Penn State]], [[Gino Torretta]], and [[Vinny Testaverde]] of [[Miami Hurricanes football|Miami]].

In college basketball, a number of Italian Americans became well-known coaches in the post-war decades, including [[John Calipari]], [[Lou Carnesecca]], [[Rollie Massimino]], [[Rick Pitino]], [[Jim Valvano]], [[Dick Vitale]], [[Tom Izzo]], [[Mike Fratello]], [[Ben Carnevale]], and [[Geno Auriemma]].

Italian Americans became nationally known in other diverse sports. [[Rocky Marciano]] was the undefeated heavyweight boxing champion from 1952 to 1956; [[Ken Venturi]] won both the British and U.S. Open golf championships in 1956; [[Donna Caponi]] won the U.S. Women's Open golf championships in 1969 and 1970; [[Linda Frattianne]] was the woman's U.S. figure skating champion four years in a row, from 1975 to 1978, and world champion in 1976 and 1978; [[Willie Mosconi]] was a 15-time World Billiard champion; [[Eddie Arcaro]] was a 5-time Kentucky Derby winner; [[Mario Andretti]] was a 4-time national race car champion; [[Mary Lou Retton]] won the all-around gold medal in Olympic woman's gymnastics; [[Matt Biondi]] won a total of 8 gold medals in Olympic swimming; and [[Brian Boitano]] won a gold medal in Olympic men's singles figure skating.

===Folklore===
[[File:USA san gennaro feast NY.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[San gennaro feast|Feast of San Gennaro]] in New York]]

One of the most characteristic and popular of Italian American cultural contributions has been their feasts. Throughout the United States, wherever one may find an "Italian neighborhood" (often referred to as "Little Italy"), one can find festive celebrations such as the well-known [[Feast of San Gennaro]] in New York City, the unique [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn#Feast of St. Paulinus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel|Our Lady of Mount Carmel "Giglio" Feast]] in the [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]] section of [[Brooklyn]], New York, Italian feasts involve elaborate displays of devotion to Jesus Christ and [[patron saint]]s. On the weekend of the last Sunday in August, the residents of Boston's [[North End, Boston|North End]] celebrate the "Feast of all Feasts" in honor of [[St. Anthony of Padua]], which was started over 300 years ago in [[Montefalcione]], Italy. Perhaps the most widely known is [[Saint Joseph]]'s feast day on March 19. These feasts are much more than simply isolated events within the year. Feast (''Festa'' in Italian) is an umbrella term for the various secular and religious, indoor and outdoor activities surrounding a religious holiday. Typically, Italian feasts consist of festive communal meals, religious services, games of chance and skill and elaborate outdoor processions consisting of statues resplendent in jewels and donations. The celebration usually takes place over the course of several days, and is communally prepared by a church community or a religious organization over the course of several months.

Currently, there are more than 300 Italian feasts celebrated throughout the United States. Notable is Festa Italiana, held in [[Milwaukee]] every summer. These feasts are visited each year by millions of Americans from various backgrounds who come together to enjoy Italian music and food delicacies. In the past, as to this day, an important part of Italian American culture centers around music and cuisine.

===Museums===
There are several museums in the United States, dedicated to Italian American culture:
* San Francisco, California: [[Museo ItaloAmericano]]
* Los Angeles, California: [[Italian American Museum of Los Angeles]]
* Chicago, Illinois: Casa Italia Chicago<ref>Casa Italia Chicago http://casaitaliachicago.org/</ref>
* New Orleans, Louisiana: American Italian Cultural Center<ref>American Italian Cultural Center http://americanitalianculturalcenter.com/</ref>
* Albany, New York: American Italian Heritage Association and Museum<ref>American Italian Heritage Association and Museum https://americanitalianmuseum.org/</ref>
* New York, New York: Italian American Museum<ref>Italian American Museum https://www.italianamericanmuseum.org</ref>
* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: History of Italian Immigration Museum (Filitalia Foundation)<ref>History of Italian Immigration Museum http://filitaliainternational.com/museum-main {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703050200/http://filitaliainternational.com/museum-main |date=July 3, 2020 }}</ref>
* Staten Island, New York: The [[Garibaldi-Meucci Museum]] (GMM)<ref>The Garibaldi Meucci Museum (GMM) https://www.garibaldimeuccimuseum.com/</ref>

==Discrimination and stereotyping==
{{Main|Anti-Italianism|Lynching of Italian Americans}}
During the period of mass immigration to the United States, Italians were often victims of prejudice, economic exploitation, and sometimes even violence, particularly in the South.  In the 1890s, more than 20 Italians were [[Lynching|lynched]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian8.html|title=Italian - Under Attack - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation - Teacher Resources - Library of Congress|website=Loc.gov|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> The hostility was often directed toward the Southern Italians and Sicilians who began immigrating to the United States in large numbers after 1880.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pitroso |first=Giulio |date=2022 |title=Una prospettiva regionalista su "Italian Diaspora" e "Anti-Italianism" in Australia e negli Stati Uniti A regionalist perspective on "Italian Diaspora" and "Anti-Italianism" in Australia and in the United States |url=https://ojs.cimedoc.uniba.it/index.php/nazionieregioni/article/view/1683 |journal=Nazioni e Regioni |issue=19–20 |pages=119–138 |doi=10.15162/2282-5681/1683 |issn=2282-5681}}</ref>

There was xenophobic attitude at the time defining the idea of "whiteness" in the United States, and a social hierarchy within the various white American communities in which a different degrees of whiteness was associated with each group. Some European immigrants, such as Italians, were considered less white than the early European settlers and, therefore, were less accepted at that time in American society.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jacobson|first=Mathew Frye|title=Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1998|page=56}}</ref> 

Italian stereotypes abounded as a means of justifying the maltreatment of the immigrants. The print media greatly contributed to the stereotyping of Italians with lurid accounts of secret societies and criminality. Between 1890 and 1920, Italian neighborhoods were often depicted as violent and controlled by criminal networks. Two highly publicized cases illustrate the impact of these negative stereotypes:

[[File:sacvan.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|[[Sacco and Vanzetti]] in handcuffs]]

In 1891, [[March 14, 1891 lynchings|eleven Italian immigrants]] in [[New Orleans]] were lynched due to their alleged role in the murder of the police chief [[David Hennessy]]. This was one of the largest mass [[lynching]]s in U.S. history. The lynching took place after nine of the immigrants were tried for the murder and acquitted. Subsequently, a mob broke into the jail where they were being held and dragged them out to be lynched, together with two other Italians who were being held in the jail at the time, but had not been accused in the killing.

[[File:1891 New Orleans Italian lynching.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|One of the largest mass [[lynching]]s in American history involved eleven Italian immigrants in [[New Orleans]] in 1891.]]

In 1920, two Italian immigrants, [[Sacco and Vanzetti|Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti]], were accused of robbery and murder in [[Braintree, Massachusetts|Braintree]], Massachusetts. Many historians agree that they were given a very unfair and biased trial because of their [[anarchist]]ic political beliefs and their Italian immigrant status. In spite of worldwide protests, Sacco and Vanzetti were eventually executed in 1927.

While the vast majority of Italian immigrants brought with them a tradition of hard work and were law-abiding citizens, as documented by police statistics of the early 20th century in Boston and New York City which show that Italian immigrants had an arrest rate no greater than that of other major immigrant groups,<ref>[http://www.clevelandmemory.org/italians/Partiii.html Italians] clevelandmemory.org p. 123 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220204034/http://www.clevelandmemory.org/italians/Partiii.html |date=February 20, 2016 }}</ref> a very small minority brought a very different custom. This criminal element preyed on the immigrants of the Little Italies, using intimidation and threats to extract protection money from the wealthier immigrants and shop owners, and were also involved in a multitude of other illegal activities. When the fascists came to power in Italy, they made the destruction of [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia in Sicily]] a high priority. Hundreds fled to the United States in the 1920s and 1930s to avoid prosecution.

[[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], which went into effect in 1920, proved to be an economic windfall for those in the Italian American community already involved in illegal activities, and those who had fled from Sicily. This entailed smuggling liquor into the country, wholesaling it, and then selling it through a network of outlets. While other ethnic groups were also deeply involved in these illegal ventures, and the associated violence, Chicago mobster [[Al Capone]] became the most notorious figure of the Prohibition era. Though eventually repealed, Prohibition had a long-term effect as the spawning ground for later criminal activities.

{{multiple image
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| caption2          = Media portrayal of mobsters, such as the fictional [[Vito Corleone|Don Corleone]], has been a major factor in shaping Italian American ethnic stereotypes.<ref name=Gambino>{{cite web |last1=Gambino |first1=Megan |title=What is The Godfather Effect? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-is-the-godfather-effect-83473971/ |website=[[.smithsonianmag.com]] |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref>
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In the 1950s, the scope of [[American Mafia|Italian American organized crime]] became well known though a number of highly publicized congressional hearings that followed a police raid on a top-level [[Apalachin Meeting|meeting of racketeers]] in [[Apalachin, New York|Apalachin]], New York. With advanced surveillance techniques, the [[United States Federal Witness Protection Program|Witness Protection Program]], the [[Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act]], and vigorous and sustained prosecution the power and influence of organized crime were greatly diminished in the decades that followed. Two Italian American prosecutors, [[Rudy Giuliani]] and [[Louis Freeh]], were instrumental in bringing this about. Freeh was later appointed director of the FBI, while Giuliani would serve two terms as Mayor of New York City.
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Sopranosposters2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|TV series like ''[[The Sopranos]]'' have been criticized for perpetuating negative stereotypes about Italian Americans.{{ffdc|1=Sopranosposters2.jpg|log=2016 January 3}}]] -->

From the earliest days of the movie industry, Italians have been portrayed as violent criminals and sociopaths.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bertellini | first1 = Giorgio | year = 2004 | title = Black Hands and White Hearts: Italian Immigrants as 'Urban Racial Types' in Early American Film Culture | journal = Urban History | volume = 31 | issue = 3| pages = 375–399 | doi=10.1017/s0963926805002427| s2cid = 145365445 }}</ref>  This trend has continued to the present day. The stereotype of Italian Americans is the standardized mental image which has been fostered by the entertainment industry, especially through commercially successful movies like ''[[The Godfather]]'', ''[[Goodfellas]]'', and ''[[Casino (1995 film)|Casino]]''; and TV programs such as ''[[The Sopranos]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nj.com/sopranos/ledger/index.ssf?/sopranos/stories/121600essex.html |title=Essex officials tell 'The Sopranos': Fuhgeddabout filming around here |access-date=July 31, 2008 |last=Schuppe |first=Jonathan |date=December 16, 2000 |work=[[The Star-Ledger]] |archive-date=February 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206175545/http://www.nj.com/sopranos/ledger/index.ssf?/sopranos/stories/121600essex.html }}</ref> This follows a known pattern in which it is possible for the mass media to effectively create universally recognized, and sometimes accepted, stereotypes.<ref>Campbell, R., ''Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication'', St. Martin's Press, New York, p. 1998</ref>

A highly publicized protest from the Italian-American community came in 2001 when the Chicago-based organization AIDA (American Italian Defamation Association) unsuccessfully sued [[Time Warner]] for distribution of [[HBO]]'s series ''[[The Sopranos]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italiansofchicago.com/topics.html |title=And They Came To Chicago: The Italian American Legacy |publisher=Modiomedia.com |date=December 1, 1958|access-date=September 3, 2010 }}</ref>

The [[DreamWorks Pictures|DreamWorks]] animated film ''[[Shark Tale]]'' was widely protested by virtually all major Italian-American organizations as introducing the mob genre and negative stereotyping into a children's movie.<ref>{{cite web|author=Vicki Vasilopoulos |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/nyregion/ok-what-about-sharks-is-so-italian.html |title=O.K., What About Sharks Is So Italian? - New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 29, 2004 |access-date=August 10, 2014}}</ref> In spite of the protests, which started during its early production, the movie was produced and released in 2004.

In 2009, [[MTV]] launched a reality show, ''[[Jersey Shore (TV series)|Jersey Shore]]'',<ref name="FoxNews.com">{{cite news|author=Joshua Rhett Miller |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/italian-american-groups-ask-mtv-to-cancel-jersey-shore/ |title=Italian-American Groups Ask MTV To Cancel 'Jersey Shore' |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=November 25, 2009 |access-date=October 9, 2011}}</ref> which prompted [[Reactions to Jersey Shore|severe criticism]] from Italian American organizations such as the National Italian American Foundation,<ref>{{cite web | title=National Italian American Foundation Official Statement: MTV's | url=https://www.niaf.org/niaf_event/national-italian-american-foundation-official-statement-mtvs/ }}</ref> Order Sons of Italy in America, and Unico National for its stereotypical portrayal of Italian Americans.

The effective stereotyping of Italian Americans as being associated with organized crime was shown by a comprehensive study of Italian American culture on film, conducted from 1996 to 2001 by the Italic Institute of America.<ref name="italic.org"/> The findings showed that over two-thirds of the more than 2,000 films studied portray Italian Americans in a negative light. Further, close to 300 movies featuring Italian Americans as criminals have been produced since ''The Godfather'', an average of nine per year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italic.org/imageb1.htm |title=Italian Culture on Film, Image Research Project, Italic Institute of America |publisher=Italic.org |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-date=August 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823134829/http://italic.org/imageb1.htm }}</ref> According to the Italic Institute of America:
: The mass media has consistently ignored five centuries of Italian American history, and has elevated what was never more than a minute subculture to the dominant Italian American culture.<ref>"Hollywood vs Italians", The Italic Way, a publication of the Italic Institute of America, Vol XXVII, 1997</ref>

In actuality, according to recent FBI statistics,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/italian_mafia |title=FBI — Italian/Mafia |publisher=Fbi.gov |access-date=August 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524172413/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/italian_mafia |archive-date=May 24, 2014 }}</ref> Italian American organized crime members and associates number approximately 3,000; and, given an Italian American population estimated to be approximately 18 million, the study concludes that only one in 6,000 is active in organized crime (0.007% of Italian-Americans).<ref name=Gambino/>

==Communities==
{{Split section|List of Italian-American communities|date=July 2025}}
{{Main|List of Italian-American neighborhoods}}

[[File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Top ancestry by U.S. county. Dark blue indicates [[County (United States)|counties]] where persons of Italian [[Maps of American ancestries|ancestry]] form a plurality.]]

[[Little Italy|Little Italies]] were, to a considerable extent, the result of [[Anti-Italianism|Italophobia]]. The [[ethnocentrism]] and [[anti-Catholicism]] exhibited by the earlier Anglo-Saxon and northern European settlers helped to create an ideological foundation for fixing foreignness on urban spaces occupied by immigrants.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gabaccia | first1 = Donna R. | year = 2006 | title = Global Geography of 'Little Italy': Italian Neighbourhoods in Comparative Perspective | journal = Modern Italy | volume = 11 | issue = 1| pages = 9–24 | doi=10.1080/13532940500489510| s2cid = 56372320 }}</ref> Communities of Italian Americans were established in most major industrial cities of the early 20th century. [[New Orleans]], Louisiana was the first site of immigration of Italians into America in the 19th century, before Italy was a unified nation-state. This was before [[New York Harbor]] and Baltimore became the preferred destinations for Italian immigrants. In sharp contrast to the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]], most of the [[Southern United States|Southern states]] (with the exception of [[Central Florida|Central]] and [[South Florida]] and the [[New Orleans metropolitan area|New Orleans area]]) have relatively few Italian-American residents. During the labor shortage in the 19th and early 20th centuries, planters in the [[Deep South]] did attract some Italian immigrants to work as [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]], but they soon left the extreme anti-Italian discrimination and strict regimen of the rural areas for the cities or other states. The state of California has had Italian-American residents since the 1850s. By the 1970s, gentrification of [[inner city]] neighborhoods and the arrival of new immigrant groups caused a sharp decline in the old Italian-American and other [[ethnic enclave]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Krase | first1 = Jerome | year = 2007 | title = Seeing Ethnic Succession in Little and Big Italy | journal = Proceedings of the American Italian Historical Association | volume = 37 | pages = 155–171 }}</ref> Many Italian Americans moved to the rapidly growing Western states. Today, New York and New Jersey have the largest numbers of Italian Americans in the U.S. while smaller Northeastern cities such as Pittsburgh, Providence and Hartford have the highest percentage of Italian Americans in their metropolitan areas.

The New York-based daily newspaper ''[[Il Progresso Italo-Americano]]'' had a national audience and reflected the views of the leadership of the community. It was published 1880–1988.<ref>Guido Rossi, "Il progresso Italo-Americano and its portrayal of Italian-American Servicemen (1941-1945)." ''Nuova Rivista Storica'' (2023) 107#2 pp. 759-787.</ref>

===New York City===
{{Main|Italian Americans in New York City}}
[[File:Littleitaly worldcup.JPG|right|thumb|upright=0.9|Little Italy in Manhattan after [[Italy national football team|Italy]] won the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]]]]

New York City is home to the largest Italian-American population in the country and the second-largest Italian population outside of Italy. Several Little Italy enclaves exist in [[New York City]], including [[Little Italy, Manhattan]]; the [[Lower East Side]] in general; [[Italian Harlem]], [[Morris Park, Bronx|Morris Park]], [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]], [[Bensonhurst, Brooklyn|Bensonhurst]], [[Howard Beach, Queens|Howard Beach]], [[Ozone Park]], [[Carroll Gardens]], [[Greenwich Village]], [[Middle Village, Queens|Middle Village]], [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn#Italian-American community and Our Lady of Mount Carmel|Italian Williamsburg]], [[Bay Ridge]], and the [[South Shore, Staten Island|South Shore]] of [[Staten Island]]. Historically, Little Italy on Mulberry Street in Manhattan extends as far south as Canal Street, as far north as [[Bleecker Street|Bleecker]], as far west as [[Lafayette Street|Lafayette]] and as far east as the [[Bowery]].<ref name="lifeinitaly.com"/> The neighborhood was once known for its large population of Italians.<ref name="lifeinitaly.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heritage/little-italy.asp |title=Little Italy &#124; Italy |publisher=Lifeinitaly.com |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> Today, it consists of Italian stores and restaurants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littleitalynyc.com/ |title=The Official Website for New York City's Little Italy District |publisher=Little Italy NYC |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-date=September 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904140547/http://www.littleitalynyc.com/ }}</ref>  The Italian immigrants congregated along [[Mulberry Street (Manhattan)|Mulberry Street]] in Manhattan's ''Little Italy'' to celebrate [[San Gennaro]] with a large street fair, lasting 11 days, that takes place every September.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italian-link.com/pages/littleitalynewyork.shtml |title=Little Italy New York City |publisher=Italian-link.com |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> Today, much of the neighborhood has been absorbed and engulfed by [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]], as immigrants from China moved to the area.

[[Arthur Avenue]] in the [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]] section of New York City's northernmost [[borough (New York City)|borough]], [[The Bronx]], is one of the many neighborhoods considered the Bronx's "Little Italy", with [[Morris Park, Bronx|Morris Park]], [[Pelham Bay]], [[Throggs Neck]], and other Bronx neighborhoods also serving as centers of Italian-American culture.

Bensonhurst used to be heavily Italian-American, and it used to be considered the main "Little Italy" of Brooklyn. Since the late 1990s, most Italians have moved to Staten Island. The Italian-speaking community remains over 20,000 strong, according to the [[United States Census, 2000|census of 2000]]. However, the Italian-speaking community is becoming "increasingly elderly and isolated, with the small, tight-knit enclaves they built around the city slowly disappearing as they give way to demographic changes".<ref>{{cite news |last=Santos |first=Fernanda |title=For Italians in Brooklyn, Voices on Streets Have Changed |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 6, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/nyregion/07italians.html |access-date=August 22, 2009}}</ref> Its main thoroughfare, 18th Avenue (also known as Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard) between roughly 60th Street and Shore Parkway, is lined with predominantly small, Italian family-owned businesses—many of which have remained in the same family for several generations. 86th Street is another popular local thoroughfare, lined by the arches of the elevated BMT West End Subway Line. The 18th Avenue Station was popularized in opening credits of ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]''. Rosebank in [[Staten Island]] was another one of NYC's main areas of Italian immigrants since the 1880s, and their descendants have continued as its predominant ethnic group, exemplified by the location of the [[Garibaldi Memorial]] in the community. In recent years, the town has experienced an influx of other ethnic groups, including Eastern Europeans, various Latin nationalities as well as Asians, particularly from the Philippines. Today, the South Shore of Staten Island is the most heavily populated Italian area in the City of New York.  Over 95% of the South Shore is Italian. The neighborhoods of the South Shore with large percentages of Italians are Huguenot, Annadale, Eltingville, and Tottenville. Howard Beach in the Queens is also home to a large Italian population.<ref name="dailynews-2002-09-22">{{cite news|title={{-'}}Small town' has big pride - & image woes: The Howard Beach story |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/2002/09/22/2002-09-22__small_town__has_big_pride_-.html |location=New York |work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |first=Jonathan |last=Lemire |date=September 22, 2002 |access-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605022307/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/2002/09/22/2002-09-22__small_town__has_big_pride_-.html |archive-date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref>

During the beginning of the Cold War, immigration into the United States from Italy was almost impossible. Americas were frightened that these immigrants could be terrorists, thus preventing Italians from gaining citizenship. As the Cold War continued, organization groups such as the Italian American Organization and the American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM) started to form. They created vast efforts to provide assistance and aid to Italian immigrants coming into the United States. Throughout the Cold War, these organizations increased rapidly with many American Italian members as well as many new coming Italians. ACIM also took a leading role in directing the efforts of other Italian American and Catholic organizations that helped contribute to Italian immigration. These organizations provided new migrants with housing, clothing, access to job interviews, and education for children. Immediately after the Cold War period, Italian Americans further consolidated and solidified their status as members of the American mainstream.<ref>Battisti, Danielle. "The American Committee on Italian Migration, Anti-Communism, and Immigration Reform." Leatherby Libraries, Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Press, 2012.</ref>

===Philadelphia===
{{Main|History of Italian Americans in Philadelphia}}
[[File:Phila-dibrunobros.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Much of Philadelphia's Italian population is in [[South Philadelphia]], and is well known for its [[Italian Market, Philadelphia|Italian Market]].]]
[[Philadelphia]]'s Italian American community is the second-largest in the United States. Italian Americans compose 21% of South Philadelphia's 163,000 people, and the area has numerous Italian stores and restaurants. Philadelphia is well known for its [[Italian Market, Philadelphia|Italian Market]] in South Philadelphia. The Italian Market is the popular name for the South 9th Street Curb Market, an area of Philadelphia featuring many grocery shops, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, and butcher shops, many with an Italian influence.

===Boston===
{{Main|History of Italian Americans in Boston}}
[[File:Boston North End.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|The American and Italian flags in [[North End, Boston|Boston's North End]]]]
The [[North End, Boston|North End]] in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] since the early 20th century became the center of the [[Italian-American|Italian]] community of Boston. It is still largely residential and well known for its small, authentic Italian restaurants and for the first Italian cafe, [[Caffe Vittoria]]. The influx of Italian inhabitants has left a lasting mark on the area; many seminal Italian American.<ref name="italianaware.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.italianaware.com/BostonNorthEnd.html |title=Little Italy- Boston |publisher=Italianaware.com |date=August 23, 1927 |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> The Italians peaked at over 44,000.<ref name="italianaware.com"/>

===Newark===
[[File:Lucy RCC Newark jeh.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|St. Lucy's Church in Newark]]

In its heyday, [[Seventh Avenue, Newark, New Jersey|Seventh Avenue]] in [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]] was one of the largest Little Italy neighborhoods in the U.S., with a population of 30,000, in an area of less than a square mile. The center of life in the neighborhood was [[St. Lucy's Church (Newark, New Jersey)|St. Lucy's Church]], founded by Italian immigrants in 1891. Throughout the year, St. Lucy's and other churches sponsored processions in honor of saints that became community events. The most famous procession was the Feast of St. Gerard, but there were also great feasts for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Our Lady of Snow, the Assumption, and St. Rocco. One of the nation's largest Italian newspapers, ''The Italian Tribune'', was founded on Seventh Avenue. Seventh Avenue was notoriously devastated by [[urban renewal]] efforts during the 1950s. Eighth Avenue was obliterated by the city council, scattering the Italian American residents. Most of its businesses never recovered. The construction of [[Interstate 280 (New Jersey)|Interstate 280]] also served to cut the neighborhood off from the rest of the city. After the devastating urban renewal, some of the First Ward's Italians stayed in the neighborhood, while others migrated to other Newark neighborhoods like [[Broadway, Newark, New Jersey|Broadway]], [[Roseville, Newark, New Jersey|Roseville]] and [[Ironbound|the Ironbound]].
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://orderisda.org/culture/la-nostra-voce/the-vanishing-of-the-first-ward-newarks-original-little-italy/|title = The Vanishing of the First Ward, Newark's Original Little Italy|date = September 7, 2020}}</ref>

===Chicago===
The neighborhood around Chicago's Taylor Street has been called the [[Port#Port of call|port of call]] for Chicago's Italian American immigrants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.TaylorStreetArchives.com |title=Stories from Chicago's Little Italy |publisher=Taylor Street Archives |access-date=September 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228234400/http://taylorstreetarchives.com/ |archive-date=December 28, 2018 }}</ref> Taylor Street's Little Italy was home to [[Hull House]], an early [[settlement house]], founded by [[Jane Addams]] and [[Ellen Starr]] in 1889. Chicago's Italian American experience begins with the mass migration from the shores of southern Italy, the Hull House experiment, the Great Depression, World War II, and the machinations behind the physical demise of a neighborhood by the [[University of Illinois at Chicago|University of Illinois]] in 1963.

Italian Americans dominated the inner core of the Hull House neighborhood, 1890s–1930s.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Dominic|last1=Candeloro|url=http://libblogs.luc.edu/ccic/rundown-of-chicago-italian-neighborhoods-and-churches-there-was-never-just-one-little-italy-in-chicago/|title=Rundown of Chicago Italian Neighborhoods and churches: There was never just ONE Little Italy in Chicago|date=September 18, 2013 |access-date=March 17, 2023}}</ref>

As suburbs grew in the post-World War II era, Chicago's Italian American population spread from the central city, such as to [[Elmwood Park, Illinois|Elmwood Park]]. [[Harlem Avenue]], "La Corsa Italia", is lined with Italian stores, bakeries, clubs and organizations. The Feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel, in nearby [[Melrose Park, Illinois|Melrose Park]], has been a regular event in the area for more than one hundred years. The near-west suburbs of Melrose Park, [[Schiller Park, Illinois|Schiller Park]], [[Franklin Park, Illinois|Franklin Park]], [[River Grove, Illinois|River Grove]], [[Norridge, Illinois|Norridge]], [[Chicago Heights]], and [[Harwood Heights, Illinois|Harwood Heights]] are also home to many Italian Americans. West suburban [[Stone Park, Illinois|Stone Park]] is home of Casa Italia, an Italian American cultural center.

Northwest of Chicago, the city of Rockford has a large population of Italian Americans. Other historical Italian American communities in Illinois include Peoria, Ottawa, Herrin, Quad Cities and the Metro East suburbs of Saint Louis, Missouri.

===Milwaukee===
Italians first came to [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin, in the late 19th century. Then in the 19th and 20th centuries large numbers of Italian immigrants began to come in mainly from Sicily and southern Italy. Brady Street, the historic Third Ward and the east side of Milwaukee is considered the heart of Italian immigration to the city, where as many as 20 Italian grocery stores once existed on Brady Street alone. Every year the largest Italian American festival in the United States, [[Festa Italiana]], takes place in Milwaukee. Italian Americans number at around 16,992 in the city, but in [[Milwaukee County, Wisconsin|Milwaukee County]] they number at 38,286.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov |title=U.S. Census website |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=August 10, 2014}}</ref>

===St. Louis===
Italian immigrants from the northern Italian region of Lombardy came to St. Louis in the late 19th century and settled in the region called [[The Hill, St. Louis|The Hill]]. As the city grew, immigrants from Southern Italy settled in a different neighborhood north of Downtown St Louis. As of 2021 there are approximately 2,000 native born Italians living in St. Louis, few of whom live in The Hill neighborhood. Italians today live mostly throughout the St. Louis metropolitan region. The Italian Community of St. Louis (Comunita' Italiana di St. Louis), an organization that promotes the Italian language and culture, has several popular events which include [[Carnival|Carnevale]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stlouisitalians.com/news/3rd-annual-carnevale-veneziano-brings-hundreds-of-st-louis-italians-together.html|title=Carnevale in St. Louis|website=stlouisitalians.com|access-date=March 29, 2020}}</ref> which occurs every February and [[Ferragosto]] which occurs each August. The St. Louis Italian Language Program also exists on the Hill at Gateway Science Academy on Fyler Avenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stlouisitalians.com/learn-italian.html|title=St Louis Italian Language Program on The Hill|website=stlouisitalians.com|access-date=March 30, 2020}}</ref> The 2005 film ''[[The Game of Their Lives (2005 film)|The Game of Their Lives]]'' is based on the true story of the 1950 U.S. soccer team, which, against all odds, beat England 1–0 in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, during the [[1950 FIFA World Cup]]. The story is about the family traditions and passions that shaped the players who made up this team of underdogs, a significant number of whom were from The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.

===Los Angeles===
[[File:6th Street San Pedro, CA - panoramio.jpg|thumb|right|[[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]] is considered to be the Little Italy of Los Angeles.]]

Los Angeles is home to the largest Italian American community in California (and on the West Coast), with 95,300 people identifying as Italian American.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianlosangeles.org/index.php?1&221|title=Italians in Los Angeles: Guide to a Diverse Community|website=italianlosangeles.org |date=December 25, 2024 }}</ref> [[San Pedro, California|San Pedro]] is [[Los Angeles]]'s [[Little Italy]], which is estimated to contain some 45,000 Italian-Americans. Most worked as fisherman during the first half of the 20th century. The traditional center of Los Angeles' Italian American community was the area north of the historic [[Los Angeles Plaza]]. It survived somewhat intact until the construction of [[Union Station (Los Angeles)|Los Angeles Union Station]], in 1939. The station was built in the center of Los Angeles' [[Old Chinatown, Los Angeles|Old Chinatown]], displacing half of the total Chinese community. The Chinese were allowed to relocate to Little Italy, where they quickly outnumbered the Italian community. Only a few relic-businesses survive, such as [[San Antonio Winery]] (the only winery, out of 92, to survive prohibition).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.kcet.org/history-society/exploring-the-remains-of-las-little-italy|title=Exploring The Remains of L.A.'s Little Italy|newspaper=Kcet|date=July 10, 2013}}</ref> The [[Italian American Museum of Los Angeles]] opened in 2016 in the historic Italian Hall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iamla.org/|title=The Italian American Museum of Los Angeles – IAMLA|website=iamla.org}}</ref>  [[Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles|Lincoln Heights]], northeast of Little Italy, also was a center of the Italian-American population in Los Angeles.

===San Francisco===
[[File:SF Filbert St North Beach CA.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[Sts. Peter and Paul Church, San Francisco|Sts. Peter and Paul Church]] in North Beach, San Francisco]]

According to the [[1940 United States census|1940 census]], 18.5% of all European immigrants were Italian, the largest in the city. [[North Beach, San Francisco|North Beach]] is [[San Francisco]]'s Little Italy, and has historically been home to a large Italian American population. The [[American Planning Association|American Planning Association (APA)]] has named North Beach as one of ten 'Great Neighborhoods in America'.<ref name=APA1>{{cite web| title=North Beach: Authentic Character Is Intact 150 Years Later| publisher=[[American Planning Association]]| date=October 2, 2007| url=http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/2007/northbeach.htm| access-date=October 16, 2007}}</ref>

=== Detroit ===
{{Main|History of Italian Americans in Metro Detroit}}
The first ethnic Italian in Detroit was Alphonse Tonty (Italian name: Alfonso Tonti), a Frenchman with an Italian immigrant father. He was the second-in-command of [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]], who established Detroit in 1701. Tonti's child, born in 1703, was the first ethnic European child born in Detroit. In order to preserve the fur trade, the French administrators and the British administrators discouraged immigration, so the Italian population had slow growth. Growth in immigration increased after Detroit became a part of the United States and the [[Erie Canal]] had been constructed. Armando Delicato, author of ''Italians in Detroit'', wrote that Italian immigration to Detroit "lagged behind other cities in the East".

In 1904 the City of Detroit had 900 Italians. In Metro Detroit there were several thousand ethnic Italians by 1900. The concentrations of the population lived in [[Eastern Market, Detroit|Eastern Market]] and east of the area presently known as [[Greektown, Detroit|Greektown]]. Of those Italians in 1900 most originated from [[Genoa]], [[Lombardy]], and [[Sicily]]. Some Italians stayed in Detroit temporarily before traveling onwards to mines in northern Michigan.

The increase in the automobile industry resulted in the increase of the Italian population in the 20th century. By 1925, the number of Italians in the City of Detroit increased to 42,000. The historical center of Detroit's Italian-American community was in an area along Gratiot Avenue, east of [[Downtown Detroit]]. During that period, Italian immigrants and their children lived throughout the City of Detroit, and several neighborhoods had concentrations of Italian immigrants. There were larger numbers of southern Italians than those from the north. Armando Delicato, author of ''Italians in Detroit'', wrote that "Unlike many other American cities, no region of Italy was totally dominant in this area". Steve Babson, author of ''Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town'', wrote that "Many northern Italians, coming from an urban and industrialized society, had little in common with local Sicilians, who came from the rural and clannish south." In Detroit's history, within the crafts Italians concentrated on tileworking.

During World War II, [[Fort Wayne (Detroit)]] served as home to Italian [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war (POWs)]] captured during the [[North African campaign]]. After Italy's surrender in September 1943, the POWs were given the opportunity to work as servants, cooks, and janitors. At the end of the war many chose to remain and settle in Detroit.

As of 1951, Detroit had about 150,000 Italians.

The National Italian American Foundation estimated that in 1990, [[Metro Detroit]] had 280,000 ethnic Italians. As of 2005 the closest remaining large [[Little Italy]] near Detroit was Via Italia in [[Windsor, Ontario]] and there was a group of remaining Italian shops and restaurants along Garfield Road in [[Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan|Clinton Township]]. In 2005 Delicato wrote that "Unlike some other national groups, like the Poles, who still look to [[Hamtramck]], or the Mexicans, who have [[Mexicantown]], Italian Detroiters no longer have a geographical center".

===Cleveland===
[[File:Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy Cleveland (36388057482).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[Cleveland Feast of the Assumption Festival|Feast of the Assumption]] in Cleveland's Little Italy]]

[[Cleveland]]'s [[University Circle|Little Italy]], also known as Murray Hill, is the epicenter of Italian culture in [[Northeast Ohio]], a [[combined statistical area]] reporting 285,000 (9.9%)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_DP02&prodType=table|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212212624/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_DP02&prodType=table|archive-date=February 12, 2020|title=American FactFinder - Results|publisher=United States Census Bureau|website=factfinder2.census.gov|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> Italian Americans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osia.org |title=Order Sons of Italy in America® – Home |publisher=Osia.org |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> Little Italy took root when Joseph Carabelli, immigrating in 1880, saw the opportunity for monument work in Cleveland's [[Lake View Cemetery]] and established what soon became the city's leading marble and granite works. Most fresco and mosaic work in Cleveland was accomplished by Italian artist immigrants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=I7 |title=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:ITALIANS |publisher=Ech.cwru.edu |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref>

Ohio's largest outdoor Italian American street festival, the [[Cleveland Feast of the Assumption Festival|Feast of the Assumption]] (''Festa dell'assunzione''), takes place the weekend of August 15 every year and draws over 100,000 people to the Little Italy neighborhood.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://cleveland.about.com/od/events/p/feastassumption.htm |title=Feast of the Assumption – Profile of Cleveland's Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy |newspaper=Tripsavvy |publisher=Cleveland.about.com |date=September 6, 2012 |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-date=April 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403122228/http://cleveland.about.com/od/events/p/feastassumption.htm }}</ref>

===Kansas City===
Attracted by employment in its growing [[Rail transport|railroad]] and [[Meat-packing industry|meat packing]] industries, Italians primarily from [[Calabria]] and [[Sicily]] immigrated to Kansas City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kansas City's [[Calabria|Calabrese]] mainly passed through the port of New York, sometimes stopping in industrial cities like [[Pittsburgh]] along the way, en route to their final destination in the Midwest. Meanwhile, Kansas City's Sicilian community generally came through the port of New Orleans, staying there for a decade or more before bringing their families north. In Kansas City, these communities settled close to one another, often overlapping: the Sicilians taking root in what is now known as the River Market and [[Columbus Park (Kansas City)|Columbus Park]] neighborhoods, and the Calabrese mainly settling in the adjacent "Old Northeast" area.

=== New Orleans ===
Economics in Louisiana and Sicily combined to bring about what became known as the Great Migration of thousands of Sicilians. The end of the Civil War allowed the freed men the choice to stay or to go, many chose to leave for higher paying jobs, which in turn led to a perceived scarcity of labor resources for the planters. On March 17, 1866, the Louisiana Bureau of Immigration was formed and planters began to look to Sicily as a possible solution to their labor needs. Steamship companies advertisements were very effective in recruiting potential workers.

In 1890 the ethnic Irish chief of police, [[David Hennessy]] was assassinated. Suspicion fell on Italians, whose growing numbers in the city made other whites nervous. The [[March 14, 1891 New Orleans lynchings]] were the largest ever mass lynchings in Louisiana history. The use of the term "[[mafia]]" by local media in relation to the murder is the first-known usage of the word in print.

===Syracuse===
{{Main|Italians in Syracuse, New York}}
[[File:North Salina.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Northside in Syracuse]]

Italian immigrants first came to the area around [[Syracuse, New York]] (a city named for [[Siracusa, Sicily]]) in 1883 after providing labor for the construction of the [[West Shore Railroad]]. At first, they were quite transient and came and went, but eventually settled down on the [[Northside, Syracuse|Northside]].<ref name="salina">{{cite web|url=http://www.livingplaces.com/NY/Onondaga_County/Syracuse_City/North_Salina_Street_Historic_District.html |title=North Salina Street Historic District, Syracuse City |access-date=October 23, 2010|publisher=The Gombach Group, 2010}}</ref> By 1899, the Italian immigrants were living on the [[Northside, Syracuse|Northside]] of the city in the area centered around Pearl Street.<ref name="babies">{{cite news |title=Syracuse: Among the Babies, "Bambinos", "Kinters" and Pickininies of Syracuse |newspaper=The Syracuse Sunday Herald |location=Syracuse, NY|date=October 29, 1899 }}</ref> The Italians all but supplanted the Germans in that area of the city and had their own business district along North State and North Salina Streets.<ref name="atlantis">{{cite web|url=http://madeinatlantis.com/new_york/syracuse.htm |title=New York, Syracuse |access-date=November 3, 2010 | publisher=Atlantis, 2010}}</ref>  By September 2009, [[Little Italy, Syracuse|Syracuse's Little Italy]] district received millions of dollars of public and private investment for new sidewalks, streetscapes, landscaping, lighting and to set up a "Green Train" program, which trains men to work in green construction and renovation industries.<ref name="investment">{{cite web |url=http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=355151 |title=Syracuse's Little Italy at a Tipping Point |access-date=October 23, 2010 |first=Alex |last=Dunbar |publisher=Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC |date=September 25, 2009 |location=Syracuse, NY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719062711/http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=355151 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 }}</ref> In recent years, the neighborhood is a mix of Italian shops, restaurants and businesses that cater to the area's South Asian and African population. Although the neighborhood is far less Italian than in past years, banners throughout the district still read ''Little Italy''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://downtowndecorations.com/little-italy-syracuse-new-york/|title=LITTLE ITALY, SYRACUSE, NEW YORK|date=August 21, 2014 |access-date=March 17, 2023}}</ref> By 2010, demographics showed that 14.1% of the population in Syracuse was Italian descent.<ref name="ethnic">{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/city/Syracuse-New-York.html |title=Syracuse, New York |access-date=October 22, 2010 |publisher=CityData, 2010}}</ref>

===Providence===
[[Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island|Federal Hill]] in [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], Rhode Island, is best known for its Italian American community and abundance of restaurants. The first two decades of the 20th century witnessed heavy Italian American immigration into Federal Hill. Though the area today is more diverse, Federal Hill still retains its status as the traditional center for the city's Italian American community. Providence's annual [[Columbus Day]] parade marches down Atwells Avenue.

===Tampa-Ybor City===
[[File:Tampa Ybor City entr 01.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.9|Gateway to Ybor City on 7th. Ave near the [[Nick Nuccio|Nick Nuccio Parkway]]]]

The community of [[History of Ybor City|Ybor City]] in [[Tampa, Florida]] is a [[Cigar|cigar-centric]] [[company town]] founded in 1885 and originally populated by a unique mix of [[Spanish Americas|Spanish]], [[Cuban Americans|Cuban]], [[American Jews|Jewish]], and Italian immigrants, with most of the Italians coming from a small group of villages in southwestern Sicily. At first, Italians found it difficult to find employment in the insular and [[Guild|guild-like]] cigar industry, which had moved to Tampa from Cuba and Key West and was dominated by Hispanic workers. Many founded businesses to serve cigar workers, most notably small grocery stores in the neighborhood's commercial district supplied by Italian-owned vegetable and dairy farms located on open land east of Tampa's city limits.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mormino |first=Gary |title=The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville, Florida |year=1987 |isbn=0-8130-1630-4 }}</ref> The immigrant cultures in town became better integrated as time went by; eventually, approximately 20% of the workers in the cigar industry were Italian Americans. The tradition of local Italian-owned groceries continued, however, and a handful of such businesses founded in the late 1800s were still operating into the 21st century.<ref>{{cite web|author=Jaden Hair |url=http://www2.tbo.com/news/central-tampa/2009/jul/09/sausages-are-stuffed-with-tradition-ar-97964/ |title=Meat market inspires loyalty |work=TBO.com |date=July 9, 2009 |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref>

===Birmingham===
[[Birmingham, Alabama]], was representative of smaller industrial centers. Most Italians in the early 20th century came to work in the burgeoning iron and coal industries. Dorothy L. Crim founded the Ensley Community House in the Italian district in 1912 at the behest of the Birmingham City Mission Board. From 1912 to 1969, Ensley House eased the often difficult transition to American life by providing direct assistance.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hubbs | first1 = G. Ward | title = A Settlement House in Ensley's Italian District | journal = Alabama Heritage | volume = 2005 | issue = 75| pages = 32–40 }}</ref>

===San Diego===
[[File:Little Italy, San Diego.jpg|thumb|right|[[Little Italy, San Diego|San Diego's Little Italy]]]]
{{Main|Little Italy, San Diego}}

Historically, [[Little Italy, San Diego|Little Italy]] in [[San Diego]] was the home to Italian [[fishermen]] and their families. Many Italians moved to San Diego from [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] after the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]] in search of [[tuna]] and other deep-sea sport and commercial fish.<ref>{{cite book |last=Quinney|first=Kimber M.|author2=Cesarini, Thomas J. |title=San Diego's Little Italy|date=October 20, 2007|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7385-4780-0 |page=1}}</ref> When [[Interstate 5]] was constructed through Little Italy in the early 1970s, 35% of the neighborhood was destroyed and during the same time the California tuna industry was declining, which caused the neighborhood to suffer nearly 30 years of decline.<ref>[http://www.littleitalysd.com/History.asp Little Italy History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415154904/http://www.littleitalysd.com/History.asp |date=April 15, 2010 }}. The Little Italy Association. Retrieved on October 16, 2007.</ref> With the creation of the Little Italy Association in 1996, the neighborhood has gone through [[gentrification]] and has seen a renaissance as Community Benefit District specializing in Italian food, boutique shopping and maintenance that makes this shopping district the place to live in Downtown San Diego.

===West Virginia===
Tens of thousands of Italians came to [[West Virginia]] during the late 1800s and early 1900s to work in the coal camps. As pick-and-shovel miners, Italians hold most of the state's coal production records. One Carmine Pellegrino mined 66 tons of coal by hand in a 24-hour period.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Coughlin |first1=Jovina |title=West Virginia's Little Italy Communities |url=https://jovinacooksitalian.com/2013/05/31/west-virginias-little-italy-communities/ |website=Jovina Cooks |date=May 31, 2013 |access-date=December 10, 2019}}</ref> The communities of [[Clarksburg, West Virginia|Clarksburg]], [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]], and [[Bluefield, West Virginia|Bluefield]] each hold their own annual Italian Heritage Festival. Fairmont puts on a street festival every December that pays homage to the [[Feast of the Seven Fishes]], an Italian tradition of eating seafood dishes on Christmas Eve instead of meat.

=== Arkansas ===
There was a historical trend of immigration of Italians into the [[U.S. state]] of [[Arkansas]] in the 19th and 20th centuries.

[[Austin Corbin]], the owner of the [[Sunnyside Plantation]] in [[Chicot County, Arkansas|Chicot County]], within the [[Arkansas Delta]] region, decided to employ Italians there during the post-[[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]] period.

Italians later moved from the Arkansas Delta to the [[Ozarks]], establishing [[Tontitown, Arkansas|Tontitown]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter=IX. Italians of the North and Italians of the South |date=December 31, 1942 |title=The Real Italians |pages=69–75 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/sfor94080-009 |isbn=978-0-231-89689-4}}</ref>

=== Baltimore ===
Italians began to settle in Baltimore during the late 1800s. Some Italian immigrants came to the [[Port of Baltimore]] by boat. The earliest Italian settlers in Baltimore were sailors from [[Genoa]], the capital city of the Italian region of [[Liguria]], who arrived during the 1840s and 1850s. Later immigrants came from [[Naples]], [[Abruzzo]], [[Cefalù]], and [[Province of Palermo|Palermo]]. These immigrants created the monument to [[Christopher Columbus]] in [[Druid Hill Park]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=LaGumina |first=Salvatore John |title=The Italian American experience: an encyclopedia |date=2000 |publisher=Garland Pub |isbn=978-0-203-80114-7 |location=New York |oclc=560063238}}</ref> Many other Italians came by train after entering the country through [[New York City]]'s [[Ellis Island]]. Italian immigrants who arrived by train would enter the city through the [[President Street Station]]. Because of this, Italians largely settled in a nearby neighborhood that is now known as [[Little Italy, Baltimore|Little Italy]].

Little Italy comprises six blocks bounded by Pratt Street to the North, the [[Inner Harbor]] to the South, Eden Street to the East, and President Street to the West. Other neighborhoods where large numbers of Italians settled include [[Lexington, Baltimore|Lexington]], [[Belair-Edison, Baltimore|Belair-Edison]], and Cross Street. Many settled along [[Lombard Street (Baltimore)|Lombard Street]], which was named after the Italian town of [[Guardia Lombardi]]. The Italian community, overwhelmingly [[Catholic Church in Italy|Roman Catholic]], established a number of Italian American parishes such as [[St. Leo's Church (Baltimore, Maryland)|St. Leo's Church]] and Our Lady of Pompeii Church. The Our Lady of Pompeii Church holds the annual Highlandtown Wine Festival, which celebrates Italian-American culture and benefits the Highlandtown community association.<ref>{{Cite book |editor=Jack Carlsen |editor2=Stephen Charters |title=Global wine tourism: research, management and marketing|pages=209–224|location=Wallingford|publisher=CABI|isbn=978-1-84593-170-4|last1=Carlsen|first1=J. |last2=Getz|first2=D.|chapter=Strategic planning for a regional wine festival: The Margaret River Wine Region Festival|year=2006|doi=10.1079/9781845931704.0209}}</ref>

=== Mississippi ===
Italians have settled in the state of Mississippi since colonial times, although numbers have increased over the years. Since the 18th and mainly the 19th century, Italian settlers have been located in cities and towns across Mississippi. In 1554, Mississippi began to have a real Italian presence, because of the Hernando de Soto expedition. The first Italians who visited Mississippi came in explorations conducted by the French and Spanish governments.

In the 19th century, many Italians entered the United States in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] and traveled onwards to Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Hattie|date=September 1923|title=The Panhandle-Plains Historical Society|journal=The Mississippi Valley Historical Review|volume=10|issue=2|pages=182–185|doi=10.2307/1902735|jstor=1902735|issn=0161-391X}}</ref> Over 100 immigrants lived in Mississippi as the [[American Civil War]] started. In the late 19th century, Italian immigration increased in the United States, which made a tremendous impact on the area.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/degrum/public_html/html/research/findaids/DG0264.html |doi=10.18785/fa.dg0264 |doi-access=free |title=August Derleth Papers |type=Finding aid |website=University of Southern Mississippi |last1=Jones |first1=Dee|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Denver ===
Large numbers of Italians first came to Colorado in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some settled in industrial [[Pueblo, Colorado|Pueblo]] or in [[Welby, Colorado|Welby]], which was then a farming community, but the largest Italian community in twentieth century Colorado was in [[North West Side (Denver)|Northwest Denver]], or as it was known at the time, "the North Side" or "North Denver."<ref name="Wiberg, Ruth Eloise. 1995">{{Cite book|last=Wiberg, Ruth Eloise.|title=Rediscovering Northwest Denver: its history, its people, its landmarks|date=1995|publisher=University Press of Colorado|isbn=0-585-03049-9|location=Niwot, CO|oclc=42329582}}</ref>

Italians first put down roots there because St. Patrick's Catholic Church, a largely Irish-descended congregation, already existed in the neighborhood. In 1894, the Italian community on the North Side formed its own Catholic church called Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.<ref name="Wiberg, Ruth Eloise. 1995"/> The community remained strong through the early twentieth century, but in the decades after World War II, many Italian-Americans left Denver proper. Today,  descendants of the old North Side Italian-American community are spread across [[Denver metropolitan area|metro Denver]], particularly in its inner northwestern suburbs like [[Wheat Ridge, Colorado|Wheat Ridge]], [[Westminster, Colorado|Westminster]] and [[Arvada, Colorado|Arvada]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Honors Thesis: Community and Transit in Northwest Denver|url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/honors-thesis-community-transit-northwest-denver-noah-zucker|access-date=December 10, 2020|website=www.linkedin.com|language=en}}</ref>

Reminders of the old Italian community in Northwest Denver are few and far between today. Many of the remaining landmarks are on 38th Avenue. One is Gaetano's, a storied Italian American eatery on 38th Avenue and Tejon Street once owned by the [[Denver crime family|Smaldone family]], which was involved in bootlegging in Denver.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boyle|first=Grace|date=August 28, 2013|title=Gaetano's Celebrating Its Rebirth and Paying Homage to the Smaldones After More than 60 Years|url=https://denver.eater.com/2013/8/28/6382069/gaetanos-celebrating-its-rebirth-and-paying-homage-to-the-smaldones|access-date=December 10, 2020|website=Eater Denver|language=en}}</ref> Many members of the Italian-American community in Northwest Denver could trace their roots to [[Potenza]], a comune in [[Basilicata]]. A fraternal organization called the Potenza Lodge was founded in 1899 and still exists today on the corner of Shoshone Street and 38th Avenue.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Potenza Lodge|url=http://www.potenzalodge.com/index.html|access-date=December 10, 2020|website=www.potenzalodge.com}}</ref>

=== Las Vegas ===
There is a significant Italian American community in [[Las Vegas]].<ref>{{cite book|title= The Peoples Of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces| isbn=978-0-87417-651-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nCuVDwAAQBAJ| last1=Simich | first1=Jerry L. | last2=Wright | first2=Thomas C. | date=March 7, 2005 | publisher=University of Nevada Press }}</ref>
[[File:Old Neighborhood Italian-American Club, Outfit Headquarters (37975116756).jpg|thumb|Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, [[Las Vegas]]]]

==Demographics==
[[File:Americans with Italian Ancestry by state.svg|upright=1.8|thumb|Americans with Italian ancestry by state according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2019]]

In the [[2000 United States census|2000 U.S. census]], Italian Americans constituted the fifth largest [[Racial demographics of the United States#Racial makeup of the U.S. population|ancestry group]] in America with about 15.6 million people, 5.6% of the total U.S. population.<ref name="c2kbr-35">{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220227042229/https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf |archive-date=2022-02-27 |access-date=2025-09-24 |website=www.census.gov}}</ref> As of 2006, the U.S. census estimated the Italian American population at 17.8 million persons, or 6% of the population,<ref>[https://www.census.gov "Total Ancestry Reported - Universe: Total Ancestry Categories Tallied for People with One or More Ancestry Categories Reported"], ''[[American Community Survey]]'', U.S. Census Bureau, 2006. Retrieved March 19, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=D&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201&-ds_name=D&-_lang=en "Selected Population Profile in the United States, Total population"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200212040306/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=D&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201&-ds_name=D&-_lang=en |date=February 12, 2020 }}, ''American Community Survey'', U.S. Census Bureau, 2006. Retrieved March 19, 2010.</ref> constituting a 14% increase over the six-year period.

In 2010, the [[American Community Survey]] enumerated Americans reporting Italian ancestry at nearly 17.6 million, 5.8% of the U.S. population; in 2015, 17.3 million, 5.5% of the population. A decade thereafter, in 2020, the [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]] recorded slightly more than 16.5 million Americans reporting full or partial Italian ancestry, about 5.1% of the U.S. population.<ref name="ACS2020">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04006|title=Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713211542/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04006|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name="ACS2015">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?tid=ACSDT5Y2015.B04006|title=Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713223827/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?tid=ACSDT5Y2015.B04006|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name="ACS2010">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?tid=ACSDT5Y2010.B04006|title=Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713222944/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?tid=ACSDT5Y2010.B04006|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref> As ancestry is self-reported, the decline in Italian identification in the 21st century may merely reflect growing [[Americanization (immigration)|Americanization]] and [[cultural assimilation]] of Italian Americans into the broader identity of [[White Americans]], with younger generations increasingly intermixed with other [[European Americans]]: the number of Americans who reported being solely of Italian ancestry alone fell by 928,044—from 7,183,882 in 2010 to 6,652,806 in 2015 to 5,724,762 in 2020.<ref name="single2010">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2010.B04004|title=Table B04004 - People reporting single ancestry - 2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714000405/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2010.B04004|archive-date=July 14, 2022}}</ref><ref name="single2015">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2015.B04004|title=Table B04004 - People reporting single ancestry - 2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714003119/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2015.B04004|archive-date=July 14, 2022}}</ref><ref name="single2020">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04004|title=Table B04004 - People reporting single ancestry - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713234528/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04004|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref> However, by contrast, the number of Americans who reported being of Italian ancestry mixed with another ancestry grew by 436,334—from 10,387,926 in 2010 to 10,632,691 in 2015 to 10,824,260 in 2020.<ref name="multi2010">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2010.B04005|title=Table B04005 - People reporting multiple ancestries - 2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713234450/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2010.B04005|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name="multi2015">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2015.B04005|title=Table B04005 - People reporting multiple ancestries - 2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713235545/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2015.B04005|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name="multi2020">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04005|title=Table B04005 - People reporting multiple ancestries - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 13, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713234520/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04005|archive-date=July 13, 2022}}</ref>

<big>'''U.S. states number and percentage Italian American in 2020'''</big><ref name="ACS2020states">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0100000US%240400000&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04006|title=Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, All States|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=July 16, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717015112/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0100000US%240400000&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04006|archive-date=July 17, 2022}}</ref><ref name="ACS2020" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.niaf.org/research/2000_census_4.asp |title=Italian American Population in All 50 States |publisher=Niaf.org |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009220932/http://www.niaf.org/research/2000_census_4.asp |archive-date=October 9, 2008 }}</ref><ref>2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates: [https://archive.today/20200212212624/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_DP02&prodType=table "Selected Social Characteristics in the United States"]</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ {{small|{{flagicon|Italy}}Estimated Italian American population by state{{flagicon|USA}}}}
!  style="text-align:center; background:#9dbec3;"|'''State'''
!  style="text-align:center; background:#9dbec3;"|'''Number'''
!  style="text-align:center; background:#9dbec3;"|'''Percentage'''
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Alabama}}
|align="right"|{{nts|78,547}}
|align="right"|1.61%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Alaska}}
|align="right"|{{nts|20,629}}
|align="right"|2.80%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Arizona}}
|align="right"|{{nts|297,383}}
|align="right"|4.15%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Arkansas}}
|align="right"|{{nts|44,534}}
|align="right"|1.48%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|California}}
|align="right"|{{nts|1,414,190}}
|align="right"|3.59%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Colorado}}
|align="right"|{{nts|275,803}}
|align="right"|4.85%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Connecticut}}
|align="right"|{{nts|590,721}}
|align="right"|16.54%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Delaware}}
|align="right"|{{nts|81,036}}
|align="right"|8.37%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|District of Columbia}}
|align="right"|{{nts|27,731}}
|align="right"|3.95%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Florida}}
|align="right"|{{nts|1,222,217}}
|align="right"|5.76%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flagcountry|Georgia (U.S. state)}}
|align="right"|{{nts|234,113}}
|align="right"|2.23%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Hawaii}}
|align="right"|{{nts|30,019}}
|align="right"|2.11%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Idaho}}
|align="right"|{{nts|54,112}}
|align="right"|3.08%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Illinois}}
|align="right"|{{nts|726,216}}
|align="right"|5.71%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Indiana}}
|align="right"|{{nts|180,628}}
|align="right"|2.70%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Iowa}}
|align="right"|{{nts|63,176}}
|align="right"|2.01%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Kansas}}
|align="right"|{{nts|62,266}}
|align="right"|2.14%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Kentucky}}
|align="right"|{{nts|90,775}}
|align="right"|2.03%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Louisiana}}
|align="right"|{{nts|200,407}}
|align="right"|4.30%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Maine}}
|align="right"|{{nts|76,133}}
|align="right"|5.68%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Maryland}}
|align="right"|{{nts|291,816}}
|align="right"|4.83%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Massachusetts}}
|align="right"|{{nts|825,642}}
|align="right"|12.01%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Michigan}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|452,303}}
|align="right"|4.53%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Minnesota}}
|align="right"|{{nts|124,817}}
|align="right"|2.23%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Mississippi}}
|align="right"|{{nts|53,122}}
|align="right"|1.78%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Missouri}}
|align="right"|{{nts|204,254}}
|align="right"|3.34%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Montana}}
|align="right"|{{nts|38,075}}
|align="right"|3.59%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Nebraska}}
|align="right"|{{nts|49,349}}
|align="right"|2.57%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Nevada}}
|align="right"|{{nts|158,170}}
|align="right"|5.22%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|New Hampshire}}
|align="right"|{{nts|137,322}}
|align="right"|10.13%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|New Jersey}}
|align="right"|{{nts|1,353,075}}
|align="right"|15.23%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|New Mexico}}
|align="right"|{{nts|46,352}}
|align="right"|2.21%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flagcountry|New York (state)}}
|align="right"|{{nts|2,320,549}}
|align="right"|11.89%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|North Carolina}}
|align="right"|{{nts|334,430}}
|align="right"|3.20%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|North Dakota}}
|align="right"|{{nts|8,767}}
|align="right"|1.15%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Ohio}}
|align="right"|{{nts|715,494}}
|align="right"|6.13%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Oklahoma}}
|align="right"|{{nts|69,023}}
|align="right"|1.75%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Oregon}}
|align="right"|{{nts|154,010}}
|align="right"|3.69%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Pennsylvania}}
|align="right"|{{nts|1,430,006}}
|align="right"|11.18%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Rhode Island}}
|align="right"|{{nts|172,852}}
|align="right"|16.34%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|South Carolina}}
|align="right"|{{nts|153,895}}
|align="right"|3.02%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|South Dakota}}
|align="right"|{{nts|10,732}}
|align="right"|1.22%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Tennessee}}
|align="right"|{{nts|152,739}}
|align="right"|2.26%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Texas}}
|align="right"|{{nts|523,680}}
|align="right"|1.83%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Utah}}
|align="right"|{{nts|86,754}}
|align="right"|2.75%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Vermont}}
|align="right"|{{nts|45,447}}
|align="right"|7.28%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Virginia}}
|align="right"|{{nts|332,213}}
|align="right"|3.90%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flagcountry|Washington (state)}}
|align="right"|{{nts|255,671}}
|align="right"|3.40%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|West Virginia}}
|align="right"|{{nts|77,548}}
|align="right"|4.29%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Wisconsin}}
|align="right"|{{nts|200,205}}
|align="right"|3.45%
|-
|border = "1"|{{flag|Wyoming}}
|align="right"|{{nts|18,338}}
|align="right"|3.15%
|- class="sortbottom" bgcolor="lightgrey"
|border = "1"|'''{{flag|United States}}'''
|align="right"|'''{{nts|16,549,022}}'''
|align="right"|'''5.07%'''
|}

===U.S. communities with the most residents of Italian ancestry===
The top 20 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Italian ancestry are:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Welcome to the most Italian place in the United States. It's in New Jersey.|url=https://www.italianamericanstudies.net:443/blogs/welcome-to-the-most-italian-place-in-the-united-states-its-in-new-jersey|access-date=December 20, 2021|website=Italian American Studies Association|language=en}}</ref>

# [[Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey|Fairfield, New Jersey]] 50.3%
# [[Johnston, Rhode Island]] 49.5%
# [[North Branford, Connecticut]] 43.9%
# [[East Haven, Connecticut]] 43.6%
# [[Hammonton, New Jersey]] 43.2%
# [[Ocean Gate, New Jersey]] 42.6%
# [[East Hanover Township, New Jersey|East Hanover, New Jersey]] 41.3%
# [[North Haven, Connecticut]] 41.2%
# [[Cedar Grove, New Jersey]] 40.8%
# [[Wood-Ridge, New Jersey]] 40.6%
# [[North Providence, Rhode Island]] 38.9%
# [[Dunmore, Pennsylvania]] 38.9%
# [[Newfield, New Jersey]] 38.8%
# [[Saugus, Massachusetts]] 38.5%
# [[Jenkins Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Jenkins, Pennsylvania]] 38.4%
# [[West Pittston, Pennsylvania]] 37.9%
# [[Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania|Old Forge, Pennsylvania]] 37.8%
# [[Lowellville, Ohio]] 37.5%
# [[Hughestown, Pennsylvania]] 37.5%
# [[Prospect, Connecticut]] 37.5%

===U.S. places named for Italian Americans===
* [[Busti, New York]] (Town and village name)

=== Socioeconomic Status/Demographics ===
In 2023 Italian Americans had a Per Capita Income of $55,349, higher than $43,313 which is the Per Capita Income for the Total Population and higher than $50,675 for all White Americans.<ref name="Explore Census Data">{{Cite web |title=Explore Census Data |url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=American%20Community%20Survey&t=001:451:541:543 |access-date=December 29, 2024 |website=data.census.gov}}</ref>

In terms of education Italian Americans are significantly more educated than the Total Population. 96.2% have attained High School Graduate and 46.1% have attained a bachelor's degree or higher.<ref name="Explore Census Data"/>

67% of the population are in the labor force, with 52.1% working in&nbsp;management, business, science, and arts occupations, but the community also has a large population working in sales and office occupations.<ref name="Explore Census Data"/> In terms of industry, a large number of Italian Americans work in&nbsp;Educational services, and health care and social assistance as well as Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services and Retail trade.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Explore Census Data |url=https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDP5YSPT2021.DP03?t=001:543&d=ACS+5-Year+Estimates+Selected+Population+Data+Profiles |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=data.census.gov}}</ref>

==Notable people==
{{main list|List of Italian Americans}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Italy|United States}}
* [[Sicilian Americans]]
* [[List of Italian-American neighborhoods]]
** [[Little Italy#United States|Little Italies in the United States]]
** [[History of Italians in Baltimore]]
** [[History of Italian Americans in Boston]]
** [[History of Italian Americans in Metro Detroit]]
** [[History of Italians in Mississippi]]
** [[Italians in New Orleans]]
** [[Italians in New York City]]
** [[History of Italian Americans in Philadelphia]]
** [[Utah Italians]]
** [[Tontitown, Arkansas]]
** [[Valdese, North Carolina]]
* [[List of Italian-American actors]]
* [[List of Italian Americans in sports]]
* [[Order Sons of Italy in America]]
* [[Italian-American cuisine]]
* [[American Mafia]]
** [[Italian-American Civil Rights League]]
* [[Italy–USA Foundation]], based in Rome
* [[Italy–United States relations]],
* [[Italian diaspora]], worldwide
** [[Anti-Italianism]], worldwide
** [[Italophilia]]

==References and notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin||colwidth=30em}}
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* Ruberto, Laura E. and Joseph Sciorra, eds. ''New Italian Migrations to the United States: Vol. 1: Politics and History since 1945'' (University of Illinois Press, 2017). xvi, 201 pp
* Seguin, Charles, and Sabrina Nardin. (2022) "The Lynching of Italians and the Rise of Antilynching Politics in the United States." ''Social Science History'' 46.1 (2022): 65–91. [http://www.charlieseguin.com/uploads/4/1/2/7/41271621/seguin_nardin_ssh_2022_lynching_of_italians_and_anti-lynching.pdf online ]
* Serra, Ilaria. ''The Imagined Immigrant: Images of Italian Emigration to the United States Between 1890 and 1924'' (2009)
* Soresina, Marco. "Italian emigration policy during the Great Migration Age, 1888–1919: the interaction of emigration and foreign policy." ''Journal of Modern Italian Studies'' 21.5 (2016): 723–746.
* Sterba, Christopher M. ''Good Americans: Italian and Jewish Immigrants During the First World'' (2003)
* Thomas, Teresa Fava. "Arresting the Padroni problem and Rescuing the White Slaves in America: Italian Diplomats, Immigration Restrictionists & the Italian bureau 1881-1901." ''Altreitalia'' Riviste 192 Tesi 194 (2010) 40: 57–82. [https://www.altreitalie.it/kdocs/79604/84317.pdf#page=57 online]
* Tommasi, L.F. (ed.), ''Italian Americans: New perspectives in Italian emigration and ethnicity'' (1985)
* Vecchio, Diane C. ''Merchants, Midwives, and Laboring Women: Italian Migrants in Urban America'' (2006).
* {{cite journal|last1=Vecoli|first1=Rudolph J|year=1978|title=The Coming of Age of Italian Americans: 1945–1974|journal=Ethnicity|volume=5|issue=2|pages=119–147}}

{{Refend}}

===Localities===
{{Further|Italians in New York City#Further reading|Italians in Philadelphia#Further reading}}
* Barton, Josef J. ''Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Rumanians, and Slovaks in an American City, 1890-1950'' (1975). about [[Cleveland]], Ohio  [https://archive.org/details/peasantsstranger0000bart online]
* Briggs, John W. ''An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities'' (Yale UP, 1978) on Utica NY, Rochester NY, and Kansas City, MO, 1890–1930. [https://archive.org/details/italianpassageim0000brig/page/n8/mode/1up online]
* Candeloro, Dominic. "Suburban Italians" in Melvin G. Holli and Peter Jones, eds. ''Ethnic Chicago'' (1984) pp 239–68 [https://archive.org/details/ethnicchicago0000unse_m8p2/mode/1up online]
* Candeloro, Dominic. ''Chicago's Italians: Immigrants, Ethnics, Americans.'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2003).
* Cinel, Dino. ''From Italy to San Francisco: The Immigrant Experience'' (1982)
* Cinotto, Simone. ''The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City.'' (University of Illinois Press, 2013)
* Cinotto, Simone. ''Soft Soil, Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California,'' (New York University Press, 2012)
* Critchley, David F. ''The origin of organized crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931'' (Routledge, 2008).
* DeBlasio, Donna M., and Martha I. Pallante. "Becoming Italian American in the Nation's Heartland: The Immigrant Experience in Ohio's Mahoning Valley." ''Italian Americana'' 40.2 (2022): 99–125.
* Delicato, Armando, ''Italians in Detroit.'' (2005).
*  Demarco, William M. ''Ethnics and Enclaves: Boston's Italian North End'' (1981)
* Fichera, Sebastian. ''Italy on the Pacific: San Francisco's Italian Americans.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
* Guglielmo, Thomas A. ''White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945'' (2003)
* Jackson, Jessica Barbata. "Before the Lynching: Reconsidering the Experience of Italians and Sicilians in Louisiana, 1870s-1890s". ''Louisiana History'' (2017). 58#3: 300–338. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/26290914 online]
* Juliani, Richard N. ''The Social Organization of Immigration: The Italians in Philadelphia'' (1980) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0405134304/ excerpt and text search]
* Juliani, Richard N. ''Priest, Parish, and People: Saving the Faith in Philadelphia's Little Italy'' (2007)
* Lassonde, Stephen. "Learning and earning: Schooling, juvenile employment, and the early life course in late nineteenth-century New Haven." ''Journal of Social History'' (1996): 839–870. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3788668 online]
* Lassonde, Stephen. ''Learning to Forget: Schooling and Family Life in New Haven's Working Class, 1870-1940'' (Yale UP 2005) a major scholarly study focused on Italian Americans
** ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1994. 9523192; PhD dissertation version of Lassonde, online, 1994)
* Luconi, Stefano. ''The Italian-American Vote in Providence, R.I., 1916-1948'' (2005)
* Luconi, Stefano. ''From paesani to white ethnics: The Italian experience in Philadelphia'' (SUNY Press, 2001) [https://books.google.com/books?id=n4hTFyJbnuIC&dq=Italian+philadelphia&pg=PP9 online].
* Kobler, John. ''Capone: the life and world of Al Capone'' (1971) [https://archive.org/details/caponelifeworldo0000john_j2d7/page/n5/mode/2up online], on Chicago.
* Mormino, Gary. "The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885–1985". Gainesville: University Press of Florida. (1987)
* Nelli, Humbert S. ''Italians in Chicago, 1880–1930: A Study in Ethnic Mobility'' (2005) [https://archive.org/details/italiansinchicag0000nell online]
* Orsi, Robert A. '' The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950.'' (Yale UP, 1985) [https://archive.org/details/madonnaof115thst0000orsi online 3rd ed. 2010]
* Ottanelli, Fraser M. " 'Mussolini's Column': Fascist Memorials and the Politics of Italian American Identity in Chicago." ''Italian American Review'' 12.1 (2022): 86–107.
* Puleo, Stephen (2007). The Boston Italians: A Story of Pride, Perseverance, and Paesani, from the Years of the Great Immigration to the Present Day. Boston: Beacon Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8070-5036-1}}.
* Smith, Tom. "The Crescent City Lynchings: The Murder of Chief Hennessy, the New Orleans 'Mafia' Trials, and the Parish Prison Mob" (The Lyons Press, 2007). [https://archive.org/details/crescentcitylync00toms online]
* Stanger-Ross, Jordan. ''Staying Italian: Urban Change and Ethnic Life in Postwar Toronto and Philadelphia'' (2010).
* Vecoli, Rudolph J. "The Formation of Chicago's" Little Italies"." ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' 2.2 (1983): 5-20. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27500267 online]
* Veronesi, Gene. ''Italian Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland'' (1977) Ohio city; [https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/italian-americans-and-their-communities-of-cleveland/ online]
* Whyte, William Foote. ''[[Street Corner Society]]: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum'' (University of
Chicago Press, 1943) focus on gangs in "Cornerville" (Boston's North End).
* Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. ''Family and Community: Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880–1930.'' (1982) [https://archive.org/details/familycommunityi0000yans online].

===Memory and historiography===
* Agnoletto, Stefano. "Ethnicity Versus Structural Factors in North American History: The Case Study of the Italian Economic Niches." ''Studia Migracyjne-Przeglad Polonijny'' 40.1 (151) (2014): 161–181. [http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-161d4f31-dd2a-45c1-ab58-cb2455633019/c/STEFANO_AGNOLETTO_SMPP_1-2014-12.pdf online]
* Alba, Richard D. "The twilight of ethnicity among Americans of European ancestry: The case of Italians." in ''Celebrating 40 Years of Ethnic and Racial Studies'' (Routledge, 2019). 50–74. [https://www.academia.edu/download/40035778/The_Twilight_of_Ethnicity_among_American20151115-10012-196ovyt.pdf online]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* Alba, Richard D. ''Italian Americans: Into the twilight of ethnicity'' (2023) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWreEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Italian+American%22&pg=PT10 online].
* Bushman, Claudia L. ''America discovers Columbus: how an Italian explorer became an American hero'' (1992) [https://archive.org/details/americadiscovers0000bush online]
* Cannistraro, Philip, and Richard Juliani, ed. ''Italian-Americans: The Search for a Usable Past.'' (The American Italian Historical Association, 1989).
* 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) [https://archive.org/details/italiansinunited0000cord online]
* Cordasco, Francesco. ''Italian Americans : a guide to information sources'' (Gale 1978) [https://archive.org/details/italianamericans00cord online]
* D'acierno, Pellegrino. "Cinema Paradiso: The Italian American Presence in American Cinema." in ''The Italian American Heritage'' (Routledge, 2021). 563–690. [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003250005-28/cinema-paradiso-pellegrino-acierno abstract]
* Friedman-Kasaba, Kathie. ''Memories of migration: Gender, ethnicity, and work in the lives of Jewish and Italian women in New York, 1870-1924'' (State University of New York Press, 2012).
* Gabaccia, Donna. "Italian American Women: A Review Essay," ''Italian Americana'' 12#1 (1993): 38–61.
* [[Donna Gabaccia|Gabaccia, Donna R.]] "Italian Immigrant Women in Comparative Perspective." ''The Review of Italian American Studies'' (2000): 391-405 [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.2050-411X.1994.tb00774.x online].
* Gardaphe, Fred. L. ''The Art of Reading Italian Americana'',  New York: Bordighera Press, 2011.
* Gardaphe, Fred L. ''Leaving Little Italy: Essaying Italian American Culture'' (SUNY Press, 2003).
* Giordano, Paolo A. and Anthony Julian Tamburri, eds. "Beyond the Margin: Essays on Italian Americana" (1998).
* Gravano, Alan J., and Alexandra de Luise. "The Italian American Studies Association at Fifty-Five: 1966–2021." ''Diasporic Italy'' 1 (2021): 103–123. [https://scholar.archive.org/work/fwv2pxvvjvantizejtaubkp55a/access/wayback/https://watermark.silverchair.com/103gravano.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAugwggLkBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggLVMIIC0QIBADCCAsoGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMcY9XzbPtD54Z8SPSAgEQgIICm4LFH7_n8WYlLamsrX1Xvehqcz9cP3mQaBZh8OmUHCm05Vw8ZF9P7b6VBQA6gOkA8xhRiCIpaVBVprxDa9Z4Pu1grNuiLJJzVuitSEHbk9Y9WB8E2nqVAuQv_Lt5MrRsvaHTXU9MDc30YiI2pueB85Jm0eWGyMo541kIRVQkKlK6y-XCtClimzpF2gvTKfERlzZdk-Ky60n4OoSUwqLR4vFhr2yVfA9jhZJ3V7jrRgTZHGhR-e8YlV2lnEhwSEphiS7bI_sMGjzMjtJjOUtnyjN9aXuvf_VUe9agEyXJT61ZMI6zzVFI4UpzTRxjf-Pg06MCQUvuSmT6CqHr5HMNowh-lLUQAoeGSpStJbdhk3Krp4VKnToGnXQ8qiGMbGJAwkXWvJ8_nWKlRgNVBl5WDl5LUzyCLRLvpUmjobGzfdtfIu4cXRaq3oA2BOBxl7cjp2aWl1guGDMaHOF2c6oIDtR9zD0gc7JwgurqmXmjudL1uGPR4_XPSuH4OjohCKkmuBh-0QQBNisHWl9R_eQzcmnfO4lRPAGldjW79oI7fQgLaHO6_YkWlUWP-zz-h7xeMp92GAzhyGfYnuKOlxxgMD-65O1YXkYoWEi3E5_8-yt7nB5gAZJy90c6cOp5cxu76EEE1Yplduoti_CXgW3RmRpR0kgPQrM12EPo4Uevj9G1X9tF6xAty4TtmdBAihJ5wDwoYLYvG4NKamt0Uv3k9vy7GU-YJ0uzMSQQ7cgI7aEIf2EKM3FHpOEfibsHhBGZRrZ2qhwdoGRMRPlmDZwM2ngWMtOB9nmxPgAwpQkoiy0AZNtMWxPfGE5UpXFk9U3cF9GpdhdnpBGrwNd-KG0i5SkQXI7n2cVkanKg-zIQaP8r4xMLvijvWglQj_c online]
* Hobbie, Margaret. ''Italian American Material Culture: A Directory of Collections, Sites, and Festivals in the United States and Canada'' (1992).
* Kosta, Ervin B. "Becoming Italian, becoming American: Ethnic affinity as a strategy of boundary making." ''Ethnic and Racial Studies'' 42.5 (2019): 801–819.
* Krase, Jerome, ed. ''The Status of Interpretation in Italian American Studies'' (Forum Italicum, (2011) [https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/34441015/FIAC-1-Volume-The-Status-of-Interpretation-Jan-2011.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_Status_of_Interpretation_in_Italian.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20200207%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200207T055005Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=0696e329388fc812f6077cfbd9d75b064a46bd556f2889ca6802f45c74e727f5 online]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.
* Luconi, Stefano, "Is Italian-American History an Account of the Immigrant Experience with the Politics Left Out? Some Thoughts on the Political Historiography about Italian Americans", in ''Italian Americans in the Third Millennium: Social Histories and Cultural Representations'', ed. Paolo A. Giordano and Anthony Julian Tamburri, 55–72. (New York: American Italian Historical Association, 2009).d=103874809
* Luconi, Stefano. "Whiteness and Ethnicity in Italian-American Historiography." in ''The Status of Interpretation in Italian American Studies: Proceedings of the first Forum in Italian American Criticism [FIAC]'' (Forum Italicum Publishing, 2011).  [http://www.academia.edu/download/34441015/FIAC-1-Volume-The-Status-of-Interpretation-Jan-2011.pdf#page=146 Online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* Meyer, Gerald. "Theorizing Italian American History: The Search for an Historiographical Paradigm." in ''The Status of Interpretation in Italian American Studies'' (2011): 164+. [https://www.academia.edu/download/34441015/FIAC-1-Volume-The-Status-of-Interpretation-Jan-2011.pdf#page=164 Online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* Ottanelli, Fraser M. " 'Mussolini's Column': Fascist Memorials and the Politics of Italian American Identity in Chicago." ''Italian American Review'' 12.1 (2022): 86–107.
* Pozzetta, George E. "From Immigrants to Ethnics: The State of Italian-American Historiography." ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' 9#1 (1989): 67–95. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27500718 Online]
* Rossi, Guido. "Il progresso Italo-Americano and its portrayal of Italian-American Servicemen (1941-1945)." ''Nuova Rivista Storica'' (2023), 107#2 pp.&nbsp;759–787.
* Simms, Norman. "The Italian-American Image During the Twentieth Century." ''The Histories'' 5.1 (2019): 4+ [https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1097&context=the_histories online]
* Tamburri, Anthony Julian, Paolo A. Giordano, Fred L. Gardaphé, eds. ''From the Margin: Writings in Italian Americana'' (2000, 2nd ed.)
* Tamburri, Anthony Julian. ''To Hyphenate or not to Hyphenate: the Italian/American Writer: Or, An "Other" American?'' (1991)
* Tamburri, Anthony Julian. ''Re-viewing Italian Americana: Generalities and Specificities on Cinema'' (2011)
* Tamburri, Anthony Julian. ''Re-reading Italian Americana: Specificities and Generalities on Literature and Criticism'' (2014)
*  Wirth, Christa. ''Memories of Belonging: Descendants of Italian Migrants to the United States, 1884-Present'' (Brill,   2015) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56650 online review]

===Primary sources===
* Albright, Carol Bonomo, and Christine Palamidessi Moore, eds. ''American Woman, Italian Style: Italian Americana's Best Writings on Women'' (Fordham Univ Press, 2011) [https://books.google.com/books?id=gWyzyTOqPjUC&dq=Bonomo+Albright,+Carol&pg=PR11 online].
* Bonomo Albright, Carol and Joanna Clapps Herman, eds. ''Wild Dreams'' (Fordham Press, 2008). Stories, memoirs, poems by and about Italian Americans. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dCI6PNEYHZEC&dq=Bonomo+Albright,+Carol+and+Joanna+Clapps+Herman,&pg=PR9 online]
* Ciongoli, A. Kenneth, and  Jay Parini, eds. ''Beyond The Godfather: Italian American Writers on the Real Italian American Experience'' (University Press of New England, 1997) [https://books.google.com/books?id=eHqPaGHO2hIC&dq=Ciongoli+beyond&pg=PR11 online]
* Gesualdi, Louis J. ed. ''The Italian/American Experience: A Collection of Writings'' (2012) [https://books.google.com/books?id=iWHlzpqQWJEC&dq=Gesualdi,+Louis+J&pg=PR1 online]
* Moquin, Wayne, ed. ''A Documentary History of Italian Americans'' (1974) [https://archive.org/details/documentaryhisto0000moqu online]

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikisource portal}}
* [http://www.lagazzettaitaliana.com/ La Gazzetta Italiana - The Italian American Voice]
* [http://www.i-italy.org/ Italian American Digital Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314230920/http://www.i-italy.org/ |date=March 14, 2015}}
* [http://www.niaf.org/ National Italian American Foundation]
* "[https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian.html Immigration -> Italian]." [[Library of Congress]].
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130719055256/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/italian_immigration.cfm Italian Immigration]." ''Digital History'', [[University of Houston]]
* [https://www.italianamericanmuseum.org/mission.htm Italian American Museum, New York] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818044831/http://www.italianamericanmuseum.org/mission.htm |date= August 18, 2019}}
* [http://www.italyrevisited.org/ Italy Revisited (photo archives)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181228234400/http://taylorstreetarchives.com/ Taylor Street Archives]
* [http://www.italianimmigrants.org ItalianImmigrants.org 1855 through 1900]
* {{cite web |url=http://flps.newberry.org/#filters/group/italian?page=1 |title=Italian |work=Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey |year=1942 |publisher=Chicago Public Library Omnibus Project of the [[Works Progress Administration]] of Illinois |via=[[Newberry Library]]}} (Selected short newspaper articles, translated into English, 1855–1938).
* [http://www.pbs.org/the-italian-americans/watch/episode-1/ The Italian Americans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629170134/http://www.pbs.org/the-italian-americans/watch/episode-1/ |date=June 29, 2019}} - PBS documentary
* {{cite web|title=Italian American Stereotypes in U.S. Advertising|url=https://www.osia.org/documents/Advertising-Report.pdf|website=The Order Sons of Italy in America|date=2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126031257/https://www.osia.org/documents/Advertising-Report.pdf|archive-date=January 26, 2016}}
* {{Cite news|last=Cannato|first=Vincent J.|date=October 9, 2015|title=How America became Italian|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-america-became-italian/2015/10/09/4c93b1be-6ddd-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html|access-date=October 6, 2020|issn=0190-8286}}
* [https://cla.umn.edu/ihrc Immigration History Research Center (IHRC), University of Minnesota]

{{Italian diaspora}}
{{Italian Americans by location}}
{{European Americans}}
{{Demographics of the United States}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:History of immigration to the United States]]
[[Category:Italian diaspora in the United States]]
[[Category:Italian diaspora by country|American]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the United States]]