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In the early
1800s, Italian immigrants who made their living as sailors settled in Baltimore along the Inner Harbor.
In the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
millions of Italians immigrated to America. This mass migration was one of the major reasons that US immigration laws were changed -- first with a literacy test in 1917, next in 1921 to restrict the annual number of immigrants and then in 1924 to restrict immigrants from specific countries.
Food words are only the tip of the Italian-American iceberg. Other Italian loan words can be found in
music. By far, music seems a topic dominated by Italian loan words. The more familiar musical ones are alto,
soprano, basso (voice ranges); cello, piano, cello, piccolo, viola, oboe, violin and harmonica (musical instruments); largo, andagiettio and fermata (musical tempos); crescendo, forte and sforzando (volume); agitato, bruscamente and affettuoso (mood); molto, poco and meno (musical expressions); and altissimo, acciaccatura and pizzicato (musical techniques).
Examples in the literature category are novel and scenario; in art,
fresca (fresh painting) and
dilettante (amateur); in architecture, balcony and studio; in banking, bank and bankrupt; military: alarm, colonel and sentinel; politics: ballot, ghetto and bandit. Italians formerly used balls in their voting, and the word “ball” eventually became “ballot.”
Fire hydrant in Baltimore’s Little Italy | Photo by Jacky Tranter
Immigrants from Genoa were some of the first Italians to settle in Boston, making a living by selling produce, cheese, olive oil and wine. (Pastene Companies, Ltd. started with a pushcart in 1848 and is still family owned and operated.)
The North End, now estimated to be about 40 percent Italian American, still imparts the culture and heritage of the Italian immigrants. Around 80 Italian restaurants and market tours of Italian food, wine and beverage purveyors are popular tourist attractions. Numerous feasts and processions are held throughout the year and two of the largest -- St. Anthony’s Feast, first celebrated in 1919, and the Fishermen’s Feast, first held in 1910 -- are both in August.
It’s no secret that Boston’s North End is predominately Italian. This modified fire alarm pole appears to offer directions to some of the more popular neighborhoods. | Photo by Josh Mazgelis
North of Manhattan, an area about eight by nine blocks large is called the Belmont section of the Bronx, but more commonly referred to as the “real Little Italy” in New York. In the 1890s, Italian immigrants moved from lower Manhattan to the tenement buildings of the Bronx.
The early Italian settlers in Chicago were a small group from northern Italy who arrived in the 1850s and established themselves as entrepreneurs by selling produce, opening restaurants and stores and working as skilled artisans. Thirty years later, Chicago had become one of the fastest growing cities in America,
Cleveland, OH (Murray Hill)
By the mid-1800s, a small group of Italian immigrants had arrived in Cleveland and were working in various occupations -- in both professional and skilled labor -- as bookkeeper, boot maker, gardener, carpenter, steelworker and stone mason. Twenty years later, Italians were owners of restaurants, saloons, produce stands and grocery stores.
