Italian Immigration to Staten Island
Introduction:
New York is one of the most famous cities in the world and its pop culture identity is intensely intertwined with that of the Italian American. It is almost cliché to discuss Italians in New York, as the Italian New Yorker has become a common trope in film and literature. When immigration to New York comes up Italian immigrants are the first thing that pops into anyone’s head, perhaps with Irish immigrants as a close second. And it must be addressed that the Italian population of New York was and is so vast that we have a section of Manhattan called Little Italy. However, this conception pertains mainly Manhattan, the most famous borough, and our examination of Italian immigration is from the perspective of Staten Island, the oft forgotten borough.
http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2010/10/smooth_sailing_for_annual_isla_1.html
Having lived on Staten Island all my life I can speak to the fact that we are often overlooked when people think of New York. But that does not mean that we are an exception to the rule. Staten Island is predominantly Italian, the 2011 1 Year Survey Estimates from the American Community Survey ranked the Italian population as number 1 on Staten Island. Additionally from my own experiences as a lifelong Islander, it wasn’t until College that I attended a class that wasn’t at least half Italian American.
http://www.prlog.org/10535312-staten-islands-italian-heritage-revealed.html
History:
http://lhy3.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-worlds-history.html
While many relate the Italian people with New York today, there is a vast an expansive tale to be told about their roots in Italy. Until about the 3rd century BCE Italy was predominantly dominated by the Etruscan Empire, which gave way to the Roman Empire. Rome successfully ruled Italy, and spread through out much of the world for approximately seven centuries. During this time we saw the rise and fall of some of histories most iconic figures, the Roman Emperors, including Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Caligula, Nero, and Claudius.
http://www.luc.edu/roman-emperors/commod.htm
When Rome finally fell it was at the hands of the destructive Germanic barbarians who invaded and subsequently destroyed most of the Western Roman Empire. The eastern Byzantium still stood but was far from Italy and predominantly Greek, which after the fall of Roman power in Italy continued as a sovereign nation. For the next several centuries Italy became the setting of numerous power plays and attempted conquests as the Holy Roman Emperors, the Roman Catholic Popes, the Normans and the Saracens all vied for dominance in Italy.
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/08ROMFAL.htm
Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Italy was divided up and fought over by the Austrians, the French and peoples of Italy. Napoleon unified Italy after 1800 and declared himself King of Italy, finally cementing all the Italian territories as one country. Following this, Italy was fought over for several more years, as the Austrians took power once again, and subsequently lost it. Finally the annexation of Venice in 1866 and the establishment of papal Rome in 1870 completed Italy’s unification and establishment as an Independent nation.
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=289619
Immigration to New York:
Much has been said about the immigration of Italian peoples to New York, so I will get straight to the point. Italian immigration to the United States began for the most part in the late 1870’s. More people from Italy have immigrated to the United States than any other immigrant group. The reasons these peoples left Italy were numerous; poverty and overpopulation plagued Italy at the time, and the illiteracy rate of Italy was approximately 70%. The Italians were being exploited by there own people and the was a shortage of jobs and money in the southern parts of Italy. Towards the being of the 20th century Italy was also plagued by natural disasters including an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which destroyed a town in Naples. Italians had a history of immigrating to other countries to escape the problems of their homeland, and during the 19th century many Italians fled to South America as well as North America.
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Italian-Americans.html#b
Italian immigrants as well most immigrants to the United States at the time had a very poor quality of life. Many were forced to live in cramped apartments with their entire extended family and usually a few strangers. Work was scarce, and when found the conditions were, as a rule, generally unpleasant and quite dangerous. Most immigrants worked in sweat shops or factories, and the mortality rate was high due to the poor living conditions and the spread of disease.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/italian-immigrants.htm
Staten Island was much more rural than the other boroughs and offered an escape from crowded city life. Immigrants who were able to scrounge enough money together could move to Staten Island and buy a decent plot of land to build a home. Over the years the Island has become much more suburban and much less rural, but that doesn’t stop people from continuing to migrate here from other boroughs, and over the past few years there has been an influx of people from Brooklyn moving to Staten Island.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyrichmo/photos/photos.html
Italian Population in Staten Island
Staten Island possesses a higher percentage of Italian Americans than any other county in the United States. Approximately 35.7% of Staten Islanders have Italian ancestry. While the Italian population is spread fairly diversely throughout the island, the South Shore is predominantly Italian, and possesses the highest percentage of Italians on the island. Over 75% of Staten Islanders in the South Shore report Italian heritage. About 75.7% of Staten Islanders are White, and the Caucasian population of Staten Island is made up of mostly Irish and Italians. There are over 175,000 Italians who live in Staten Island, and according to the 2010 census there are 468,730 people living in Staten Island.
http://www.socialexplorer.com/89AACD3A4F1E4E1/explore
My partner and I visited the restaurant Italianissimo, to get a taste of Staten Island’s Italian heritage. Italianissimo is an Italian restaurant placed innocuously alongside McClean Avenue. The exterior of the restaurant is relaxed and not overwhelming to look at. Stepping into the restaurant is almost like stepping into a portal to another land. As soon as you’re inside the entire atmosphere changes from a moderately busy and loud street, to a more relaxed and mature setting. If we weren’t sitting by the window, there would be almost nothing to give away that we weren’t in a real Italian restaurant, except for the fact that we were greeted in English. We arrived a little bit before the dinner rush, so when we were seated, we were the only ones in the restaurant. The interior of the restaurant looked very Italian and there was Italian music playing. The best part, besides the food, was that the menu was written almost entirely in Italian. The waiters spoke at least some Italian (they responded when we thanked them with an Italian “grazie”) which added to the authenticity of the meal. We were served very promptly with bread and the greatest roasted garlic butter I’ve ever had. Together, we ate three entire loaves of bread before the meal. For appetizers, we ordered some fried mozzarella and for the entrée we ordered Saltimbocca and salmon. A little into the meal, the dinner rush came in and the restaurant was nearly filled in thirty minutes. There were people of every nationality and it was nice to see that this wasn’t an issue to anyone in the restaurant. Food culture is something that everyone loves to share, and this was very apparent from our trip to Italianissimo.
Holy Rosary Parish has been my Parish since I was born, so it was only natural that I should choose this for our second visit. Holy Rosary is an Italian church with a diverse population of churchgoers. The entire church community at Holy Rosary is like a family and everyone is willing to go out of their way to help other people. The parish holds drives to feed the homeless and fundraisers for various charities around the island. Anyone is welcome in the church regardless of what his nationality, ethnicity or previous religion may have been, although almost everyone there is an Italian Catholic. Within the last few years, because of water damage and a lot of leaking, they completely replaced their roof with beautiful Spanish tile thanks to the generous donations from many of the churchgoers. Holy Rosary holds an Italian mass at 8am on Saturdays, but also holds a Spanish mass at 7pm the same day and a Polish mass at 10am the next day. The fact that an Italian parish holds their masses in many different languages shows how the diversity of the culture around the area has had an impact on the church. Father Aufieri, on the Holy Rosary website, in reference to these new activities promoting many different cultures said “It is my hope that it will convey Holy Rosary’s spirit of hospitality, as well as an invitation to participate in the activities of the parish.”
